Hi there,
I have kept fish for a number of years, but I just got back into it this year. I have a ten gallon that's working fine with some pristellas and tetras. I recently purchased a 46 gallon tank, and set it up with a canister filter, ran it for a few weeks, and added some Cycle. I then added some tiger barbs. They looked fine for a couple days, and then suddenly they started scraping against the tank decorations. I started to treat them for Ich, using the Aquari-sol that was recommended by my LFS. I followed the instructions, did a daily water change/gravel clean. The fish continued to deteriorate, and one by one they stopped eating. The tank is once again empty.
What concerns me is that they came down with Ich in the first place. The water was treated and running. I searched my city's water charachteristics, and came up with this:
Alkalinity 263 ppm
Hardness 272
pH 7.6
Total Solids 285
Sulfate 20.6
Sodium 6.7
Potassium 7.2
Nitrates 4.21
Calcium 152.6
First, the water that has been entering the tank has been run through my house's water softener, so the hardness is definitely a lot lower than that. But I have read conflicting opinions on whether or not this is harmful to fish.
Second, does anything above look concerning enough to be a problem? I treat all the water with Tetra AquaSafe. I haven't been able to find a definitive resource on what specific chemicals in municipal water can cause problems, and which ones chemical water treatments will take care of.
Absent of water quality, I can't think of any other reason why they should have succumbed to ich. They didn't seem stressed at all when I brought them home, floated them, and added them. They didn't respond at all to the treatment. I guess I'm just searching for a reason because I don't want to try to start the tank back up until I can find a reason for it. Thanks for any suggestions.
I have kept fish for a number of years, but I just got back into it this year. I have a ten gallon that's working fine with some pristellas and tetras. I recently purchased a 46 gallon tank, and set it up with a canister filter, ran it for a few weeks, and added some Cycle. I then added some tiger barbs. They looked fine for a couple days, and then suddenly they started scraping against the tank decorations. I started to treat them for Ich, using the Aquari-sol that was recommended by my LFS. I followed the instructions, did a daily water change/gravel clean. The fish continued to deteriorate, and one by one they stopped eating. The tank is once again empty.
What concerns me is that they came down with Ich in the first place. The water was treated and running. I searched my city's water charachteristics, and came up with this:Alkalinity 263 ppm
Hardness 272
pH 7.6
Total Solids 285
Sulfate 20.6
Sodium 6.7
Potassium 7.2
Nitrates 4.21
Calcium 152.6
First, the water that has been entering the tank has been run through my house's water softener, so the hardness is definitely a lot lower than that. But I have read conflicting opinions on whether or not this is harmful to fish.
Second, does anything above look concerning enough to be a problem? I treat all the water with Tetra AquaSafe. I haven't been able to find a definitive resource on what specific chemicals in municipal water can cause problems, and which ones chemical water treatments will take care of.
Absent of water quality, I can't think of any other reason why they should have succumbed to ich. They didn't seem stressed at all when I brought them home, floated them, and added them. They didn't respond at all to the treatment. I guess I'm just searching for a reason because I don't want to try to start the tank back up until I can find a reason for it. Thanks for any suggestions.
