Nate McFin

Dont wait until the water gets bad. 20% per week should be good. Cardinal tetras are sensitive to changes and prefer soft water and low pH. ( think 6.4-6.8) 8.2 may not work for them too well. As Cerianthus said you could add a chunk of driftwood to lower the Ph which since you have soft water should work very well. BUT...you will have to adjust the water during changes with Peat moss before you add it back into the tank or you will be going from a lower Ph (from whatever the driftwood brings it down to and adding the 8.2 tap) Not good to have such a drastic change!
Another option may be to get an reverse osmosis unit.(Search RO) and make your own water exactly where you want it.
It may not be the Ph messing with the fish though.
Are you on a well or city water? Have you done a search for your cities water? For instance mine has a full report online how the water is treated, bacteria found, copper, and Ph Etc. You can also get this info from your local water people.
If your ammonia is 0 nitrite-0 and under 20 Nitrates your cycle is fine and NOT crashed.
I would (if it were me) remove some of the items one at a time and see if it goes away. I would start with the disney items. Are these painted ceramic? Maybe lead paint courtesy of China? Then I would take out the driftwood unless you exactly what kind of wood it is and find it to be safe. Dont remove too much at once though!
Also what are you feeding the fish? I seem to remember a thread awhile back about some tainted foods. Maybe its the food source.

LauraC.

Ok,

I've taken out Disney objects and another decoration I forgot to list, a fake plastic coral thing whose paint is peeling off (hm....). I bought the driftwood at the LFS (not a chain pet store), so right now I'm thinking it's ok...but I've been wrong before!

We're on city water, but...is this really supposed to be this complicated? ack!

LauraC.

Hello again,

Yesterday morning I found one of my two cardinal tetras dead. Since then, I have been happy to see no more dead fish.

I was hoping taking out the painted Disney figurines and the rubber coral decorations would help. I also added some stress coat formula to the water.

However, I just looked at my danio glofish and it looks like it has a fungal infection...sorta white, fluffy stuff on its body.

So, would you suggest I treat the whole tank with a natural anti-fungal for a week or should I just get rid of the glofish?

What causes fungal infections?

How long after the last dead fish/fungal infection should I wait to get new fish...a week? two?

Thanks, Laura

Nate McFin

Hi Laura,
Sorry to hear about your tetras.
I have not had to deal with Fungus yet but here is a link to some onfo on the disease page to get you started until someone else can chime in.
By the way removing the decorations will not show any results until water changes have been done. If there was lead paint or something in the figurines themselves causing the problem it would leach into the water.
Here is the link- hope it helps.
http://www.fishlore.com/aquariummaga...ish-fungus.htm

cerianthus

Its not easy to exactly pinpoint the culpit(s).
When you say your softened water, is pH of that soften water lower than tap water? It should be when softened.

As long as no Ammonia (NH3), Nitrite (NO2), would continued to do routine (25-30% weekly) small water changes with softened water until pH of tank is stablized around neutral UNLESS testing reveals otherwise..
When pH goes too low, youo may want to mix soft/hard water to do water changes.


Anytime when NH3 is present, raising pH is the worst thing anyone can do to fish. Keep that in mind.

As far as One sick fish, cant recommend any since not sure if and what it maybe suffering from. Isolating is good idea if and when possible. If separate container is unavail, you can use large hang over the rim pastic container (one that lfs use to catch and hold fish to bag). You can hang these container inside the tank to isolate the one sick fish. If suspect fungal infection, can treat that one sick fish in container with Aq salt/med (proportionate amt to container volume of water) thus no other fish are exposed to unnecessary med.

I know it is lot of work & gadgets but these gadgets will come in handy down the road.
When NH3 and NO2 is NOT registering, you have not lost/disturbed biological bed.

Liquid test is better way to test water than Strips so think of investing in API F/w Master Kit (around $20 online).
I just wish i can assist more/better. Hope tank is stablized soon.