Nasty Female Molllies

Your RO water is probably killing your fish...RO has an extrememly low pH, and almost zero buffering capacity...It has been a while since I have dealt with water chemistry, so i am sure someone else can explain it better....There must be some sort of bypass valve that will enable you to get well water before it hits the RO system.
 
Although I've never actually tried it, the Kent stuff is supposed to have the minerals and buffers that need to be replaced in the R/O water so in theory, I should think that it would help. You could mix the R/O with your water from outside maybe. Or, it may be that something else is killing your fish. I'm sure this was asked last time but are you sure your tank is actually cycled? I know this is kind of off topic now.
 
Try using water from an outside tap....Usually garden taps are bypassed by the system...You would have to check it out, but it is worth a glance....I know your fish didn't come from RO and the shock is probably causing your problems...Far as the Kent stuff is concerned, I have never had any luck with chems when it comes to pH.....
 
It really does depend on the fish-- I've had a lot of mollies, and most of them have been pretty sweet, but a few of them were just horrid.
 
I should just call myself Fishtilla the Hun pretty soon. One of the female mollies that I bought last Tuesday was dead this morning. There's got to be something wrong with the water. I do have one faucet outside that comes straight from the well, so I will start using that. Should I add anything to it or just use it as it is? The water smells really bad...like rotten eggs (hence the R.O. systerm), so doesn't that mean a high sulphur content or something like that? How will the fish handle that? Should I add anything to the water prior to using it in the aquarium?

The last time I checked the water a few days ago, the results from my quick dip test were: Nitrate 20, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Total Hardness GH ppm 75, Total Alkalinity KH ppm 40, and pH 7.2. Somebody said that the strip tests aren't that accurate, so I need to go out and get a better testing kit. But my strip tests have consistently had the above values. I honestly don't know much about the above values other than that the Nitrite and Ammonia should be at 0.

Maybe I'm getting fish that also can't adjust to the pH level? Is it too neutral? I hate to try and adjust that since everything I read says it's way too tricky to continually try to adjust a water's pH. It might be easier to just try and find fish that are more adapted to the type of water I have.

Any ideas?
 
I seriously doubt that the pH is killing your fish. As for the rotten egg smell, my parents have the same problem and their pH is 9, yes, 9 and their water is extremely hard. I have kept fish in their water with no problem except that my angelfish just didn't really seem that happy. Are you sure you have an R/O system or is it just a water softner? I may have asked you that last time. Also, is it possible that you're getting bad fish from your LFS?
 
Yep, it's an R.O. system. Many of the houses in our neighborhood have whole house R.O. Systems (that's how horrible the water is here....softeners wouldn't even make a dent in improving the water quality).

I have used three different fish stores....and seem to have the same results. The danios and platy that are my longest survivors came from two different stores. My sole surviving molly that I bought last Tuesday is from the third store.

Maybe I will do a strip test on the plain well water and see what it reads for pH and such.
 
do you dechlorinate the water or not? umm...once I used to fill the tank part way when i was cleaning it was store bought water...dont know if that's too good or not. I have trouble with live plants because my water has salt in it!:eek:
 
No need to dechlorinate the water....there's no chlorine in it.

I just did a strip test for my plain well water (inaccurate in general, but a good comparison to the strip test that I did on the aquarium). Here is what I got:

Total Hardness GH ppm: R.O. Aquarium Water = 75
Well Water = 300
Total Alkalinity KH ppm: R.O. Aquarium Water = 40
Well Water = 300
pH: R.O. Aquarium Water = 7.2
Well Water = somewhere between 7.8 and 8.4 (those are the only two
values in that color range, and the color fell somewhere
between the two values).

So, do any of these figures mean anything to anybody? I'm totally clueless. Like I said, I was always just thrilled that the nitrites and ammonia were 0. Thought I was home free until all my fish started dying.
 
I've found that mollies need salt in the water, so RO is probably part of the problem. They can live in straight salt water if raised in it. I live in Tampa Fla, and I've often seen mollies happy and swimming in canals down here. With RO water, I'd stick to tetras and other soft water fish, mollies need too many minerals in their water.
 
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