water questions

Robin1965

not sure where to put this but you seem like a good place to start lol im new here. I have had my 60gal tank since jan 2012 it cycled and all has been good till the last 2 weeks I have 1 oranda, 3 mollies, 2 bala sharks, 1 fantail goldfish, and 6 dwarf frogs. thats what I have left 2 died the last 2 days and 1 of my balas has red at his fins next to the body and has a grayish white patch on his right side my amonia was high so I have been doing 15% water changes everyday to bring down the amonia my readings now are
PH 6.6
amonia 0.50
nitrite 0
nitrate 40-80 was 10-20
I checked my readings from the tap they wre
PH 7.6
high PH 8.2
amonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
i do use a conditioner for city water for chlorine and bro
my amonia has been 0.50 for days now even with the water changes any ideas or am I doing something wrong

Termato

It sounds like you need to do a larger water change. 15% isn't much. I would recommend switching to 35-40% weekly water changes with a once a month 50-75% water change.

I would do at least a 40% water change ASAP in order to get the ammonia down to zero.

Robin1965

thank you I will try that

Robin1965

I did the 50% water change earlier and I tested the water my readings are
PH 6.4
amon.25
nitrite 0
nitrate .20

the readings already look better but I'll check again in the morning so now I need to do 35 to 40% weekly changes right? an 60% once a month? thank you so much for your help

Robin1965

Checked water this morning all reading are perfect my lil fishes are happy again wont let this happen no more

Byron

I would advise larger water changes weekly. Once the ammonia is zero, and nitrite too, change 50% once a week. You have some "messy" fish that will add to the bio load. There is little or no benefit to a monthly large change, more frequent will result in more stable water conditions.

Byron.

Robin1965

ok thanks I will start doing the 50%

thekoimaiden

I agree with Byron. Goldfish are very messy fish and produce a lot of ammonia. As they get larger, they will produce more. I have just two in a 55 gallon tank and need to do weekly 50% water changes just to keep the nitrates below 40 ppm (this is also with live plants). Weekly water changes for other tanks can be between 25% and 50% depending on the stocking level, but with goldfish tanks you should do between 40% and 50% weekly water changes. Having a python hose really helps with this.

AbbeysDad

I agree with increased volume of routine weekly water changes.

No one else mentioned, but you really shouldn't mix goldfish with tropical fish. While tropical fish prefer temperatures 76-78 deg F. or so, goldfish are cold water fish and do best and much lower temps around 70 F.