SIP, my big momma shrimp, mother of colonies. Establishing first colony is hard!

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Found one of the otocinclus dead this morning

I don't know if it might have been the medication I'm using to treat the tanks. It's supposed to be fish and shrimp safe, but I know otos are sensitive. I don't feel like I have much choice though, since not treating will mean more guppies dying. If any more otos or any shrimp die though, I'll do a large water change and figure something else out, somehow.

Or, the hard water got to him at last I feel awful that I didn't know they needed soft water, I thought I'd done so much research, but I didn't look into GH KH and pH enough, or understand how important it was to know. They've been in hard water for 9-10 months now. I've bought and cleaned another tank, and it would have been set up and they'd be moved in by now, if the worm problem hadn't cropped up. I guess even once I get them into softer water, the damage has likely already been done to these little guys, and I feel terrible for that. It's my fault, I should have researched more. Wish I'd found this forum a year ago.

 

[mbsqw1d]

It really could be absolutely anything thats caused it to die, especially when its sudden with no symptoms.
I'm exactly the same, knew nothing about the effects of water hardness on fish until about 3 months ago. I just got lucky. You now know that they do better in water that is softer than what your supply is, furthermore, you're working towards softening your water for them.
I know you adore these fish and thats the most important thing. You're going out of your way to ensure you can give them the best possible environment you can. They're also renowned for being incredibly delicate and I'm sure even people with soft water lose them all the time. Don't be too hard on yourself!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

It really could be absolutely anything thats caused it to die, especially when its sudden with no symptoms.
I'm exactly the same, knew nothing about the effects of water hardness on fish until about 3 months ago. I just got lucky. You now know that they do better in water that is softer than what your supply is, furthermore, you're working towards softening your water for them.
I know you adore these fish and thats the most important thing. You're going out of your way to ensure you can give them the best possible environment you can. They're also renowned for being incredibly delicate and I'm sure even people with soft water lose them all the time. Don't be too hard on yourself!

Thank you @mbsqw1d , I needed to hear that I do love the little dudes a lot. Gonna motivate me to make their next home even better, and to try to breed them too. @seangee did say that a lot of people even with ideal water don't manage to keep them alive for as long as I had, so you're right, they do have a rep for being delicate. At least he had buddies and food while he was with me, which is more than a lot of otos wind up with, sadly. I do feel better as well that I'm not alone in not knowing about water hardness, I know you do a lot of research too. Thank you man.

 

[Retired Viking]

Sorry about your fish, do not beat up on yourself you were trying your best to give them a good home. For years I did not know about the affects of hard water on soft water fish. I now have a soft water tank for my tetras but when I started the tank over a year ago it had hard water and I also learned on this forum about their need for soft water.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Sorry about your fish, do not beat up on yourself you were trying your best to give them a good home. For years I did not know about the affects of hard water on soft water fish. I now have a soft water tank for my tetras but when I started the tank over a year ago it had hard water and I also learned on this forum about their need for soft water.

Thank you viking! Maybe it's only more recently that the effects of keeping them in the wrong water type has been better known? I know my dad has always had tetra and livebearers in the same tank, and thinks of that as a standard community tank, so that might have been normal 30-40 years ago too.

When we know better, we do better, right? Thank you

 

[Retired Viking]

The internet really does helps with information compared to what was available back them. We really did rely on the LFS for information.