arrrgh!!! what happened???

[OnyxFishies]

pH shifts in water supplies can happen, also. My sister lives in coastal Oregon, and the water supply changes characteristics seasonally. It has to do with mountain snow melts filling the lakes and streams in the spring, and then as summer and fall comes along it is mostly rainwater. You might call up your water supplier and ask questions, they may give you some info on this.

 

[JSchmidt]

So are both tank and tap steady at 7.4 - 7.5, or do you still have a discrepancy between tank and tap?

It is completely within the realm of possibility that your fish is beating up on the others and killing them. Sometimes increasing the density of fish will help, other times you just have to remove the bad apple.

HTH,
Jim

 

[NowherMan6]

both tap and tank are steady at 7.4-7.5. i'm still not sure as to why it registered an 8.4 though. it's a mystery, or maybe just user error
in any case, i think there's a lot more i need to be checking for in my water, the first of which is phosphates. ive been having a real bad algae problem and ive read that if there are a lot of phosphates in the tap water, it might contibute to that, as well as make it harder for the fish to breathe and make them sluggish.

i know that sometimes you just have to remove the bad apple. i still feel bad for him though, cause chances are when i take him back he's going to be the lone tiger barb in the tank at the LFS and he'll probably get sold to someone who's gonna put him in a tank as a lone tiger barb, he'll be really spastic and nippy and they'll probably flush him, which i dont want to happen.

i'm gonna give him a few more days in the ten by himself, maybe rearrange the 46 gallon tank a bit, plant it a bit more and reintroduce him and watch what happens. if he's still overly aggressive after being the "new guy" in the tank, i'll take him back. think this might work? it's worth a shot i guess...