soldieroffortune1974

I would assume that there's several factors going on at the same time.

I agree with them as far as having too much salt in the aquarium. Though our opinions differ from having NO salt,but that's a different topic. I suspect when you changed the water,perhaps the pH levels dropped too rapidly. And/Or the water temp was too cold when you added it. (best to use room temp water) I can't offer anymore than that without having specific readings. A drop in PH and cold water will cause shock,which will make the fish sluggish,as well as the salt poisoning.

DarkRevoultions

Wow that must be really good.

When I first had my 10 gallon a long time ago, my goldfishes died all the time because I never used aqua clear or cycle before, but that was when I never had the tank cycled a long time ago. So now things have changed and my tank is a lot better now and my goldfishes aren't there anymore, so I have african cichlids.

Just one thing, I thought angels and Altum angels are very delicate, and cannot tolerate high ammonia levels :S I thought I am not supposed to have any ammonia :S

Shawnie

sometimes a goldie is as sensitive as an angel..each fish is different..but dont rely on life or death to determine your ammonia levels...and having a test kit of your own, makes you not have to rely on anyone but yourself either

DarkRevoultions

My temperature is at 80ºF I turned it that high just to help kill bacteria.

I don't know if I should raise it up to 86ºF :S

My fishes have survived before, but I don't know if I must of put in too much aquarium salt.

Should I just stop using aquarium salt for a long time now? or should I just get some aqua plus?

Shawnie

I wouldnt use salt period ...and 80f is fine ...86 IMO is too high.....

soldieroffortune1974

DO NOT turn up the heat to 86,that would be too much. 80 is about as high as you want.You would have to raise the temp high enough to cook the fish,before you succeeded in killing the bacteria.

SALT in an aquarium is a matter of debate,I only use it in my quarantine as a tonic,different topic...........Not in the main aquarium where the fish live.Aqua plus doesn't remove salt,your filter doesn't remove salt.The only way to get rid of it is doing several water changes over a period of time.

Salt will also alter the PH as well,salt is caustic (acidic)

DarkRevoultions

Good point.

DarkRevoultions

Oh I see. So then the salt could raise up the pH level?

I just need it to be at 6.8 but I don't know if it is going to be really really high now. My pleco is still alive along with my male guppies. Strangely nothing bad has happened to them.

My plants might be trying to help, but I doubt that it could help with the water.

I might have to perform a water change again, I can't believe that this is going to be very hard.

How come my African Cichlids can survive in my other tank I put a lot of A S in my tank too. (aquarium salt)

soldieroffortune1974

Salt is acidic which would cause the PH to drop. A PH level of 6.8 is slightly acidic.

African Cichlids in nature normally have trace amounts of salt in their lake,river,streams,etc. Cichlids can adjust to a varied range of PH changes,rather quickly. Angels however have to adapt more gradually.

If you have already performed a 50% water change,then I would wait a day,before changing it again.Then only perform a 25% change,then a 10% change after that. The salt at that point shouldn't affect them much.Then change it at regular intervals.

The plants,don't affect the salt at all.They do affect the PH,by increasing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water.Increasing the PH levels.

DarkRevoultions

Ah I see. My Cichlids haven't died yet, so that is why I was wondering.

So then what else will the plants even do to the water?? they can generate some oxygen too right?

I used to get the water from the Oasis as I have said before, but I think it's kind of poisoned right now, so I might have to create another flow for where the water can flow out, because my little oasis might need to take some time to regenerate again :S

Some how it hasn't really done anything wrong with my fishes before, but before I always had aqua clear to help just in case.

Should I just keep doing water chanes for now?? because I am still trying to get it right, I just did 3 water changes, all one inch from the top.

04_si

Does that mean you only took an inch of water out?

That wont be enough.. my waterchanges on my 35 gallon, i take out probably 5 gallons, and do that 2 times a week. If im having nitrate issues, i double it and take out 10+ gallons

soldieroffortune1974

how many gallons/litres is the aquarium in question?

04_si

i believe he is still talking about the 29 gallon

DarkRevoultions

Well I don't want to empty out too much of the tanks water, because I don't have a lot of RO water. I usually go and fill it up at a water refill place.

I just dug out a little stream from my oasis so then more of the water can drain out instead of over flowing during rainy days.

So then I am going to keep the cycle going until about a month or so. Hopefully I can take the water out of the oasis again later.

I just took out the lid, so then the salt should evaporate, because for salt water tanks, you don't have to worry about putting in salt all the time if you have the lid open, but I'm hoping it will work the same for me too.

DarkRevoultions

Yes as 04_si said, I am talking about the 29 gallon.

04_si

so i missed it... how come you cant use tap water?

DarkRevoultions

Well the reason why I don't want to use tap water, is because I'm afraid that the water could be contaminated since that was like it in Thailand when I was there before.

That is why I usually get the RO water, but before I could get it from the oasis I have. I'm still waiting for the contaminated oasis water to be emptied out, so then that is why I channeled the water out into the river where hopefully everything will be fine.

I think it's just too much problems going on with the plants in the oasis I have, but I never throw anything into the oasis..

soldieroffortune1974

Right now,I see there is a problem with the water coming from somewhere. Apparently the RO water may be suspect,and the oasis water could be suspect,and tap water could be contaminated (trying to figure out where the good water could be for you) Water has to come from somewhere.......

Questions that need to be clarified: Was the water ok,BEFORE the salt was added? What type is the 200 gallon? WHAt are the water conditions of the 200 gallon?

POssible solution,remove half of water,run it through the Brita filter (it should remove salts) taste it after it is filtered,should be clean,unsalty,clear.Replace in aquarium.

( I added 5 tbsp salt to tap water and ran it through my brita filter and it removed enough (if not all) where I couldn't taste it anymore.)

sirdarksol

I doubt very much that there is a problem with the RO water (unless the RO system itself is bad). We're talking about a tank where we don't know the amount of salt put in and the salinity is strong enough to taste.
In addition, there's the very heavily stocked tank.
I appreciate very much the way you suggested working through the possible water problems. It's a very good suggestion, but my thought is, deal with the excessive salinity first. That should make the fish much healthier.
Then, work on spreading the fish out among the larger tanks (or among new tanks). This should stabilize them and let them live through their lives.
If either of these steps (the most obvious potential threats to the fishes' health, in my opinion) doesn't help the fish, then look at the possibility of bad water.

DarkRevoultions

Well, the water in my 200 gallon is safe, there isn't any salt that I put in, because it would be too much to put in anyway, since the 200 gallon is so big, and I doubt that one small rectangle box of fine aquarium salt will help for the 200 gallon, along with the 350.

The water I used from the oasis helped with my plant growth, and fish breathing.

The RO water I get from a center I find near my place. Also, I don't know if I can find any brita filters here, but I did bring one with me from Canada just in case I should filter the water I boiled.

DarkRevoultions

I could tell you that the RO water is completely safe, and the people I've talked to always have good filters, and other technical equipment to remove the dangerous chemicals that is found in the contaminated waters here.

When my water was extremely salty, I found that my angels are dying, and my gouramis aren't. So then when I became suspicious of it, I decided to start experimenting on what types of fishes can with stand the salinity conditions in the water.

It turned out that the angels were really delicate to water quality, and die easier than any other fishes I put in.

The male guppies I put in the two I had in there were extremely healthy in the water. The Dwarf gouramis were seemingly dizzy, or fainted a bit. So then they always come up to breath the air I left the lid open for a while.

I didn't bother turning on the pump, because it agitates the air in the tank too much, and then after a few hrs. I found my plants the amazon swords, and the wisteria plants weren't growing very much as they were before.

After that I began to ask all these questions over the phone to the big al's staff, and the manager that seemingly picked up the phone told me everything.

He told me that guppies can withstand the high salinity level, and salt is essential to them. He also said that they can stand regular conditions with very low salt levels.

He even said that my dwarf gouramis will be fine, because they are able to breathe through their mouths at the surface.

Angels he told me are delicate, and barely need any salt in the tanks. Maybe that's why my altum angels could stay in my 200 and 350 gallon tank, because there isn't any salt in there.