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Chloramine Diasters
Thank you for all the knowledge that this list has given to my aquatic
education. I have kept fish for over 35 years and I am now just gaining the
much knowledge of aquariums from this digest.
I have been trying to raise show guppies and have been having some real
distress. Most breeders raise fish in sterile aquariums, which seems so
unnatural to me. I have been trying to get a middle ground which will work
for me. I want to raising big & beautiful guppies in as natural setting as
possible (ei. Planted tank)
When I first started with the 14 tanks I was changing 10% of the water per
day. Boy that got old real quick, 5 gal buckets just did not cut it. So I
decide to do 25 to 30% change per week. That is when I really started to wipe
out some fish. I was using Aquanova to do these changes and was having a
terrible hair algae problem with my 55 gal Tetra tank. I learned that Aqua
nova was the cause of very high phosphate levels. I was also told that the
water in Baton Rouge (well water) was very high in other chemicals, so I
decided to buy a RO unit to fix the problem.
Well, I bought another trio of guppies to replace the causalities from the
past. They only lasted for 2 weeks. I still hurt from the fact that I managed
to kill such beautiful fish. At this time I was told to use Ph proper 7.0 and
add baking soda to my water to buffer it. Well, once again I managed to wipe
out my favorite trio and the fry that they had. Upon checking the water I
noticed high levels of Ammonia. This seem to happen almost over night. My
quest is that this was caused by water changes. But I could not figure out
why. I have 2 suspicions Thu. First is that my Chlorine or Chloramine levels
were so high that the Prime was not completely removing them. Or secondly
that the Prime was temporary binding the ammonia then releasing it a couple
of days after the water change, which was causing the high level of ammonia.
As of late I have purchased a new trio of guppies and have been using Java
moss in the tanks. The java moss was used to help with water quality and also
to key me in to any water problems. Well, the Moss has been showing what I
believe to be some stress. When I first put the moss in it was a Bright green
(Kelly Green) now it has faded (olive green), and I am worried that I still
have a water problem.
Water parameters pH 7.0 -7.2, Gh 0, Kh 4-6 (Gh & Kh expressed in DH), nitrite
most of time 0 -1 sometimes 2.5 to 5 mg/l, Ammonia most of the time 0 -.25
sometimes up to 1.5 to 3 mg/l
I am really frustrated at this point and need some help in managing these
aquariums. Please give me some advice on how to manage a planted aquarium
with show guppies. Any suggestions on water quality management would be
appreciated. Thanks in advance for your guidance.