Prometheus

Recently, every time I've tried to introduce fish into my 30 gallon setup, I've lost most of the new stock. Right now I have about 7 rummy nose tetras (originally introduced about 13 but they died off within a few days), 4 lampeye killies, 2 siamese algae eaters (originally 5), and 2 farlowellas (originally had others also) and 1 cardinal (lost the other 12!). At some point I had gouramis but they kicked the bucket after a few months. A few months later I added a different type of gourami--they died after a few days! So frustrating!!

I tried to put these fish in over the course of the last 6 months (not all at once). Tested the water at a local pet shop recently and they said the water is too hard at 7.8 (tests 0 for ammonia and everything else) A few months ago I believe my pH was around 7.6 with hardness at 300ppm. (They told me the tap water around here is a pH of 8.2 and according the city's water treatment website which I am now looking at, hardness is adjusted to 50ppm)

I'm beginning to think the crushed coral I put in the soil is driving the pH up. My plants are not doing fantastic either. Most leaves have yellowing tips and have developed some holes. Water sprite has died out quite a bit. Topping off with fresh water hasn't helped plant growth. I thought my plant problem was largely because of nitrate deficiency ( I didn't really have/and still don't have that many fish in the tank) so I thought it would be a good idea to add more fish. But I'm afraid to buy any new fish since they die within a few days in the tank. The local fish store owner says it would be crazy to put any more fish in there with such a high pH and that any extra ammonia would be deadly in this combo.

I'm not quite sure what to do here. Is it possible there is too much crushed coral in the soil? Does this mean I would have to take the whole setup apart and recreate it without the addition of any crushed coral? Its been very disappointing that I've lost a lot of fish...I haven't really had any other major problems.

I've attached two photos from a few weeks ago (probably right after some pruning) and a closeup of some of the leaves.

so disappointed that I might have to take it all apart. Did I make a mistake with the coral?

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tantaMD

hi prometheus, i agree with u, i think ur porblem is that u have such high pH. in diana's book she mentioned that addition of crush coral will be beneficial if u're using acidic water. my town has rather acidic water. ph around 5-6 so i added crush coral in my substrate. u can try adding a bogwood or driftwood to lower ur ph or consider other problems possibility before coming to the option of tearing up ur tank

Prometheus

Thanks for the advice, I have some driftwood I can try but would this only solve the problem temporarily?

Could a water change help at all or just kill off the rest of my fish at this point?

Michael

Have you done any water changes? If not, it is time to try some. I would do several 50% changes a few days apart.

I don't understand the advice you got from the local shop owner. pH 7.8 is high, but not fatal to most common fish. Are the hardness measurements for general hardness or carbonate hardness? High carbonate hardness is what one would expect from the crushed coral, and would tend to keep the pH stable on the high side.

Diana K

Test your tap water for GH and KH. TDS, too, if you have a probe. Your tap water might be a bit different from what the water company's annual report shows.

Test the tank for the same things.
Post the results, and be careful to label the results and the units you are using. "Hardness" refers to 2 totally different things. Very important to get it right.

Make water changes so that the net change in GH, KH or TDS is not greater than 10% lower.

For example, if the TDS in the tank is 500, then do a water change figured out so it ends up no lower than 450. Keep testing for a few days. Lets say the TDS goes up to 460, you can then do a water change where the end result is TDS of (mumble... mumble... 460 - 46 = ta dah!) 414 and so on. You can do about 2 of these water changes (10% drop each time) per week. This gives the fish the chance to adjust to the softer water.
The math works the same with GH and KH.

If you need to adjust some of these (GH, KH and TDS) there are ways.
Lets see the numbers before making any other suggestions.