Masha
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I've been having some problems with mystery deaths of otherwise healthy looking fish. I lost three peppered cories and two bronze cories, as well as a honey gourami over the last three months.
I suspect that the problem is that the PH in the tank drops steadily through the week, so that when I do a water change, there is an abrupt PH swing which harms the fish.
I tested the tankwater just before doing a waterchange, and PH is about 7.5
Tapwater is 8 after outgassing cholrine.
I think what's happening is that there is a lot of waste in my tank which is being processed by the BB, but as a result there is a drop in PH. I seem to remember BB processing can cause a drop in PH if there is too much waste to process?
I don't think it's the driftwood causing that PH drop, as it's no longer leaching tannins.
So my questions are:
1) Could this be the cause of mystery deaths - doing a 50% water change with water of a different PH?
If so, what's my best solution?
1)Do a very thorough gravel and tank clean?
2)Do a smaller percentage water change?
3)Do more water changes - e.g. two a week?
The tank details are:
Cycled, 23 gallon tank, Tests 0% ammonia, 0% nitrites, and somewhere between 0-12 on the nitrate test a week after a water change. I use an Aquaclear 70 filter.
Tank has many live plants, tough ones like java fern and anubias, as well as a external philodendrum that dangles its roots in the water. Also some driftwood which has stopped leaching tannins as far as I can see.
I do a 50% water change every week.
At the moment, my tank has 8 black widow tetras, 3 silver-tip tetras, 1 bronze cory, 1 java loach, 1 apple snail. They all seem well and happy.
I've been feeding them very minimally (in another thread, people have suggested that I must up the feeding as that might be the cause of the deaths)
I suspect that the problem is that the PH in the tank drops steadily through the week, so that when I do a water change, there is an abrupt PH swing which harms the fish.
I tested the tankwater just before doing a waterchange, and PH is about 7.5
Tapwater is 8 after outgassing cholrine.
I think what's happening is that there is a lot of waste in my tank which is being processed by the BB, but as a result there is a drop in PH. I seem to remember BB processing can cause a drop in PH if there is too much waste to process?
I don't think it's the driftwood causing that PH drop, as it's no longer leaching tannins.
So my questions are:
1) Could this be the cause of mystery deaths - doing a 50% water change with water of a different PH?
If so, what's my best solution?
1)Do a very thorough gravel and tank clean?
2)Do a smaller percentage water change?
3)Do more water changes - e.g. two a week?
The tank details are:
Cycled, 23 gallon tank, Tests 0% ammonia, 0% nitrites, and somewhere between 0-12 on the nitrate test a week after a water change. I use an Aquaclear 70 filter.
Tank has many live plants, tough ones like java fern and anubias, as well as a external philodendrum that dangles its roots in the water. Also some driftwood which has stopped leaching tannins as far as I can see.
I do a 50% water change every week.
At the moment, my tank has 8 black widow tetras, 3 silver-tip tetras, 1 bronze cory, 1 java loach, 1 apple snail. They all seem well and happy.
I've been feeding them very minimally (in another thread, people have suggested that I must up the feeding as that might be the cause of the deaths)