I lose a new fish every day...

[xerxeswasachump]

Ok, so i am trying to get my pH down so i can set up a south american/amazon tank. I've decided to get the pH down by softening the water. I have peat in the filter and i use neutral regulator when i do water changes. So far my pH hasn't changed even a little bit, but my water hardness is down to about 10-15ppm Kh/Gh (3 drops till the color change on the test). I had a lot of rock caves and whatnot but i took it all out and i am not going for an "all plants" aquascaping. Unfortunately, this means there are no longer any hiding spots for the fish, but they don't seem to mind too much. I do have some bark for my BGK and a coconut cave for my eel. Other than that the tank is nothing but fish and plants.

Ok, here are my problems. Since i have decided to start messing with the pH (which still hasn't changed at all), i have been losing approximately 1 fish a day every day. Last weekend i lost and anglefish, a golden ram (who looked healthier than any fish in the tank), and two glolite tetras. Before that, i lost 1 lemon tetra every day over 9 days till i was left with just 1, who is still alive. This week i have been losing one glolite tetra every day. I brought home a gorgeous anglefish yesterday and he doesn't seem to be eating. All he does is swim around the edges of the tank staring at the glass. He has no signs of disease, nor do any of the fish, including the ones that died.

What is causing all of this? My ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 80ppm. I have done several water changes but have not been able to get the nitrates down, every time i do anything they increase within a few days. I figured it wasn't much of a problem and that the plants would take care of it.

Please fishforums...tell me once again what i am doing wrong.

[Durbkat]

Maybe the tank is overstocked? What filter are you using? As you may need a stronger one.

[Puffer Pita]

The most likely cause is the fluctuating pH. pH chemicals such as pH Up or pH Down should never be used, precisely for that reason. Fish care less about a specific pH and more about a stable pH. In addition, I would also say the tank is overstocked, which causes a problem.

[rcomeau]

When was the tank first filled and when do you think it was done cycling?
What was the PH and what did you change it to?

I experienced dying fish like that when I setup a new tank. I kept the fish out of it for over a month until tests indicated that it completed cycling. I lost a few fish across a few days then lost a few adults one day. I took my water into my LFS and they didn't find anything abnormal.

High nitrates leads me to believe that there is still cycling going on. If it is a new tank then it just hasn't had enough time to adjust to the fish load. If it is an old tank then you might have caused more cycling by adding more fish or removing too much bacteria via water changes, removal of tank content, and/or over cleaning your filter.

From thetropicaltank...
In the past, nitrate was considered essentially harmless to fish; certainly it is far less toxic than ammonia or nitrite. It has been shown that levels of up to 1000 ppm may be required to cause death, but the effects of lower levels on long term health are not well understood. The sensitivity of different species to nitrate levels varies, and there may be long term effects on general health, growth and breeding ability.
Generally, many aquarists seem to agree that keeping nitrates below 50 ppm is necessary to prevent any long-term effects on fish health, but below 25 ppm is more desirable. Remember that many fish may come from a natural environment where there is little or no detectable nitrate. Fish which have been aquarium bred for generations are more likely to tolerate nitrates.

[CaysE]

Originally Posted by xerxeswasachump

...So far my pH hasn't changed even a little bit, but my water hardness is down to about 10-15ppm Kh/Gh (3 drops till the color change on the test)...

Is this number right? Wouldn't three drops equate to ~53.7ppm (according to my GH/KH tester anyway)?

[xerxeswasachump]

CaysE you are right. I just wasn't sure what the number was.
When i posted this, my nitrates were at like 160ppm' the ammonia and nitrates were both 0. I use a penguin 350 on the 55. I highly doubt it is overstocked. It has been up and running since April.
I just finished doing a 70 percent water change. My nitrate is now around 50 ppm. Should it be even lower?
What else do you guys need to know?
I haven't used pH up or down, i know they are crap. I was changing the pH by softening the water. It isn't working.
Also, the fish are acting a little strangely since i did the huge water change.

EDIT: There are 10 guppies that are mostly around 1 inch or less, 7 glolites, 2 bolivian rams, 1 golden ram, 1 lemon tetra, 1 big angel, 1 small peac.ock eel, 1 black ghost knife.

[mr.dark-saint]

I'll take a stab at this. When you bring your new fish do you aclamate them by dripping tank water to the new arrival's water? Did you also test the new fish's water? Since, the Shop and You run two different water preameters the new fish will get jacked. Now were you loosing your old stock as well or just new additions?

Did you treat the water before it went in to the tank so it was the "same" water quality? If not you just stressed out the whole lot since 70% change is big numbers (look forward to loss). Since you didn't mention I'll think of the worse case .

What numbers are you pulling straight from the tap? What kind of gravel and rock works (as in Calcium based)? PH up and down only lasts a day if that. Also waht is this "Bark" you are using and did it have any pesticides?

[unclerick666]

TEST YOUR TAP WATER! You may be adding nitrates without knowing it.

[girth vader]

Simplify your solution. I dont see an overstock issue with a good filter, however, I dont think that the penguin is doing the trick. If you're feeding often, that will spike your nitrates to that level of 160, so more frequent H2o changes may be neccesary. If cost is an issue, get yourself a large AC 110, that will do that 55g. If cost isnt get a Xp2 or Xp3, they are on sale at F&S for a great price. are they showing any redness on the belly when they die? If your PH is 8 or under then I wouldnt fiddle with it. Althogh angels and Rams prefer closer to 7ph, they will do fine at a steady PH higher then 7. Just keep the PH a constant and they will adapt.

[girth vader]

Simplify your solution. I dont see an overstock issue with a good filter, however, I dont think that the penguin is doing the trick. If you're feeding often, that will spike your nitrates to that level of 160, so more frequent H2o changes may be neccesary. If cost is an issue, get yourself a large AC 110, that will do that 55g. If cost isnt get a Xp2 or Xp3, they are on sale at F&S for a great price. are they showing any redness on the belly when they die? If your PH is 8 or under then I wouldnt fiddle with it. Althogh angels and Rams prefer closer to 7ph, they will do fine at a steady PH higher then 7. Just keep the PH a constant and they will adapt. also DW will naturally lower PH over time as well.

[xerxeswasachump]

Out of the tap my nitrates are 15ppm.
My boss, who has a degree in ichthyology, claims that nitrates are never toxic in freshwater. I think he might be right. I've recently realized that my 'trates have always been above 100 ppm the entire time i have been keeping fish and were usually around 300ppm. That is with bi-weekly water changes.

I'm worried about my filter, the left bio-wheel spins very slowly and i can't stand the stupid cartridge system. I just bought some chemi-pure carbon resin stuff, which is supposedly essentially 6 month carbon in fresh water. I'm down with that.
I'm also have other fairly serious problems with the tank.
I can't get my peac ock eel to eat again. At first he was nibbling on some freeze dried krill but now he won't even touch it, he just gets freaked out and runs away when i try to feed him. Also, i think he is getting weaker. When i first gothim he used to burrow in the gravel a lot. Now he will point his nose down and try really hard to push down on the gravel and not go anywhere. I think he may be getting too weak to burrow or something. He doesn't look emaciated though, but he is still real small.
The new anglefish i got seems freaked out too, he just swims around the borders of the tank. He also isn't eating much.

All of my fish seem pretty stressed out since the water change and the removal of all of the old tank decor. Also, my plants aren't growing well which is strange considering i have PC lighting and fluorite substrate.
When i did the water change i treated the new water with neutral regulator and (i was paranoid that it wouldn't work) with amquel+.

Hey, should i get a new filter or just a new bio-wheel?

[girth vader]

Originally Posted by xerxeswasachump

Out of the tap my nitrates are 15ppm.
My boss, who has a degree in ichthyology, claims that nitrates are never toxic in freshwater. I think he might be right.

I have heard arguments for both sides. I'm not sure which is truly correct, but I would think if not fatal, high nitrates would be harmful. If you were to take tests of lake water, I dont think you would see screaming high nitrates. And we are trying to simulate natural water environments.

[xerxeswasachump]

Well, i guess i really have no choice other than to have a high nitrate tank. Anyway, does anyone have advice as to how i could get my eel to eat? I think he wants live food. Unfortunately, around me ghost shrimp are really expensive ($10 for 15).
What sort of live food could i easily breed? I'd really like to make some kind of freshwater worm. I know black worms are out of the question, but are there any comprable alternatives?

We sell brine shrimp hatcheries at my store i guess i could try those. Ideally, i would like something that could survive until my worm decided to eat it. Also, i read online about a guy who bred wrigglers to feed to his eel. Where would i get wrigglers and how would i breed them and make them a nutritious food? (i bet all of my fish would love them).