Hello All,
just wanted to say hi -- I've joined this forum because I have a few questions that need to be answered.
I current have a 90 gallon tank that's been stocked for about 7 months (started in february, stocked in march) and i'm having problems with PH.
Alittle while ago, the tank had no problems -- but today it had a bad bad smell (probably some type of issue with cleaning) and ph was under 6.0!! I was so scared, I did an immediate water change and gravel vacuum and also I cleaned out the fluval 405 cannister filter.
I changed 2/4 foam pads, rinsed the media in my tank water (inside a bucket) and completey cleaned out the inside of my filter.
I noticed a lot of red gunk in the cannister and it was deep deep red. kinda like blood
I did a ph test of my tapwater, and found that the water is at least 8.0+, for a while my water was fine (between 7.4-7.6).
I always did weekly water changes(25%-30%) & gravel vacuum's, and I've done 4 water changes within the last 4 days -- including the largest one today (about 70% worth) I noticed when I came home and all my fish were at the botttom not swimming, and there was like acid like white burns on my rasboras' tail(white residue, appeared as though tail was ripped like paper). once I changed out the water, the fish became more lively -- I was contemplating about using a ph buffer, but I think I've seen poeple have bad experiences, and the last thing I need is a wipe.
I don't know exactly what I've been doing wrong.
Ammonia = 0
Nitrates = 0
Nitrites = ranges between 10-20ppm
I have a planted tank and I have close to sand gravel (fine gravel).
I also have 2 ceramic decorations and the plants are amazon swords (grew from 3 to 10 in 4 months).
I'm just listing what I may have and what might cause problems (ceramic decorations).
I can show you pictures:
Antiquities
this is where I got my decorations from.
I have a log that's made out of resin for aquarium use (From petsmart), other than that it's all natural
I guess, I'm wondering what's causing the red gunk, since there's red gunk in the filter when I pulled it out -- very think gunk.
one thing I forgot to mention is that, at one point I did use something called copper power (as medication) to kill off some parasites/ich/etc. that been flushed out. I believe I've used about 7 cap fulls -- 7ml per capfull, so that equates about 1.5 ounces? just around that amount. it did get rid of all the parasites, but I think that's when the red stuff started to appear -- I heard it was cyanobacteria but i'm too noob to diagnose properly -- anyone else had this problem before?
I tried to get rid of all the gunk in my fluval filter and then put everything back. fish are swimming more healthily, but I would like some advice -- should I keep water changes until I get ph back or should I just hold off?
Extra notes:
I use about 4 ounces of both kordon amquel(not +) and novaqua+ per water cahnge. I'm running out -- any advice would be extremely appreciated =D
just wanted to say hi -- I've joined this forum because I have a few questions that need to be answered.
I current have a 90 gallon tank that's been stocked for about 7 months (started in february, stocked in march) and i'm having problems with PH.
Alittle while ago, the tank had no problems -- but today it had a bad bad smell (probably some type of issue with cleaning) and ph was under 6.0!! I was so scared, I did an immediate water change and gravel vacuum and also I cleaned out the fluval 405 cannister filter.
I changed 2/4 foam pads, rinsed the media in my tank water (inside a bucket) and completey cleaned out the inside of my filter.
I noticed a lot of red gunk in the cannister and it was deep deep red. kinda like blood
I did a ph test of my tapwater, and found that the water is at least 8.0+, for a while my water was fine (between 7.4-7.6).
I always did weekly water changes(25%-30%) & gravel vacuum's, and I've done 4 water changes within the last 4 days -- including the largest one today (about 70% worth) I noticed when I came home and all my fish were at the botttom not swimming, and there was like acid like white burns on my rasboras' tail(white residue, appeared as though tail was ripped like paper). once I changed out the water, the fish became more lively -- I was contemplating about using a ph buffer, but I think I've seen poeple have bad experiences, and the last thing I need is a wipe.
I don't know exactly what I've been doing wrong.
Ammonia = 0
Nitrates = 0
Nitrites = ranges between 10-20ppm
I have a planted tank and I have close to sand gravel (fine gravel).
I also have 2 ceramic decorations and the plants are amazon swords (grew from 3 to 10 in 4 months).
I'm just listing what I may have and what might cause problems (ceramic decorations).
I can show you pictures:
Antiquities
this is where I got my decorations from.
I have a log that's made out of resin for aquarium use (From petsmart), other than that it's all natural
I guess, I'm wondering what's causing the red gunk, since there's red gunk in the filter when I pulled it out -- very think gunk.
one thing I forgot to mention is that, at one point I did use something called copper power (as medication) to kill off some parasites/ich/etc. that been flushed out. I believe I've used about 7 cap fulls -- 7ml per capfull, so that equates about 1.5 ounces? just around that amount. it did get rid of all the parasites, but I think that's when the red stuff started to appear -- I heard it was cyanobacteria but i'm too noob to diagnose properly -- anyone else had this problem before?
I tried to get rid of all the gunk in my fluval filter and then put everything back. fish are swimming more healthily, but I would like some advice -- should I keep water changes until I get ph back or should I just hold off?
Extra notes:
I use about 4 ounces of both kordon amquel(not +) and novaqua+ per water cahnge. I'm running out -- any advice would be extremely appreciated =D