First of all, thanks to all who have helped me these past 4 months with all that's been going on.
I'm wondering what kind of large, "showcase fish" I can have in my tank, something 4-6 inches. Two of them, preferably. I've been having problems, though. A quick recap:
Many of my fish have died/disappeared, with no obvious explanations.
3 angelfish died over a 2 week period (first 1, then the second, then I bought 1 from another store, same thing).
4 of 5 cories slowly died over a month. I never found one of them.
Most recently lost a rasbora. Still trying to find the body.
I feed flakes once a day (due to my schedule), and the small pinch (Approx 3 flakes per fish) is ravaged by all within one minute. I drop a shrimp pellet every other day for the cory that's left (I did more when there were more cories), but the platies and guppies end up eating that too. (Did my cories starve to death?)
I do a 50% water change once a week.
I have come to the conclusion (though I still may be wrong) that my water is too hard and basic for anything but really hardy fish, like my platies - who are still there from the initial cycling! (If any should have died it should have been them, right? Hmmm...)
So, here are my water conditions. Any suggestions would be great.
pH: 8.0-8.2 (liquid test)
Ammonia: 0 (liquid test)
Nitrites: 0 (liquid test)
Nitrates: 10-20 (liquid test)
Hardness: 300 (strip test)
Alkalinity: 240 (strip test)
I'm wondering what kind of large, "showcase fish" I can have in my tank, something 4-6 inches. Two of them, preferably. I've been having problems, though. A quick recap:
Many of my fish have died/disappeared, with no obvious explanations.
3 angelfish died over a 2 week period (first 1, then the second, then I bought 1 from another store, same thing).
4 of 5 cories slowly died over a month. I never found one of them.
Most recently lost a rasbora. Still trying to find the body.
I feed flakes once a day (due to my schedule), and the small pinch (Approx 3 flakes per fish) is ravaged by all within one minute. I drop a shrimp pellet every other day for the cory that's left (I did more when there were more cories), but the platies and guppies end up eating that too. (Did my cories starve to death?)
I do a 50% water change once a week.
I have come to the conclusion (though I still may be wrong) that my water is too hard and basic for anything but really hardy fish, like my platies - who are still there from the initial cycling! (If any should have died it should have been them, right? Hmmm...)
So, here are my water conditions. Any suggestions would be great.
pH: 8.0-8.2 (liquid test)
Ammonia: 0 (liquid test)
Nitrites: 0 (liquid test)
Nitrates: 10-20 (liquid test)
Hardness: 300 (strip test)
Alkalinity: 240 (strip test)
