prophet224
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2011
- Messages
- 4
Hi all,
So I kept goldfish for a few years a while back and loved it. For Christmas this year my wife gave me a new tank/starter kit (my old stuff was gone). After some debate, I decided to go with freshwater tropicals this time around.
I will say right off the bat that I made a big mistake early. I don't know if I misread the pH or what, but when I went back and checked post-fish, the pH was 5.5! I started adding a bit of 'up' chemical each day to slowly raise the pH.
That said, here's the rest:
It was an Aqueon 14gallon kit - powerfilter was for a 20, came with a heater and some Aquasafe.
Timeline
- Got tank and stand, etc. set up last Wednesday. Used our tapwater which is from a well - not much in it, but there is high turbidity. Water is pretty hard, around 300-400. Added the Aquasafe then let the heater and filter do their work for two days.
- On Friday we got a couple of fish. Four X-Ray Tetras, all no more than an inch, and one Marigold Swordtail, about 2 inches tops. We set the bags in the water, let them adjust, let set them free. Gave them a touch of tropical flake food that evening.
- Friday and Saturday the water got cloudy. I added some bacteria supplement and Saturday evening/Sunday it was much more clear. It was Friday that I discoverd the pH problem and started trying to raise it.
- Sunday I notice my Swordtail is now swimming around the top a lot, where before he was all over the place or in the bottom corner. Much less active.
- Later Sunday I ask a friend about the high hardness and he mentions that it is a pain to lower. Basically suggests diluting it. I wanted to do a water change anyway, so I do a water change and replace with distilled water.
- This morning - my little fishy seemed a bit better. He was cruising around the mid-level a bit more. An hour later after my wife left for work, he was on the bottom, on his side, barely breathing. I removed him to a temporary 'hospital tank', where he later stopped breathing entirely. Poor, poor fishy.
* The Tetras don't seem to have a care in the world.
Testing:
Water has not really varied in stats, though pH is coming up some:
pH - 5.5 to about 6
Alkalinity - Showed 'ideal' - don't remember what the number was.
Nitrate/nitrite - The dangerous one was 0 and the other was a little high.
Hardness - ~300-500, higher than the Tetras at least would like.
Ammonia - ? I'm ashamed to say the test strips I have include color codes for ammonia but no location on the strip to compare them to!
Tank:
Thank you all for any help you can give!
-Matt
Distressed and saddened fish owner
EDIT: The plants are live. Swordtail ('Westley') was nipping on the green one with stripes. The decorations were added Sunday after a thorough rinsing with warm water only. Both decorations are quite fake. The big one did still smell funny (plastic-y) after rinsing.
So I kept goldfish for a few years a while back and loved it. For Christmas this year my wife gave me a new tank/starter kit (my old stuff was gone). After some debate, I decided to go with freshwater tropicals this time around.
I will say right off the bat that I made a big mistake early. I don't know if I misread the pH or what, but when I went back and checked post-fish, the pH was 5.5! I started adding a bit of 'up' chemical each day to slowly raise the pH.
That said, here's the rest:
It was an Aqueon 14gallon kit - powerfilter was for a 20, came with a heater and some Aquasafe.
Timeline
- Got tank and stand, etc. set up last Wednesday. Used our tapwater which is from a well - not much in it, but there is high turbidity. Water is pretty hard, around 300-400. Added the Aquasafe then let the heater and filter do their work for two days.
- On Friday we got a couple of fish. Four X-Ray Tetras, all no more than an inch, and one Marigold Swordtail, about 2 inches tops. We set the bags in the water, let them adjust, let set them free. Gave them a touch of tropical flake food that evening.
- Friday and Saturday the water got cloudy. I added some bacteria supplement and Saturday evening/Sunday it was much more clear. It was Friday that I discoverd the pH problem and started trying to raise it.
- Sunday I notice my Swordtail is now swimming around the top a lot, where before he was all over the place or in the bottom corner. Much less active.
- Later Sunday I ask a friend about the high hardness and he mentions that it is a pain to lower. Basically suggests diluting it. I wanted to do a water change anyway, so I do a water change and replace with distilled water.
- This morning - my little fishy seemed a bit better. He was cruising around the mid-level a bit more. An hour later after my wife left for work, he was on the bottom, on his side, barely breathing. I removed him to a temporary 'hospital tank', where he later stopped breathing entirely. Poor, poor fishy.
* The Tetras don't seem to have a care in the world.
Testing:
Water has not really varied in stats, though pH is coming up some:
pH - 5.5 to about 6
Alkalinity - Showed 'ideal' - don't remember what the number was.
Nitrate/nitrite - The dangerous one was 0 and the other was a little high.
Hardness - ~300-500, higher than the Tetras at least would like.
Ammonia - ? I'm ashamed to say the test strips I have include color codes for ammonia but no location on the strip to compare them to!
Tank:
Thank you all for any help you can give!
-Matt
Distressed and saddened fish owner
EDIT: The plants are live. Swordtail ('Westley') was nipping on the green one with stripes. The decorations were added Sunday after a thorough rinsing with warm water only. Both decorations are quite fake. The big one did still smell funny (plastic-y) after rinsing.