Mikesfishtanks
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Heres my story.....I've had my tank set up since the end of December. It's a 10 gallon freshwater tank that has 1 dalmation Molly, 3 bloodfin tetras, and a peppered Cory catfish. I originally had two mollies and all the rest the same. My tank sadly got ich and I lost one of the mollies. I had replaced the Molly and that one had also died for some reason (no disease or anything like that). So I turned to see what the levels of ammonia nitrates etc. were. I got my water tested at petsmart last week and my ammonia was 0, nitrites were 10.0, nitrates were 40, ph was 7.6-7.8, alkalinity was 180, hardness was 150 and chlorine and chloramine was 0. I was told to do a 25% water change with distilled water and then a 10% water change. i did this and I got my water tested tonight and now
ammonia is 0.5
nitrites are 5.0-10.0
nitrates are 20
ph is 7.8-8.0
alkalinity is 300
hardness is 75
chlorine and chloramine is 0
Now I got a second opinion at a local pets store and petsmart. Petsmart told me to buy a buffer product and the local guy was an older gentlemen that sounded like he knew what he was talking about and he recommended doing a 50% water change with treated tap water and going from there. At this point I don't know what I should do and I'm looking to the more experienced people here for some help. So please help me out
ammonia is 0.5
nitrites are 5.0-10.0
nitrates are 20
ph is 7.8-8.0
alkalinity is 300
hardness is 75
chlorine and chloramine is 0
Now I got a second opinion at a local pets store and petsmart. Petsmart told me to buy a buffer product and the local guy was an older gentlemen that sounded like he knew what he was talking about and he recommended doing a 50% water change with treated tap water and going from there. At this point I don't know what I should do and I'm looking to the more experienced people here for some help. So please help me out