livebearers problem

[kagentx]

i've been having livebearers for half a year now, and they die after a month! all of them =/. Either from fungus or internal infections. Yet my other fish in there are very healthy. I ahve 6 glass catfish, 3 SAE, 8 cardinals, 7 otos, 3 swordtails, 3 ballon mollies. My tank is a 50 gallon planted tank.

Is it from giving too much birth that they die? or are they just weaker. My guppies, mollies, platies are always the first to go. The swordtails are more hardy, except for the females. Maybe its from the guppy disease? My method right now is stop buying new fish for awhile to calm the diseases down and do 50% water change weekly.

phosphate: .02
nitrate: 0
pH 6.8
no indication of kH or gH... (just added 3 tsp of baking soda and 1 tsp of epsom salt)

i have a 120 watt light over the 50 gallon and a CO2 system running at 2 bubbles per second diffused by a reactor. I use a 500 cascade canister filter and i clean it once every month... is it the kH and gH reading? any help wil be good TIA

 

[talloulou]

A tank that is a year old should have nitrate.

KH and gH are over my head so I can't help with that but aren't you supposed to have a kH reading? Here is a website on livebearers that talks a little about KH and gH maybe it will help. Your pH is lower than what is considered ideal for livebearers but I wouldn't think that would kill them as long as it was kept stable.

What has been your water changing routine?

When you buy them do you make certain to buy 3-4 females for every male so they don't drive each other bonkers?

Also have you bought all your livebearers from the same store? It's a long shot but maybe their supply is bad. Or maybe they are old when you get them as most only live 1-2 years anyway.

http://www.perthaquarium.com.au/feature10.htm

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Livebearers like a little bit of salt and a slightly higher pH. If you get no kh or gh reading you might want to consider getting some r/o right. It should help bring those up to a good level.

 

[kagentx]

thanks
seems like a planted tank isn't ideal for my livebearers because the CO2 keeps the water a little below 7.0 pH and that's what some of my fish and all my plants prefer... i can't defintely add salt to the tank. The female guppies seems to do when no males are present, is that norma? 8O

i agree talloulou, it must be the bad supply from that same store. Livebearers are a pain !

i've never used a R/O unit, would a "Marc Weiss R.O. Vital-9 oz" be perfect for my situation?

btw is there a way to keep the gH and kH constant? i always seem to have trouble with that