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Re: Guppy problems

> From: Rsimoneaux at aol_com
> Subject: Chloramine Diasters
> 
> 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)
> 
> 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. 

	What chemicals?  Are you sure you have a problem with the well water?
(apart from chloramine/chlorine)
> 
> 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.

	Have you any idea what is in "Ph (sic) proper 7.0"?  Why would you 
use what is apparently supposed to be a pH 7.0 buffer and then add sodium
bicarbonate?

> 
> Water parameters pH 7.0 -7.2, Gh 0,

	Surely guppies require substantial amounts of Ca++/Mg++?  I always
understood they were hard water fish.  I have a 38 L tank that has lots of
plants and breeding guppies.  I use my well water in it (hard).

> Kh 4-6 (Gh & Kh expressed in DH), nitrite 
> most of time 0 -1 sometimes 2.5 to 5 mg/l,

	This sounds like a major problem.  The nitrogen is coming from
_somewhere_ (food or chloramine?) and is not being dealt with either by
bacteria or plants.

> 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.

	 My guppies are definitely not show guppies, but thrive in the 
smallest, lowest maintenance tank I have.  It is a 38 L tank, with gravel
bottom, various crypts, giant duckweed, hornwort and java moss.  The light
is a very small, cheap workbench lamp (flourescent) laid right on the glass,
and the tank gets some sunlight as well.  The filter is a "hang on the back of the
tank" one, with a foam filter element on the inlet so that it doesn't
swallow the babies.  I use hard water straight from the well.  I feed the fish,
remove handfuls of giant duckweed and java moss, raid the tank for crypts
for eleswhere and do occasional water changes.  I avoid adding unknown
materials.

-- 
Paul Sears        Ottawa, Canada