Tropical Fish Forums

[Frazeldiniho]

Hello, I'm quite advanced at fish keeping and keep a number of rare fish which I have no problem with, but one of my tanks is a 6ftx2ftx2ft at the moment in it I have 10 clown loach from 3"-7", 20 assorted angels a group of 10 pearl gourami and a group of cory Sterbai. At the moment it is a bare tank with a big if bog wood and a few plants for the cory and clowns to hide, it's run on 2 external filters, 2 internal filters and it also ha a long bubble wall. Everytime I do a water change the angels and gourami's are at the top gasping and the odd time I lose a few. Yesterday I lost a gourami a large angel and a clown ( the most I have lost). Water temp changes are the same, de-chlorinator used, nitrate nitrite ammonia ect all fine. I also keep wild caught Altum angels and wild caught Blue Heckel discus which can be a nightmare but water changes are done the same and they give me no problems. Any Ideas what is going wrong or do you think I should close down the tank and start from scratch?

[diademhill]

What is the substrate?

[Frazeldiniho]

There's no substrate

[unissuh]

My first guess is something in the new water...

Do you know what your water parameters and tap water parameters are?

What dechlorinator do you use and how much do you use?
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Fishing in the Rivers of Light

[UncleWillie]

Yeah - There has got to be something in that water (or in the equipment you change water with). What I mean is, you aren't using a bucket or hose (or even your hands and arms) that has had the potential to be exposed to any type of cleaning agents or chemicals, right? Also, how big are these water changes / what percentage of the volume are you replacing? Sorry for these issues - no good!

[diademhill]

What is the difference between this tank and the other tanks?

No substrate = reduced buffering capacity and I doubt the other fish stand that stocking level.

What is the KH of your tap water?

[unissuh]

Also - could it just be that these fish are more sensitive to whatever is in the new water? Do you have the same types of fish in other tanks?

I've had a couple of problems with my tapwater before and it's always the same tank that shows symptoms first...often other tanks will not have any problem at all?? I just put it down to that species is more sensitive than the others I keep. It's not the species I keep that is considered the most "sensitive" overall either, just appears to be towards whatever was in the tapwater.
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Fishing in the Rivers of Light