Man oh Man,
Ok.. I'm now 52 today... I have wanted a gorgous planed tank since I was
probably 15 or 16.. so that is a lot of yearning...
I have had fish kill off after fish kill of the last few months...
damn man...
I thought I had it under control.. last water change.. no die offs... no
one looking stressed ( livestock I am talking about) and the plants
looking the best I have ever had!!! I was actually starting to prune for
shape!! So then... I go to the LFS store tonight.. buy 3 Clown loaches...
3 rainbows... $50! It's my friggin birthday.. so who gives a rip right?
I come home.. carefully add float them..wait 1/2 hour add 20% water...
wait 1/2 hour.. add 20% more water.. wait anthother 1/2 hour.. add 20%
more water.. wait another 1/2 hour.. go to release them and the rainbows
are dead... the clowns are looking like they are ready to go... and I am
asking myself if it is worth it to have a planted tank!
Checked the water...
GH 8
Kh 4
Ph.. 6!
Ammonia 0
but get this.. Co2 over 30PPM... I stopped at 20...
Have DYI Co2... going into a RUGF... since doing this the plants have
taken off like crazy....
I should have checked the Ph... but I didn't.. everyone in the tank was
doing well... Kissing Gouramis, Pearl Gourami, Zebra Danios, Rams, Red
Tail shark and cory cat fish.....
KH and GH seems that is should have been high enough to buffer the water
so the CO2 wouln't bring the PH down that far...
So.. I changed 20 % water... with aged treated water ( With Prime) that
has been standing 3 days...water was stored in Bottled Water Bottles.....
Pulled the CO2 off....
Now I have Ph 6.2
KH 5
CO2 still over 30 PPM
So.. old fish still looking great and healthy... new fish gone....(maybe
one clown is going to pull throuh.. :-) ) from I am sure the PH change
from LFS to 6.0 in my tank...
Any advise for a frustrated dumb sh**?
John Van Rees