Anyone heard of this?

G

Grassguy

Honky-Tonk Superman
Oct 20, 2003
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Hainesville, GA
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I'm maintaining a 55 gal for a local elementary school (grades P-5). Anyhoo, I put two pieces of sandstone that happen to have the school colors in them in the tank. It looks like something is nibbling on the rocks. They were nice and smooth, and now they have small pits in them that resemble those that appear in Zucchini when you feed it to the fish.

I have stockked the tank as follows:
(2) Giant Danios
(2) Bala Sharks
(2) Three Spot Gouramis
(2) Albino Rainbow Sharks
(2) Pl*cos
(1) Angel Fish (the other one died)

It also has a coupla Amazon Swords and hornwort

Any help would be appreciated.

PS I plan on adding a few other plants after payday next week.

Thnx
 
Sandstone? Check your water parameters. Sand stone doesn't refer to a specific material of rock, like granite, but rather indicates that small sand sized particles have been compressed enough to stay together--mostly. The particles are sort of glues together, and if put back into water, this glue begins breaking down and the rock falls apart. This can cause fluctuations in the water hardness and pH--and this in turn maybe what killed the angel.
 
Yes, I agree. It is probably just a plain old case of erosion happening. Some sandstones are much hardier than other and a lot of them can have high levels of calcium and carbon in them which can affect the water params (soft vs hard, changes in pH).

There is probably enough space for them but keep your eye on those rainbow sharks as I believe they can get on the aggressive side when they age, mostly to each other. Getting more plants will definatley help things.
 
I would remove those rocks and replace them with ones you know are 100% tank friendly.
 
I kinda assumed the sandstone was safe as I got it in the aquarium section of the LFS. My water parameters are great. Water is actually a little on the sodt side, pH 6.8, no ammonia, no nitrite, can't remember nitrate, but very little. Doing a 20% water change tomorrow to alleviate that. I was actually thinking of taking out the sandstone and putting in some driftwood. I didn't earlier, because believe or not, it was kinda hard to find around here; but I finally got a good source. I just wanna check it in a bucket of water alone before I put it in with the fish.

Thanks guys. I have really learned alot since I found this site!:)
 
Driftwood will most likely release tannins when it's first submerged. You can minimize the effect to the tank by soaking it in buckets of water--change the water out every 2-3 days, and pour hot water on it each time. Otherwise, carbon will remove the tea stain from the tank. I like the color for some tanks, not so much for others. It can also result in lowered pH.
 
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