Hi, I recently had my two Shubunkin fish die due to pH problems. It's my own fault as I tried to keep the pH up for them, being goldfish, but then I mis read a test and added too much pH up and well the long and the short of it is they died. Plus I'd added a new air stone and it all happened at the same time and it wasn't clear what was going on to me at first.
I also recently got a master test kit and have all my numbers on the tank and tap water.
I'm going away for several weeks and I plan to leave my fish tank empty until I return. My first question is:
- Do I leave my tank running, filtering, etc. while I am gone? Where it's an established tank I'd hate to have to empty it and then start with all over with cycling the tank.
My second question is based on numbers/water quality. I have well water as we live in a rural area.
- Are there any fish that would do reasonably well in a tank where the tap water has ~10ppm nitrates and a very low pH (looks like 6.0 but since the test only goes down to 6.0 I have no idea if it's lower).
I've never seemed to have an ammonia/nitrite problem, but obviously the nitrates are an issue and where it's in my initial water supply I'm not sure what I can do about it. I'm not prepared both financially and schedule-wise to have to deal with water changes based on buying gallons of water.
Maybe my fish keeping days are over and I should turn the tank over into a hermit crab haven. I've kept them before, but the fish and the fish tank are so beautiful in the living room.
:-(
I also recently got a master test kit and have all my numbers on the tank and tap water.
I'm going away for several weeks and I plan to leave my fish tank empty until I return. My first question is:
- Do I leave my tank running, filtering, etc. while I am gone? Where it's an established tank I'd hate to have to empty it and then start with all over with cycling the tank.
My second question is based on numbers/water quality. I have well water as we live in a rural area.
- Are there any fish that would do reasonably well in a tank where the tap water has ~10ppm nitrates and a very low pH (looks like 6.0 but since the test only goes down to 6.0 I have no idea if it's lower).
I've never seemed to have an ammonia/nitrite problem, but obviously the nitrates are an issue and where it's in my initial water supply I'm not sure what I can do about it. I'm not prepared both financially and schedule-wise to have to deal with water changes based on buying gallons of water.
Maybe my fish keeping days are over and I should turn the tank over into a hermit crab haven. I've kept them before, but the fish and the fish tank are so beautiful in the living room.
:-(
