Hello,
I thank everyone for taking the time to read this and help me out. I have a 20 gal reg. tank set up with some plants (java moss carpet, Madagascar lace, scarlet temple). The tank has a large hang on back filter, with a sponge and filter water polisher pad, a sponge on the intake as well. The tank has been set up for over 5 years, the current fish were 10 neon tetras, 5 amano shrimp, 1 kuhli loach, ( there were more a few years ago, he was the last of them) 2 German blue rams (male and female) 2 cory's (again a hold over from past years. I recently stocked this with rams and tetras 3 weeks ago. The pet store I had bought from is one of the best in my area and has always sold quality fish. Three days ago I noticed 2 of the tetras almost looked bloated and swimming a bit off, almost swimming with there nose higher than there tail, the next day they had died, every day more of these tetras have died. I am currently down to 3 now. My rams had been doing great, they had corner they had claimed as home, my female spawned about 2 weeks ago, the shrimp ate her eggs, and now 2 days ago she spawned again, both parents had now been guarding the nest, today I found her dead. She never acted irregular or anything. I also found my kuhli loach dead as well. That is what really bothered me, that fish is the oldest in the tank 5 years old. I do small frequent water changes, my water parameters are as fallows
Temp 82 degrees
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5.0 ppm
ph 8.2
gh 150
kh 300? all I have to test kh is a strip and it goes from 180-300 so its somewhere in there, the rest of the tests come from a master test kit.
hydrometer specific gravity 1.002
I don't see any signs of ick or any off behavior from my fish, my rams seemed healthy have plenty of areas to hide. My male continues to guard the eggs. My water is well water, the drinking water is hard, but my faucet water is ran through a softener, which is what I use in the aquarium. That has been what I always have done. I'm afraid there is some weird disease killing off my fish but I'm not sure. What should I do? What is the next thing to test?