Freshwater .....off topic

[pickupman66]

OK. So we gave my son a 10 gallon tank for his birthday. Setup as freshwater with a cheap hob filter. We added two dwarf frogs a pair of guppies and some neons. Also a corydora catfish. For the life of me, I cannot keep these freshwater fish alive. The frogs are doing good but we have been thru like 6 guppies! I am using rodi as top off and water changes (yes I change the fresh but not the salt). Water test good but nitrates are at 60. I just don't get it. Its been setup since mid June.

I can keep a $250 tang alive but not a $3 guppy! Ugh

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[TinaFoster]

Are they possibly having ich? It's harder to see on guppies. Nitrates are high, but it will keep a fish from spawning before it'll kill them. Enough aeration?

 

[Dowtish]

Stop using RO/DI. just de chlorinate your tap water.

 

[mapn4reef]

Do you have a heater in it... If not, the day to night temp swings will stress the fish majorly... I've had the same issues with guppies, but the neons are doing get in our 10g...SMALL TANKS are a pain...

 

[coralkiller]

They'll do a lot better in tap. Put it in a bucket, drop in some Prime, aerate it for 24 hrs and you should be good to go.

 

[TinaFoster]

I've never aerated my freshwater. Just dechlor and go. The sitting 24 hrs thing was how we used to dechlor it without chemicals though. I just don't trust that anymore.
Watch ph swings, of course, just like with salt.

 

[pickupman66]

Seriously? Tap water better? Um..... OK.

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[Dowtish]

Yes, it's weird but true. I'm not saying they need all the stuff thats in the tap water, but they need some of it. There are minerals and trace elements in it that they need.

 

[H@rry]

I think the idea is that for salt water, when you use RO water you add the beneficial minerals in your salt mix. When you use RO water for freshwater it's kinda "sterile"?

 

[pickupman66]

Gotcha.. did a 60% water change this evening on it. lets see how it goes.... thanks for all the information.

 

[gmoney243]

yea ro/di has no trace elements. ive had plenty of guppies also and they die easier than most fish also. i lost a lot when i was first getting into aquariums. guppies was the first fish i had

 

[Dowtish]

I put feeder guppies in my frog tank, and the frog only eats 3 quarters of them, and then saves the rest.(rainy day) I do a water change every 6-8 weeks, I can't kill the guppies, but the frog can *** them up when she wants to.

 

[mapn4reef]

You can use freshwater supplements too...that way you can avoid all the nasty phosphates and other TDS in tap water that water conditioner for Chlorine and chloramines miss... I've used tap water here for freshwater fish, and have had terrible results. The RO/DI works great, HOWEVER, some fish do seem to struggle with such PURE water, guppies being one of them...and scaleless fish...

I plan to use a supplement in the new 40g community tank I setup for the wife/kids...

Kent Marine Liquid RO Right

There are many others on the market too...

 

[gmoney243]

I read some about this stuff long ago but used to be that freshwater buffers were to expensive to use over dechlorinated tap. But I guess all depends on how much of that kent stuf you have to use per gallon. I've also heard of some people who keep african cichlids usiing salt mixes in small ammounts with ro/di water to give all the trace elements and salts that african cichlids are used to. But I haven't really read much about that. I just use tap and fish seem fine lol.

Also have u tried just ro water not di? Or was you using di water? Not sure but ro water might be ok to use since its drinkable I would think it has enough elements and proper ph and all that. Might wanna reaearch that as it would b cheaper to do that then add supplements.

 

[TinaFoster]

If you use RO/DI for African cichlids you have to supplement with salt(like rock salt), baking soda and epsom salts. Otherwise they won't spawn and are more susceptible to bloat and kidney failure. The magnesium keeps them eliminating ok.
You have a point about the RO instead of RO/DI. Most freshwater folks do eliminate the DI part. With the exception of discus keepers I guess.

 

[TinaFoster]

And even then, you still are best to add salt for malawi and vics, need it to spawn madagascars, and it's an absolute must to have all 3 even with tap water for tangs like frontosas to get them to spawn and stay healthy.

 

[gmoney243]

Yea I use tap with some epsom. And some foods for cichlids that have epsom in it to help with bloat.