sodbuster95
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2013
- Messages
- 86
Long post, sorry. Want to make sure all the info is out there...
I'm having an issue with my Panda Cory Cats dying all of a sudden and I am unsure why.
I have a 29G high tank that's been established for about 2 months. Water parameters are:
Temp = 78
pH = 6.8
NH3/NH4 = 0
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 0
Cl = 0
GH = 8 Degrees
KH = 5 Degrees
PO43- = .5 (after dosing phosphorous), otherwise 0
It is currently stocked with:
8 Neon Tetras
7 Cherry Barbs
4 Dalmation Mollies
3 Gold Dubloon Mollies
3 Black Kuhli Loaches
2 (?) Panda Cory Cats (Started with 6, 2 dead, and 2 unaccounted for)
5 Nerita Snails
This is a planted tank and I have:
3 water wysteria
1 Amazon Sword
1 Chainsword
1 Cyperus
2 Red Wendtii.
For the plants, I add:
Flourish (3 ml 2/week)
Excel (3 ml daily)
Potassium (5 ml 2/week)
Phosphorous (5 ml 2/week)
Seachem Plant tabs (as needed)
I use a Marineland Aquatic Plant LED 11 hours per day.
I inject CO2 at a rate of 180~ BPM to maintain approximately 24 mg/l. I do a 50% water change once per week and all parameters are stable. I have some minor green hair algae, and some GSA on some of the leaves, but that is slowly correcting via targeting use of Excel on plant leaves. My substrate is standard gravel as you would find at any LFS (wasn't planning a planted tank initially).
Filtration is a Penguin 200 HOB and Fluval U3 internal.
Until a few days ago, everything was fine. Yesterday, I found one dead Panda Cory (which sucks since they're my favorite fish). Today, I found another. 2 remain alive, but two I cannot find and are presumed dead. I've had the Corys for 3 weeks. The other fish have been in the tank for about 2 months and seem perfectly happy. I feed once per day a variety of flakes, freeze-dried bloodworms, and shrimp pellets.
The only thing that has changed is the CO2. I started injecting about a week ago and my plants are thriving as a result. My tap water is soft out of the faucet with a GH of 6 and KH of 3. As a result, I used sodium bicarbonate (1 tsp) to raise the KH to 5.
Of course, not until after I dosed the baking soda did I find that Corys do not tolerate salt. Sodium being a prime component of baking soda now has me wondering if I've successfully killed my Pandas to grow my plants.
And, if that's the case, what do I use to keep my KH up for injecting CO2?
Thoughts?
I'm having an issue with my Panda Cory Cats dying all of a sudden and I am unsure why.
I have a 29G high tank that's been established for about 2 months. Water parameters are:
Temp = 78
pH = 6.8
NH3/NH4 = 0
NO2 = 0
NO3 = 0
Cl = 0
GH = 8 Degrees
KH = 5 Degrees
PO43- = .5 (after dosing phosphorous), otherwise 0
It is currently stocked with:
8 Neon Tetras
7 Cherry Barbs
4 Dalmation Mollies
3 Gold Dubloon Mollies
3 Black Kuhli Loaches
2 (?) Panda Cory Cats (Started with 6, 2 dead, and 2 unaccounted for)
5 Nerita Snails
This is a planted tank and I have:
3 water wysteria
1 Amazon Sword
1 Chainsword
1 Cyperus
2 Red Wendtii.
For the plants, I add:
Flourish (3 ml 2/week)
Excel (3 ml daily)
Potassium (5 ml 2/week)
Phosphorous (5 ml 2/week)
Seachem Plant tabs (as needed)
I use a Marineland Aquatic Plant LED 11 hours per day.
I inject CO2 at a rate of 180~ BPM to maintain approximately 24 mg/l. I do a 50% water change once per week and all parameters are stable. I have some minor green hair algae, and some GSA on some of the leaves, but that is slowly correcting via targeting use of Excel on plant leaves. My substrate is standard gravel as you would find at any LFS (wasn't planning a planted tank initially).
Filtration is a Penguin 200 HOB and Fluval U3 internal.
Until a few days ago, everything was fine. Yesterday, I found one dead Panda Cory (which sucks since they're my favorite fish). Today, I found another. 2 remain alive, but two I cannot find and are presumed dead. I've had the Corys for 3 weeks. The other fish have been in the tank for about 2 months and seem perfectly happy. I feed once per day a variety of flakes, freeze-dried bloodworms, and shrimp pellets.
The only thing that has changed is the CO2. I started injecting about a week ago and my plants are thriving as a result. My tap water is soft out of the faucet with a GH of 6 and KH of 3. As a result, I used sodium bicarbonate (1 tsp) to raise the KH to 5.
Of course, not until after I dosed the baking soda did I find that Corys do not tolerate salt. Sodium being a prime component of baking soda now has me wondering if I've successfully killed my Pandas to grow my plants.
And, if that's the case, what do I use to keep my KH up for injecting CO2?
Thoughts?