Instant Ocean

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I just went to Petsmart today and got Instant Ocean. I have a few questions about how I should use it. First of all, because I have brackish fish, how much should I use? Second, are any of the fish in my 20 gallon, such as Marbles, intolerant of brackish conditions? And third, though quite off topic, Ying just got a lot worse with the finrot on his tailfin. The only things wrong with the water are the alkalinity and ph. It is acidic in the tank. NOTHING else is wrong, not nitrates, nitrites, or even amonia. I am going to do a water change tonight and if given answers soon enough I'll use Instant Ocean.

 

[Seleya]

Have you TESTED for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? Last time you were asked several times over, we never got a straight answer from you. What are the numbers? pH is not going to cause the problems you have been having. SOMETHING is causing your water to be acidic unless your water is naturally that way. Are you doing water changes? How often? How much? What are you adding to the water when it is added to the tank? Are you using anything else? Are you vacuuming the gravel? How old are these tanks now? When is the last time you replaced filter media?

Your brackish fish are in two seperate tanks with non-brackish fish. The glassfish and violet goby, are the brackish fish to be precise. This is what I meant before by re-examining what is in your tanks -- you have two brackish fish, neither of which belongs in a 10 and probably a 20 considering the glassfish is a schooling fish and the goby can reach good size given proper care, a guppy, which needs better water conditions than you are currently able to provide, a larger tetra which really needs to be in a much larger tank with a school of his own, a CAE which could be trouble eventually and has no business in a 10 either and whatever exactly "Marbles" is....

To find out how much salt to add to achieve brackish levels, one must determine what level of salinity is optimum for the fish and use a hydrometer to help determine when that level is reached. Most people start out by gradually building to 1.005 -- gradually so the fish and nitrifying bacteria can adjust to the change. Some brackish keepers remain at that level, others go higher to 1.012 or so.

 

[wayne]

I suspect marbles to be a 'mutt' chinese algae eater. None of the algae eaters, or the silver dollar will do well in brackish water and may well die quite quickly.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I tested the water with everything I have. I don't remember the exact numbers but trust me, they were fine. Lately, because of fin rot, I have done water changes frequently.
Marbles looks like a half golden and half normal algae eater. He has a gold head with a black patch on top. His belly is yellow, and his back is grey mixed with yellow.
Are you telling me that this whole time, since APRIL 2006 people have been telling me to buy a product, that is good for 2 of my fish, but could kill the others? Is there any other product that I can use that won't kill my others? I'm not made of money and I might get 1 55 gallon tank for my fish for Christmas and If I can't put Ying AND Platinum in it, it really defeats the point.
Just as a side question, can guppies live in brackish water?

 

[MOsborne05]

Yes guppies can live in brackish water as well as other livebearers like mollies and platies. In order for your fish to thrive, you are going to need 2 tanks because they need different conditions. Next time you decide to get new fish, do some research first to determine what conditions are best for them. If you do a brackish water tank, make sure you raise the salinity very slowly, no more than 1.001sg per week. I had figure 8 puffers, bumblebee gobies and mollies in my brackish tank. There really are alot more brackish fish than you would think

 

[Seleya]

As Morgan pointed out, it is really important to research which fish one chooses. As you can see for yourself now, you have a variety of fish with specific demands, very few of which are truly compatible or are having their needs met. If you are unable to meet all their demands, you may need to make some tough decisions for their benefit. There are plenty of sources for inexpensive aquaria -- I would pursue that as much as possible.

It is also critical to know what is going on in your tank. With the recent problems you are having, testing properly is very important and part and parcel to getting good help. Every time I have asked for numbers, you evade the issue. You need to know for YOURSELF if something is off when something goes wrong -- we need to know as well to try to help you. What you may feel are perfectly fine numbers may set of alarm bells with us and we may be able to help you because of that.

 

[wayne]

What do you want 'the products' to do for you. Ultimately you have bought some fish that are incompatible with each other - some need brackish water for good health, or at least very hard water, and some require soft. They don't make products that will get you round that. You need to split the fish into two tanks.

 

[Dragon cqzzzzz<]

I've decided that at Christmas I'll get a 55 gal tank for my brackish fish. Then somehow I'll try to get some kind of large hex tank for Platinum and Marbles. Skeezit can then live in the 20 gallon with little community fish. Can someone suggest how large of a hex I should get? (I want a hex so when Platinum throws a fit he won't hurt himself)
All of my finrot seems to be getting better so I suspect that Ying damaged himself on something. The Melafix has been so effective that Platinum's tailfin is growing a little bigger than it was.
I know that I should have studied my fish before I got them, but at Petstupid I was only looking for fish that "require aquarium salt" and I thought that meant that they were brackish. I'm sorry about that.

 

[Mahamotorworks]

Question about brackish Fish. Are German Blue Rams Brackish?

Thanks

MAHA

 

[Seleya]

Most definitely not! Anything you can read about them will tell you they're a soft water species.....