Water hardness

[Jmrwiggly]

How important is water hardness? I purchased 10 oto cats Thur. but lost 6 already. I did a water check my ph was above 7.6 and nitrate was 80 ppm. Ammonia 0.25 ppm and nitrite 0 ppm. My ph normally is at 7.2 and nitrate is always high. My water source is 40 ppm I vaccumed the tank and cleaned the filter (canister) last weekend. I live in the country so my water source is a dug well not drilled. I live in western NY and this summer we had a drought. I'm concerned that the drought did some changes to the water.

John

 

[Andy Sager]

How important is water hardness? I purchased 10 oto cats Thur. but lost 6 already. I did a water check my ph was above 7.6 and nitrate was 80 ppm. Ammonia 0.25 ppm and nitrite 0 ppm. My ph normally is at 7.2 and nitrate is always high. My water source is 40 ppm I vaccumed the tank and cleaned the filter (canister) last weekend. I live in the country so my water source is a dug well not drilled. I live in western NY and this summer we had a drought. I'm concerned that the drought did some changes to the water.

John

It's more important to some fish than others however, in your case, the ammonia level or nitrate level could have killed these fish. They are a bit more sensitive to poor water quality and any ammonia, especially in a cycled tank, is not good. Nitrates should be closer to 40 ppm ( or lower) so that too could have been the issue.

I'd fix those 2 things before adding any new fish then go from there. If your hardness is the same as the shops you get your fish from, there is no need to change it.