Very sad stuff happening in my fish tank. I had just recently did about a 40% water change and almost all my fish died. I'll give y'all the story and any input would be appreciated.
I started my 30 gal tank bout 3 months ago, did a fishless cycle and got some fish, some neon tetras, zebra danios, cory catfish, and a couple snails. On my first water change I lost a couple neons and it seemed like my fish would go into shock mode, non usual behavior. I tested my water and i figured this was because of a large ph change, something in my tank was dropping my ph. I took out a peice of driftwood, thought that was maybe doing it but it was still going down. The only other things in my tank are gravel, a couple plastic plants, and one fake decorative rock. I continued to do small changes (~ 4 gal) every other day or so to control my ph but this got taxing on me. My fish would still go into a shock mode for a short period of time but I didn't lose any. So i stopped doing this and the ph prol went to 6.4 or so.
For the past 2 weeks i've been giving tiny doses of AP's Ph up everyday or two to get to a good Ph to do a larger water change. Over those weeks i got it to 7.0 - 7.2, which is what my water is at. Did a water change, then said given event happened.
I tested the ph in the tank now and it's the same 7.0 -7.2. I don't think it has to do with the Ph but I figured i'd give you the story and let y'all decide about it. The temperature did go up maybe 6 degrees fahrenheit to 80 degrees. I checked the ammonia level and it was between .5 and 1.0 ppm.
My tank is cycled and my tap water test that much for ammonia also. So i don't think it's any of that.
I thought it was ph before but now i think it has to be something to do with the waterchange. I'm using Ap's stress coat as a de-chlorinator. Can that go bad early? It says it expires 1/08. It was probably sitting for a while unused, if that matters. The bucket I use used to have powder laundy detergent in it but i washed it real good and scrubbed it and also soaked it in hot water for a while. Could it be my water? I live in Minneapolis, fairly large city. I moved a lot of gravel around, could I have stirred something up?
They didn't all die right away, it took a while and hit some sooner than others. They would seem to lose their ability to swim how they wanted and turn over or not stay horizontal, and would then go on periodic erractic swimmings. I want to get more fish but I need ta have a good idea of whats going on before I do. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.
I started my 30 gal tank bout 3 months ago, did a fishless cycle and got some fish, some neon tetras, zebra danios, cory catfish, and a couple snails. On my first water change I lost a couple neons and it seemed like my fish would go into shock mode, non usual behavior. I tested my water and i figured this was because of a large ph change, something in my tank was dropping my ph. I took out a peice of driftwood, thought that was maybe doing it but it was still going down. The only other things in my tank are gravel, a couple plastic plants, and one fake decorative rock. I continued to do small changes (~ 4 gal) every other day or so to control my ph but this got taxing on me. My fish would still go into a shock mode for a short period of time but I didn't lose any. So i stopped doing this and the ph prol went to 6.4 or so.
For the past 2 weeks i've been giving tiny doses of AP's Ph up everyday or two to get to a good Ph to do a larger water change. Over those weeks i got it to 7.0 - 7.2, which is what my water is at. Did a water change, then said given event happened.
I tested the ph in the tank now and it's the same 7.0 -7.2. I don't think it has to do with the Ph but I figured i'd give you the story and let y'all decide about it. The temperature did go up maybe 6 degrees fahrenheit to 80 degrees. I checked the ammonia level and it was between .5 and 1.0 ppm.
My tank is cycled and my tap water test that much for ammonia also. So i don't think it's any of that.
I thought it was ph before but now i think it has to be something to do with the waterchange. I'm using Ap's stress coat as a de-chlorinator. Can that go bad early? It says it expires 1/08. It was probably sitting for a while unused, if that matters. The bucket I use used to have powder laundy detergent in it but i washed it real good and scrubbed it and also soaked it in hot water for a while. Could it be my water? I live in Minneapolis, fairly large city. I moved a lot of gravel around, could I have stirred something up?
They didn't all die right away, it took a while and hit some sooner than others. They would seem to lose their ability to swim how they wanted and turn over or not stay horizontal, and would then go on periodic erractic swimmings. I want to get more fish but I need ta have a good idea of whats going on before I do. Any input would be appreciated, thanks.