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pH is actually how acidic or basic your water is. So yes. Certain pHs can kill your fish. Most fish adapt to pH within a range but if the water gets to acidic (lower pH) or too basic (higher pH) it will kill your fish. However, if your water is hard, it has more buffering capability which means...

Maybe the units are supposed to be ppb?

That seems like a good idea. I'll give the city a call. Thanks!

Yes. It just has one little guy in it. He's about 2 inches right now. I just got him last week.

It's weird. I just looked up a water quality report for the city and according to it the MCL for nitrite+nitrate is 10000 ppm. The report was from 2010. Apparently the 2011 one isn't up yet. That's seems crazy high. I wonder if the units are wrong somehow...

I just looked that up and it looks quite complicated. I think I'll just try plants first. Thanks!

I like the look of the dwarf water lettuce. It's a floating plant, right? I've never had live plants before and for some reason they intimidate me. I'd love to give it a try though.

Nope. Just city water.

Hey everybody. I haven't been able to get my nitrates under 40-80 ppm (I have a really hard time telling the colors apart. They look so similar...) so I decided to test my tap water. It tested the same 40-80 ppm. What am I supposed to do about this? Am I just testing wrong? I follow the...

Oh, and I forgot to say the filters don't produce ammonia. They just provide a home for the good bacteria. Filters are great and do nothing but good for a tank. :)

+1 i drew a picture for you because I understand things better if I can see them. The fish, uneaten food, poop, etc put a toxic chemical ammonia into the water. This ammonia damages fish. However, a certain kind of bacteria lives by eating the ammonia. The bacteria processes the ammonia and...

Ok good. That's what I do too. Just rinse really well. Thanks to both of you for responding. Now I don't have to wonder about it :)

Ok. This may be a dumb question but how do you clean your hands before you put them in your tank? I worry about the residue from soap so I thought I'd ask and find out what other people use. Thanks for your input! :)

I just read this whole thread because I was so worried after the first little bit that I couldn't stop reading. Haha I'm so glad things are going better. I'm sorry you lost so many but I'm glad the rest seem to be ok :)

Hey, thanks for all your help. It's very useful. I'll let you know when I get another fish. Hopefully it goes better next time. :)

Hmm... That's what I was afraid of. I'd never thought about quarantining a fish that was going into a tank by itself but now I definitely see why it's a good idea. And I will definitely pick up some meds before I get another Oscar. I think I'm going to try a different LFS too. Oh and I found out...

Ok. I'm not sure if I should start a new thread because I'm not sure what the rules are but I have more questions about my tank. I'm not sure what to do now. Do I need to worry that my tank/filter are infested with parasites or some other sickness? Since I don't have a fish any more is it safest...

Yeah. I'm pretty sad about it. Thanks for your help. I really appreciate it.

I just checked on him again and he's dead.

Ok. I will. I recognize that I bought a sick fish but it's still really discouraging. I hope I can get him well. I'm really worried that he's going to die tonight. I'll let you know what happens tomorrow. Thanks for all the help :)

Thank you so much. I'll see if I can find it in the morning. :)

Oh. That's true. USA. I thought I'd try jungle clear? It seems to be the most common one. I guess I don't know if it's available here. Do you have any other ideas?

Ok. This is what he looks like now. My husband says he has been hanging out in the plants all day. He seems to be struggling to swimming through the current from the filter. He still has white stringy poop. I didn't get back into town early enough to buy him different food. Is the best move now...

Hey! I don't know. I had to go out of town for business and so my husband has been taking care of him. I don't think he's eaten in a couple days. I'm planning to pick up some ghost shrimp for him on my way home tonight. I don't want them to die right away (in case he doesn't eat them very...

I took several fish biology/ecology classes in college and we handled fish all the time. The only rule was to make sure your hands are wet before you touch the fish. It's when you touch them with dry hands that it hurts their coat/scales. We were handling fish from streams but I would think it...