gh water hardness

[MICKSNOWDOG]

i lost two oscars, the fish shop tested some of our water and said the water hardness was no good, too hard, gave us some powder to bring it down.
so i tested the rest of my tanks and its all bad, either that or my test solution is no good.
are my pleco's all gonna die from water hardness?
what do i do?

 

[D-MAC]

How old are your test kits? Are any other fish looking sick? Can you post the results of all the tests? ie ph,gh,kh,no2,no3 and ammonia

 

[macvsog23]

Natural hardness in water is not an Oscar killer normaly

Are you doing the 10% weekly water changes?
Are you feeding only 2 or 3 times a week?
Is your tank under stocked?
Answer yes to all the questions you should have a tank most fish can live in a no to any of them is the area you need to change.

 

[Lornek8]

Were the oscars new?

 

[MICKSNOWDOG]

dmac, the test kit is like 15yo, i just read on the back of it after i posted this up.
i'll get a new one today.
macvsog, yes to water changes, the oscars were only about 10cm long so they got fed 2xdaily, and they sure ate every bit of it. mainly bloodworms but veggie blocks here n there too, there were 5 10cm in a 250lt/64g tank.
no the oscars had been in there for a couple of months, and grown really quickly and been pretty healthy, they did have a few battle scars from fighting a bit i think but other than that they were pretty well off.
thanks peoples, i will post up new results tonight from all the readings on all my tanks.

 

[Lornek8]

Fish can be affected by water hardness, but with water composition, its typically immediately or rather long-term. I'd expect something else besides water hardness to be the culprit.

 

[macvsog23]

Hi

You hit it on the ehad feeding 2 times a day blood worm and veg cut to once every 2 days and cut the bloodworm to once a week use shrimp or prawn. u say they eat it all may be they do but sadly they also crap it all out.
One point a lot of people miss with over feeding is they may eat it all but more food = more poo and pee so more waste, a fish will eat when the food is presented not when it needs the food it is called greed we are the same. cut the feeding and your get better water

 

[MICKSNOWDOG]

thanks peoples very much, i will amend my ways.

 

[D-MAC]

While I agree with macvsog23 that overfeeding is the most likely culprit, why didnt your lfs find anything when they tested the water for you? Overfeeding and waste buildup wouldn't explain high hardness readings, unless you feed your fish cockle shell.Are you totally happy with your lfs and trust them 100%?

 

[MICKSNOWDOG]

While I agree with macvsog23 that overfeeding is the most likely culprit, why didnt your lfs find anything when they tested the water for you? Overfeeding and waste buildup wouldn't explain high hardness readings, unless you feed your fish cockle shell.Are you totally happy with your lfs and trust them 100%?

i dont know to be honest mate. the ammonia, nitrate/nitrite and ph were all fine, just the hardness was out.
we did add this green **** called melafix, maybe they had some reaction to that.

 

[Lornek8]

i dont know to be honest mate. the ammonia, nitrate/nitrite and ph were all fine, just the hardness was out.
we did add this green **** called melafix, maybe they had some reaction to that.

What's "fine"? Any specific numbers?

Melafix shouldn't be green. Its a good natural med. Any reason you're using it? Can eat up oxygen in the tank (all meds can) so could've caused some issues.

Getting back to you're original post. Did you add the powder too your tank before you lost the Oscars or after?

 

[MICKSNOWDOG]

after, after they died we added the hardness changer stuff, i cant remember numbers, prob 7.2-4 ph ammonia and nitrates 0.

 

[D-MAC]

after, after they died we added the hardness changer stuff, i cant remember numbers, prob 7.2-4 ph ammonia and nitrates 0.

Thats a pity you can't remember...Always try and use test kits within a year of manufacture...The reasons I was asking for the details I did, was because a lot of things didn't add up...If you are thinking of buying some test kits, I would recommend API 5 in 1 dip strips and also the API ammonia dip strip...I have had a lot of people rubbish the dip strip testers in the past, but I have found these to very good...Def good enough for my purpose...If you test twice a month, you get a year from the kit.

 

[MICKSNOWDOG]

lost another oscar last night. got two left, they are looking better but still not real flash. i probably neglected to mention earlier that they had some wounds on them, i guessed it was from fighting.

 

[Lornek8]

Any ideas of what the hardness was?
Any new fish added to the tank recently?

Fighting is a possibility, more probably than water hardness. A thing to remember, as they grow agression gets worse. Just because they lived well together when young doens't mean it'll stay that way.

 

[MICKSNOWDOG]

the reading was over 216, i remember that much.
right now one of the two remaining has a big white spot on it, looks like a big chunk has been taken out and is healing, he looks sick as, i dont think he's gonna make it. there seems to be nothing i can do, everything is right but i'm still losing em.
thanks to everyone for their help.

 

[macvsog23]

Hi

My Suspicion is to put it bluntly your keeping rather large aggressive fish in close proximity.
One point I make again and again is that when keeping fish a natural balance is important.
Keeping several sexually mature aggressive fish in a tank is asking for trouble.
Again I will quote the 3 laws sex kill die, this is what fish do no friends, no love, no favourite football teams, just reproduction, predation and avoiding predation.

Nice as a group of Oscars look in a tank with very little space and room compared with the natural environment they will fight.

I am not making this statement to rubbish you just to help you.
If I was in your position I would start again, sell the remaining fish, clean the tank set it all up and then run the tank on a fishless cycle for a few weeks 5 or 6 and start to stock again buying your fish on a compatibility basis and copy nature selecting fish that are compatible and from the same eco system.

 

[MICKSNOWDOG]

hi, thanks for your input, i was undereducated when i bought these, i did buy them at 5cm and in a few months they at least tripled in size. the bigger ones seemed to have died first, i have the smallest and the biggest still kicking along. i have removed them from the tank completely and put them in another, they are much more active right now, i hope they will make it through.
why do you say sell the fish off?
i'm going to try again in my 8footx2x2foot tank, maybe 3 oscars this time, knife fish, clown loaches, geos, jack dempseys and maybe a texas or two and a silver dollar or 3.

 

[macvsog23]

Despite the tank size your mixing fish with a very developed ability to defend and to kill, in nature these fish would have a river system to live in thus avoiding fights and death.
My point with selling is start again look at the type of fish you enjoy, make a list of these fish and then check compatibility, size, habitat , food, aggression and fine tune the list.

Many people keep a mixed tank with aggressive fish but they have to understand the fish and its habits.

 

[zeebo]

Just a little input --you might want to check ''Loaches on Line''site Before you invest in clown loaches..they need to be in large groups to be happy,need lots of hidey holes, grow big and live long(20yrs) ,need good water flow ,and have sharp eye blades that ensure first to eat -ouch!
I agree with others here, to read up on what fish you want ,then see what is actually feesible. HTH
Georgie