losing fish...concerned about my water quality

[homebunnyj]

only loaches and puffers will go after snails... most fish ignore them...

I had an apple snail get picked to death in my main tank, I think it was the gourami and black skirt tetras. Another one was attacked by my betta in the 10g. It depends on your fish.

 

[blue_ram]

As I think I said before, you don't need to be worrying about your PH levels, they don't matter with the fish you're keeping unless they're swinging all over the place. You need to be worrying about ammonia and nitrites. I know it's really tempting to buy a bunch of fish all at once, but believe me, it takes away from the fun if you get too many at once or they all die.

I disagree. Ammonia is increasingly toxic the higher the ph.

Ammonia Toxicity to Freshwater Fish

 

[MissFishy]

While that is true, as I'm sure you've seen, a lot of newbies focus on their PH levels thinking this is more important than their ammonia levels. My post was to redirect to the real problem, the ammonia/nitrite levels, not a minor change in the PH level or a PH at 8.0, which is not a problem at all with the fish being kept.

 

[NEWfishBIGpond]

I any case I think I got it figured out...I got the API kit and been testing every other day. My ammonia levels are at zero and now it seems as though it is in the nitrite phase. They are in the safe range, so I been keeping the water changed every couple of days just to keep the in check. My fish seem to be happy, their colors look great, so I will keep doing water changes frequently to keep it in check until it is cycled. Then I will get the additional fish. Hopefully my next posts will have more interesting content for ya'll..but I do appreciate the help!!! Everyone has been very helpful.