Help please!!!

[Lea82]

Hi,
Any help you could give me would be great.
I have an established freahwater (over 12 months)40 gallon tank that had 5 neons and a rummy nose tetra. Aqua One maxi 104f. 40cm air stone and hailea air pump. Have API master kit.Parameters usually 6.4ph I used to try to raise it and it would just go too high with small amounts of ph up,(the fish all seem fine),nitrate 10, nitrite 0,ammonia 0.
A week ago I bought a plant and snail from local petbarn. The snail died the next day( awful smell). Parameters tested and all were as above.
2 days ago I bought some 12 more guppies and another snail. When I went to add new fish I noticed that the plant was basically dead, and the leaves were rotting. Did 50% WC and washed out the filter sponges as they were pretty gross with rotten leaves and I vac gravel then Added new fish. They seemed happy and the snail was out and crawling around.. The next day the snail is floating and half hanging out of shell, no smell so I don't think it is dead( Yet )
Checked parameters ph 6, ammonia 0.50, nitrite 0, nitrate 40!!!! Added Ammon lock, did another 50% WC. Parameters today,PH 6,4,ammonia 20, nitrite 5.0, nitrate 20. Snail still the same as before guppys either hover in corner under filter, or on surface. any suggestions on what to do?? Think I might I have caused a mini cycle to start. Should I remove the snail to another container? He still hanging out shell still not moving? How often should I do WC and how much? How often should I be rinsing out the sponges? Have also noticed there seems to be a lot of sediment on top of the black gravel,possibly stirred up from the water change and now settled. Thanks for help

 

[Supergummy]

I would move the snail in case he's sick. It sound like all the animals your buying are not the healthiest when you buy them?
If you did start a mini cycle and that's already an established tank.... Your in deep trouble. Add some more water conditioner and try to get the perimeters back down. Fast!!! But don't panic.

 

[Lea82]

I was stupid and bought the snail and plant from not usual shop I have a feeling this is what started the trouble. The new fish I bought were from another shop which is only fish and they always had quality fish there.

 

[Lea82]

I will add more water conditioner now. Any other suggestions?

 

[Supergummy]

I suspect that's part of the reason this happening

 

[Supergummy]

I can't help you any more... I'm not knowledgable enough

 

[Old Scales]

pH of 6 is too low. BB start to die off at below 6.4 pH. Sounds like you may have very soft water that is letting your pH crash. Buy and do a KH test. If below 4dkh you can add 1 tsp of baking soda per 20 gal. to give you more pH buffering. OS.

 

[Supergummy]

Someone told me that baking soda increases ph, is that true?

 

[Old Scales]

Yes it will. but don't go overboard on it. Get some crushed coral, put in a small filter bag and put in your filter. It gently, slowly raises pH and Kh and is more permanent. Baking soda is more a slight quick fix to save your BB. OS.

 

[Lea82]

Thanks for help , will get things I need tomorrow. So you think ph is problem? Would u suggest water changes etc daily or every other day?

 

[Old Scales]

You need to know what your tap levels are. Put some tap water in a glass, dechlorinate, let sit overnight, then test for all the things the test kit tests. This will let you know what water you are working with. Also get a gh/kh test kit addition. Livebearing fish don't do well in pH below 6.8 and prefer a KH above 4-6 with 10-12 being perfect. OS.

 

[Lea82]

Ok great thanks OS I will do tap water overnight now

 

[gilpi]

How often do you change water and how much? Most problems in a tank stem from not enough water changes and over feeding. Vacuuming the gravel is very important as well.
Sometimes going back to the basics is all you need.

 

[Paul1792]

Try bottled spring water ... for fastest temporary fix

pH of 6 is too low. BB start to die off at below 6.4 pH. Sounds like you may have very soft water that is letting your pH crash. Buy and do a KH test. If below 4dkh you can add 1 tsp of baking soda per 20 gal. to give you more pH buffering. OS.

Yes it will. but don't go overboard on it. Get some crushed coral, put in a small filter bag and put in your filter. It gently, slowly raises pH and Kh and is more permanent. Baking soda is more a slight quick fix to save your BB. OS.

It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than buying all new fish and plants. I recommend you bite the bullet so to speak and go to Walmart and pick up 18 gallons of bottled spring water (here the off brand is 88 cents a gallon - name brand is $1 but comes in a re-usable container good for refilling with R/O) then do an 18 gallon water change . Bottled spring water is usually ideal for aquariums. Do not use bottled distilled water or drinking water ....... no minerals. Walmart's dispensing machine of R/O (drinking) water is 27 cents a gallon but don't try that just yet since it is void of minerals as well.

Once you get your parameters in check with spring water, then I agree with Old Scales ..... go ahead and gradually do whatever it takes with the coral or whatever to keep your PH and minerals in check.

When I first set my 38 gallon tank up in late 2010 shortly after moving to FL, I spent the better part of a year trying to get my cloudy water to be clear. I tried everything in the book ... probably spending close to $100 in filtration and chemicals that did nothing.

Then I stumbled on to the Spring water solution for people with horrible tap water. I did the 50% change with spring water ..... and the next day my water was clear.

I switched to 100% spring water doing monthly 25% changes ..... until I joined this forum and found out about test kits & weekly changes For me now, it's weekly 20% changes with 50% spring, 25% R/O, & 25% tap. I also use Seachem purigen + seachem matrix in the filters. Also using some Poly-Filter to lower nitrates. Parameters are perfect now.

When I lived in Kansas, the tap was perfect for aquariums. Here, even the dog won't drink the tap water which smells and tastes horrible as well as being bad for fish.

I am glad that the 90% of members on this forum with decent tap water can have huge tanks and make giant water changes with a Python in a flash. The rest of us just have to suck it up and deal with poor water be it low ph, too hard, too soft, too much phosphate, too high nitrates yada yada.

 

[Lea82]

I normally change 50% every few weeks and gravel vac. But the last few days have doing every day. Am going to test tap water today. Have 2 sick kids so trying to juggle it all today. I also have a filter in fridge, wondering if this water might be better than just standard tap? To test do I have to de chlorinate it and let it sit overnight or can it be tested straight away? I'm in Australia, we don't have a walmart here as much as we need 1!! Can but spring water in big containers though, don't know anywhere that has taps to refill though.

 

[Old Scales]

To get the true pH you should let it sit overnight before testing. OS.

 

[Lea82]

Ok will do

 

[Lea82]

So I have tested the Tap water after sitting overnight and it's perfect water. Ph:7, amm, nitrite and nitrates are all 0! What would u suggest now? Daily water changes still of 50%? Added extra water conditioner last night as suggested. Haven't been able to get out today to buy gh/kh kit or coral due to the sick kids Had snail die today in separate container I removed him last night and 1 guppy in main tank died today. Tank tested right now
Ph 6- added baking soda now is 7
amm 0.50
nitrite 0
nitrate 20
Have added some more Ammon lock now.
The new fish don't look very well at all, either just laying on gravel or swimming at top in corner gaping at air. Any suggestions?? Thanks heaps

 

[Old Scales]

The ammo at .50 is worry some. It seems the 6.0 pH killed off most of your BB and you are going through a mini cycle. Although guppies are usually more tolerant of it than many fish. If your tank is cycled with still enough BB, the rise in pH from the bicarb should cause them to start growing again in your filter. You should see the ammo go down as the BB gets established. If by tomorrow evening you don't see a drop in the ammo, do a 50% WC to get it down to about .25. There is something in your tank that is lowering your pH or maybe contaminating the water with an unknown. Check & question everything in your tank to try and figure out what it could be. Keep me posted. OS.

 

[Lea82]

Will do, thanks O.S