Help

[Ccurtis1216]

Help! I have lost 8 fish in two weeks. I used well water when I set up the tank, it is very soft water. There were slight ammonia readings today but no nitrites and the ph was slightly elivated. One of my angel fish died and the other was being nipped at by the other fish. He also appeared to have tail rot so I medicated the tank and put him in his own container. This morning I woke up and one of my danios looked like he had an exploded stomach. I'm by sure what's going on. I had 5 tiger barbs and I thought they were being jerks so I put them in their own little tank but I'm still having deaths? *ALL*

 

[OrangeCones]

Hello Ccurtis1216 - We will need some more information to try to assist.

What sized tank is this? What are your readings of ammonia (actual numbers, not just 'slight'), nitrite and nitrate?

What fish and how many of each kind did you start out with, and what is still remaining?

 

[Thyra]

In order to help we would need a lot more info - size of tank and how long has it been set up. Is it cycled? Any amount of ammonia is lethal. You need to get beneficial bacterial and that can take awhile. The goal is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and about 20ppm nitrates. When you start seeing nitrates, that is when you know your tank is cycled. Most fish will accommodate to almost any pH. Stress and poor water quality can cause a lot of problems and by poor water quality I mean the ammonia and nitrite.

 

[Thyra]

Looks like we were both typing at the same time OC. lol