freshwater problems
 

I have a 55 gallon tank.
ammonia , nitrate ect all normal.
but everything i put in there dies.

so lets tell you more about my set up
this is mainly a experiment for me

first time using sand substrate, 6 plants swords, anabis , java fern
i also have slate rock from B.C, if you ever go for a drive to golden bc there is beautiful black slate on your left hand side. i picked some scrubbed it down but it in.

i do weekly water changes of 10% every friday ( with conditioner)
i have a ehiem 186 filter
air pump , heater , and basic lighting

the only fish that is doing great is my red tail black shark (hes not a bully)

what iv lost
first i started off with two chiclids and they just died with in two days
they were babies so i wasn't surprised

two cray fish - one was shy and just died. the other lasted threw two molts and i found him dead today . he had orange on his soft skin . he was super healthy and active

now im stuck with two red tail black fish but i can tell one is on his way out
hes grey , no color , not eating , i can see his heart beat threw his gills .

i got them both at the same time and one has doubled almost tripled his size , i call its a she because shes chunky , black and bright red tail. active and lovely . like i said before they dont bother with each other accept i see them dance every once in a while on a plant but the other is getting to weak


what i feed ( top fin waffers , cobalt (colorflakes)


my questions
* what am i doing wrong?
* is calgary tap water safe as long as its conditioned ?
* my slate has some orange kinda resembles rust stains (will not scrub off)
is that ok?


i can add pictures if you want . i know its alot i wrote but i just wanted to be very clear. this is my first planted aquarium and my first over 30 gallon aquarium .

im trying to get this down so someday i can own a 180+ with a fire eel

how long has your tank been running for? I noticed this was your first post. Perhaps you tank has not yet cycled?

Pull the slate out of there. It is oxidizing.

Yup same thing happened in my cichlid tank with some mountain rock I picked up in bc. Pulled it out problem solved
The orange rust coloration is most likely because of a high mineral content most likely iron or alike. Id suggest getting yourself some river rock instead

You may be right , where can I get river rock?
I really like the look of the slate rock .
I have a lot of pieces that don't have rust look could I just pull the rust ones out?
Would I have to do a full 100% water change?
A friend recommended me to this form and I figured this be a opportunity to learn
The tanks been cycled with plants since December.

fresh water
 

have you tried bcaquaria.it's more for fresh water

Nothing wrong with posting here. Its mostly reefers but some of us know a thing or two about fresh to.

Id take a hike to a clean river, may have to get your feet wet but pick the Stones you like, personally I like flat pieces. Id pull it all out and forget about it.

Yeah I'm adventually getting into a reef tank just waiting on funds so iv been browsing the site . There is a lot to know about salt don't want to jump into it.
Once I get my 180 gallon il convert my smaller tank to salt.
I'll pull the rock out right now . Should I do a water change to get the extra minerals out?

Edit

Also 100% water change is pretty aggressive. Though its not detrimental in fresh water. Id personally just start with 50% and see how it goes from there. Wait a couple weeks before adding anymore fish again. Get some river rock or alike. Rock with heavy mineral deposits can leach all kinds of stuff into our tanks, while it looks nice it could contain, iron, copper, phosphorus, etc.. which are generally not good for out tanks. Pm me if, you have any questions as I've been in fresh water for quite some time and I'm more confident to give advice there then to reefers :lol:

Also. Imo

Ditch the top fin and cheap foods. Get some new life spectrum or new era either flake or pellets (preferably pellets) top fin and nutrafin etc (walmart cheap brands) tend to add a high ash content to they're foods as well as a ton of fillers which aren't generally good for the fish. You'll see better results with a good food. Though I doubt that's your problem right now, I found new life spectrum and new era to give my fish vibrant colors less poop and generally more active.

If your only going to do a 50% water change, stuff in a new carbon filter to pull the heavy metals out of it. Personally, I'd do at least a 75%wc with RO water and still pushing a new carbon filter.

Much like in salt water tanks, RODI water is super beneficial for fresh water tanks. I used to use conditioned tap water until I got into reefing, and since switching to RODI water in my fresh water tank my fish have gotten noticeably healthier.

Awesome thanks ! All this talk just made me invest in a small ten gallon starter salt water set up. how much would I be looking at for a RODI? and any tips for someone who is going to set up a brand new reef ? I'll be looking at other forms just curious

Burnco is a great place for rocks. There is also Ornamental Stone in Calgary. It is low season for them but I'm told that they have much more than is listed on the website.

So I took the rocks out and realized that my tank had this orangish brown algae growing on the walls . It was like a film until I noticed it all over my plants deposited in wiggley lines on decorations . So I wiped everything down and did a big water change(75%) . And turned down the lights to only 8 hours . The next day I was showing my boyfriend because it came back because we were looking hard we noticed tiny white worms moving like mosquito larvae. Now I stoped doing feedings hoping my RTBS will eat them and will continue to do 10% water changes (vacuuming gravel) . I don't know what to do because medications are poisonous to crustaceans. And algae chemical solutions are poisonous to plants .

Sounds like black beard algae.

Seachem Excel is a Glutaraldehyde based antibacterial agent that is also a mild algaecide as well as a liquid carbon source that plants can use in place of CO2. Do as much manual removal as you can and dose Excel. The algae will hate it and your plants will love it and the shrimps should be indifferent towards it.

Thanks ! I'll try it out. Think my one red tail black shark will eat all the worms ? Guess he has a full supply of food until they die off?

Except bbeard algae wont hurt any fish. So that wouldent cause the original problem.

I have a couple questions though.
When you said amonia nitrate ect all normal. What are the actual values of your amonia, nitrate and nitrite. Also what is the ph of the tank and the hardness of the water.

It is a good idea to get better food but that isnt causing this.

I agree you need to do larger waterchanges, if your doing them weekly at least 50%, i used to do monthly ones of 90% on my planted tank.

Also your slate shouldn't cause a problem, but you can check it by putting a bit of vinager on it, if it does nothing it is safe to use. If it fizzes up dont use it. Also
You said you have sand in the bottom, what kind of sand?

One thing that struck me funny is it seems like your trying to conbine two opposit enviroments in your tank. The plants you have are a lower ph, soft water enviorment, but the fish you have listed that have died are all higher ph very hard water enviorments, when you start adding plants the will lower the ph of the water on there own and 10% water changes quite possably wont be enough to keep it up.

Oh also what are you using for a water conditioner?

Steve

If you grab rock out of the river you should search on how to condition them for your tank. I have a planted discus tank and use only RO/DI water for top up and major water changes. I add seachems fluorite tabs every 3 months. As for the algae how long are your lights on? And low cost food add really high phosphates that also cause the algae build up.