should i be concerned??

[cheken]

hi all,

my recent reading show,
ph 6.8
No3 50-100mg
No2 0mg
Gh 10dh
Kh 0
temp 27c

i am currently using a 5 in 1 tester strip which a do find give rubbish readings. so i suppose it would be better getting an individual liquid form tester. so i do two test at the same time to get a better picture i also take a sample to my local dealer who confirms levels are ok.
tank is 30in long x 11in deep x 12in wide should be 59 litres.

i have 2x peppered corys,
3x fmale platies, 2x male platies
6x fmale guppies 2x male guppies
+ 5 varied small fry.3 weeks old.

In recent days i have been treating (with myxazin) two of my platies one had signs of fin rot which died this morn and another that had a very small amount of fungy on her head which has seemed to have cleared up and is still alive, i was told isolation wouldnt be nescessary, then this evening 1 male guppy just dropped dead! close inspection identified a small clear blemish above the eye indicating either an attack or something else i have pics of these but are unsure how to get them on a post..
View attachment 29708
i now see 1 female platie producing white stringy and i mean stringy poop the others are red/black as normal any ideas??.

am i doing any thing wrong? my fish came from a reputable dealer.

any coment will be happily recieved.

many thanks,

gareth

 

[black angel]

I notice your kh is at 0, could you check your tap water with a test strip and use a glass and not running water. This low a kh will mean you have no buffer and your ph will drop causing stress to your fish.
I take it the corys are doing fine and only the guppies are suffering? Guppies need a higher ph of over 7 and hard water. Your water is way too soft for them and making them open to infections.
You can get buffers from your pet store, but this wont suit your corys. To me you should try and keep fish that are suited to your ph and soft water.
I'm afraid you need someone who can help with the chemistry of your water because if you get that sorted then your fish will get better.

 

[cheken]

I notice your kh is at 0, could you check your tap water with a test strip and use a glass and not running water. This low a kh will mean you have no buffer and your ph will drop causing stress to your fish.
I take it the corys are doing fine and only the guppies are suffering? Guppies need a higher ph of over 7 and hard water. Your water is way too soft for them and making them open to infections.
You can get buffers from your pet store, but this wont suit your corys. To me you should try and keep fish that are suited to your ph and soft water.
I'm afraid you need someone who can help with the chemistry of your water because if you get that sorted then your fish will get better.

[snapback]870939[/snapback]​

Hi many thanks for your reply,
corys are fine and it is just the guppie platie seem ok

i have checked the tap levels and they were 0 too ph levels have dropped today to 6.4 in the tank too.

i will go to the pet store and get some calcium carbonate which apparently will increase the buffer and ph levels i will continue to monitor the levels daily i think to see what happens.

when i bought the corys i was told that if i can keep the ph around 7 and 7.5 the corys will be fine, and this wasnt from any rookie dealer either il ask again to see if i get a diferent answer from them just to make certain.

many thanks again for your advice it has helped.

Gareth

 

[WILDER]

Your nitrate is abit high too wan'ts fetching down, the fungus on the head can you describe it, long stringy white poo can mean internal parasites, constipation or bacteria infection, what do you feed the fish.

 

[rdd1952]

I take it the corys are doing fine and only the guppies are suffering? Guppies need a higher ph of over 7 and hard water. Your water is way too soft for them and making them open to infections.
You can get buffers from your pet store, but this wont suit your corys. To me you should try and keep fish that are suited to your ph and soft water.
I'm afraid you need someone who can help with the chemistry of your water because if you get that sorted then your fish will get better.

[snapback]870939[/snapback]​

Most fish, especially guppies, can adapt to a very wide range of pH. The main thing is that it remains consistant. The site I use for profiles says guppies prefer a pH of 5.5 to 8.0. That pretty much covers the full range.

i will go to the pet store and get some calcium carbonate which apparently will increase the buffer and ph levels i will continue to monitor the levels daily i think to see what happens.

when i bought the corys i was told that if i can keep the ph around 7 and 7.5 the corys will be fine, and this wasnt from any rookie dealer either il ask again to see if i get a diferent answer from them just to make certain.

[snapback]872226[/snapback]​

Be very careful in adding anything to the water. You can add buffering agents but it can be difficult to keep it regulated. Do you have driftwood or are using CO2 for plants? Both of those will cause your pH to drop. You would be better off finding out what is causing the pH to drop and try to eliminate that. I too have water with a KH of 0 and pH of 7.0. I keep a very small amount of crushed coral in my filter packs to keep the pH around 7.0 and stable. In my 29 gallon, I have about 1/2 tsp. That is all it takes.

 

[cheken]

hi i feed flake / frozen daphnia/ freeze dried blood worm/ live blood worm / live dafhnia not all at once obviosly i mainly use flake and the rest every other day to vary the feeds the live foods are once weekly.. when i feed it is small amounts twice daily and all is consumed within minutes too.

the fungus thing has gone on the head i had treated it with myxazin.

i couldnt find any chemicals to increase the kh levels but got better testing kit for better more accurate results.
i also did a 25% water change and used a nutralising agent that raised the ph to 6.8 and dropped the nitrate to 40 so all good i supose i am doing another test tonight to monitor its progress

is it true that to raise your ph you can you bicarbinate of soda and to lower it to use rain water?? i havent tried it yet because i dare not to but apparently it works to.

 

[rdd1952]

i also did a 25% water change and used a nutralising agent that raised the ph to 6.8 and dropped the nitrate to 40 so all good i supose i am doing another test tonight to monitor its progress

[snapback]875979[/snapback]​

Using these type products will cause way more harm than good. Your pH will never be stable, always going up or down depending on when you last added it.

is it true that to raise your ph you can you bicarbinate of soda and to lower it to use rain water?? i havent tried it yet because i dare not to but apparently it works to.

[snapback]875979[/snapback]​

I think baking soda will raise it but that also will eventually be used up and have to be added again. I don't think water in general will lower your pH unless it simply is a lower pH than what you have. Obviously, water with a low KH like your and mine are much more susceptible to pH changes. As I stated earlier, I prefer using the crushed coral. I've only added the one time to my tanks and they have remained constant for a couple months.

 

[Def]

Bicarb will raise your ph if you add it in concentration (ie: dump a load into a bucket and mix it up). If you add it in moderation, Bicarb will increase your KH with a negligible increase of PH. I use it to raise my KH from 1 out of the tap to between 7 and 10 dkh by adding some to each bucket of fresh water in a water change.

Never add it directly to the tank, add it to a bucket. And the first few times you do it make sure you add some then test both KH and PH in the bucket. Eventually you'll figure out how much you need to add to each fresh bucket (I add a bit under 1/2 a level teaspoon to 10litres of fresh water)