Well water suggestions

[marcelapa]

I have a 10 gallon tank. Added live plants 2-3 weeks ago. Currently have 2 julii corys and one guppy.
My water parameters are all good but my fish keep dying. I do weekly (sometimes more) water changes and add water conditioner. But I'm wondering whether the fish are suffering due to something I'm not picking up with my api master kit. I've read well water can be low oxygen and have heavy metals. I ordered an air pump/volcano set up to add oxygen.
Any other tips? I've lost 4 corys, my dwarf gourami, and 4 ghost shrimp (I know these are short lived, so may not be dying from same thing fish are.)
Fish stop eating and either go inactive or hyperactive like something's really bothering them. Yet even with a magnifying glass, don't see anything physically wrong with fish. A few deaths were withing first few days of bringing fish home, but one ghost shrimp, dwarf gourami, and cory had all been in tank 2+ months.

 

[RedSarah]

Sorry to hear about your losses

Could you provide your exact parameters—ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels, as well as pH, KH and GH? This will help folks more experienced than myself diagnose the problem more easily.

For what it's worth, my parents had an African cichlid tank with well water when I was a kid. My understanding is that well water tends to be hard and full of minerals because it is coming straight from the ground, but this probably depends on the composition of the soil in your area. Corys and gouramis are soft water fish, so this could be part of the issue, but that's purely speculative since I don't know the hardness of your water!

 

[marcelapa]

Sorry to hear about your losses

Could you provide your exact parameters—ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels, as well as pH, KH and GH? This will help folks more experienced than myself diagnose the problem more easily.

For what it's worth, my parents had an African cichlid tank with well water when I was a kid. My understanding is that well water tends to be hard and full of minerals because it is coming straight from the ground, but this probably depends on the composition of the soil in your area. Corys and gouramis are soft water fish, so this could be part of the issue, but that's purely speculative since I don't know the hardness of your water!

Thanks for the reply RedSarah!
Temp: 76-77°
Ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0 (LFS said 0.25)
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10-20
Kh: 80
Gh: 120

I reduced the water level in my tank to increase surface agitation from hob filter. Fish seem better; not swimming around as frantically. But still seem stressed. They calm some when I switch the LED to night blue setting.

 

[AbbeysDad]

Do you drink/cook with your well water? It's unlikely that there's anything wrong as most everyone's water comes from wells somewhere (oh many municipalities get their water from lakes or reservoirs, but it's still 'ground' water that's filtered and treated.
I have noticed that when I do a water change directly from my well that the plants begin pearling, a sign that the CO2 is high. Since your other numbers look good and the fish seemed better with increased surface agitation, perhaps an air stone or bubble wand might help.
You might try an experiment and draw a 5g bucket of water and aerate for 24 hours and use that for a water to change to see how the fish react.
As a last resort, you might use Prime or Safe which is said to neutralize ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and heavy metals.

 

[marcelapa]

Do you drink/cook with your well water? It's unlikely that there's anything wrong as most everyone's water comes from wells somewhere (oh many municipalities get their water from lakes or reservoirs, but it's still 'ground' water that's filtered and treated.
I have noticed that when I do a water change directly from my well that the plants begin pearling, a sign that the CO2 is high. Since your other numbers look good and the fish seemed better with increased surface agitation, perhaps an air stone or bubble wand might help.
You might try an experiment and draw a 5g bucket of water and aerate for 24 hours and use that for a water to change to see how the fish react.
As a last resort, you might use Prime or Safe which is said to neutralize ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and heavy metals.

I appreciate the suggestions Abbeysdad. Thank you!
I do drink and cook with our well water. It's great water! Drawn 172' down from the northern MN boreal woods. No funny smells or tastes.
I've ordered an air pump due to arrive today.
I'll try drawing water into a 5 g bucket and letting it sit for 24 hrs prior to future water changes.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I'll try drawing water into a 5 g bucket and letting it sit for 24 hrs prior to future water changes.

It would be best to also aerate the water in the bucket as this tends to equalize gases.