You've probably got this already, but by floating the bag in the water, you nicely slowly got the water temp in the bag to match the water temp in the tank. But only the temp. It sounds like there may have been a large difference in some other water parameter, and going from one type of water directly into another could have killed the fish.
(doesnt explain the other die off, i didnt see that other thread)
So the idea of SLowly changing the water that the fish are in is a very good one. I have found through experience that this can make a Big difference in short term survival and heatlh of fish.
As far as the ph, The thing is it is MUCH better, to match the fish you buy to the water you have, rather than trying to adjust the water to fit the fish.
In other words, while it would be very good to know as much as you can about your ph ( test fresh from tap and after standing, find out about the lfs water params etc) and you should get a kh gh test too, I would advise that what you do with that knowledge is find fish that like that typw f water, rather than trying to mess with the ph. Just like any other compatability issue, there are some combinations of fish that simply arent all going to be comfortable in the same water.
I would think that it it shouldnt be a huge limitation. especially since once appropriately acclimated most fish do fine in range of ph. You just need to avoid trying to keep fish from very different extremes together.
i hope that made sense.
(doesnt explain the other die off, i didnt see that other thread)
So the idea of SLowly changing the water that the fish are in is a very good one. I have found through experience that this can make a Big difference in short term survival and heatlh of fish.
As far as the ph, The thing is it is MUCH better, to match the fish you buy to the water you have, rather than trying to adjust the water to fit the fish.
In other words, while it would be very good to know as much as you can about your ph ( test fresh from tap and after standing, find out about the lfs water params etc) and you should get a kh gh test too, I would advise that what you do with that knowledge is find fish that like that typw f water, rather than trying to mess with the ph. Just like any other compatability issue, there are some combinations of fish that simply arent all going to be comfortable in the same water.
I would think that it it shouldnt be a huge limitation. especially since once appropriately acclimated most fish do fine in range of ph. You just need to avoid trying to keep fish from very different extremes together.
i hope that made sense.
