LiveBearer Fan

@BIG GREENI also noticed staghorn after I started using Easy Green (liquid). I previously used Seachem Flourish and did a capful twice a week. I think Easy Green is stronger and I may be using it too often. I love how much my plants have grown so I will continue to use it; I just need to try some modification. I have a 29g tank. I do three pumps (~30g equivalent) two times a week. I have a Finnex Stingray light on the tank which is on from 8am to 9pm daily. (Perhaps less light too?) I am going to try the peroxide treatment, then only pump once a week and see if it makes a difference.

@Mmiller2001WOW, thank you for taking the time to lay all of that out for us. I will print this out and go step-by-step. At this point we are trying to save 4 fish. We really have nothing to lose. Your plant growth is AMAZING!

@Mike_Mthat is a valid point. The fish look very happy and healthy in the LFS where we purchase. Obviously coming home to our water is a shock for them. I bought an electric blue balloon ram from the same store and placed it in my aquarium (29g) after 15 minutes. 2 days later it developed ich spots. It is healed now but it was probably telling that it was the only fish who showed those symptoms. Definitely need to invest in a quarantine tank and medicate before adding to the general population like Cory recommends (just watched the video yesterday). Thank you!

Justed tested the water with Aquarium Co-op Multi-test strips. (AND my husband corrected me. He had 5 black ruby barbs. Now down to 4. One jumped out of the tank.) Nitrates have risen to 50 ppm (just performed 30% water change yesterday before adding Ich-X) Nitrites 0 ppm KH is 0 ppm (Is that bad?) GH is between 150 and 300 ppm (top end of the hard scale) pH is down to 6.4 chlorine is 0 ppm ammonia (API liquid kit) is 0 ppm

@CalmedByFishThat is exactly the line of thinking my husband has. @ScottieBWe started the tank with water from our outside hose; we then began using the treated tap water because I have it in a 29g with no issues. @Isaac M, I am currently on a call for work. I will test gh and kh and take a photo after this call. Not sure if readings differ with Ich-X but I did treat yesterday afternoon. Also, temp was up to 88 degrees (trying to kill ich). I lowered the heater to 79 degrees this morning.

My husband has a 20g long. In it he has eco substrate with white gravel over top, root tabs, live plants (java fern windelov, water sprite, aponogeton, anubias, moss ball, and some others), sponge filter in back left corner, airstone in center of the background, and a 30g HOB filter with an intake sponge. (HOB has 2 sponges and a bag of biomax rings in it.) He has/had 2 powder blue gouramis, 3 black ruby barbs, 5 five-banded tetra, one albino pleco, and a mystery and/or pond snail (not exactly sure which). Parameters are 6.8 pH, 0 ppm ammonia, 0 chlorine, 0 ppm nitrite, 20-30 ppm nitrates, hard water. There is no lid on the tank. Unless numbers are off, he has been topping off the tank with Seachem Prime-treated tap water as needed. We have probably done 3 water changes and 2 filter cleanings in the last two months. We do bi-weekly doses of Seachem Flourish for the live plants. (I have added Seachem Stability as dead fish are removed also.) He has lost everything but the black ruby barbs and snails (snails are multiplying - found 3 new babies this morning) in the last month. Are these types of fish extremely sensitive to water parameters? Is the lack of a lid problematic? He is so frustrated he is thinking of just shutting the tank down if the barbs don't make it. I don't want him to give up; I have suggested "easier" fish, like livebearers. Any advice? I am currently treating the tank with Ich-X because I noticed one barb with spots. We are also taking a water sample to our LFS. Thanks in advance.

I am so happy to read this because my tank has had 4.0 ppm+ ammonia the entire time I have had it (4 mths); however, all other levels are fine. (Tap water alone registers 2.0 ppm.) My fish are thriving and reproducing (livebearers). I test with the Master API kit. My city's water report says they use Chloramine year round except for late March to mid-April when they switch to chlorine. I treat all tap water with Prime prior to adding it when performing water changes. I may begin to triple dose based on what I am reading here. Thank you!

I just removed the ball from the aquarium to place it in the window (my male molly was not happy; he was eating off of it). Turns out, it is kind of green! YAY!

There are no green spots that I can see. I will try the window sill method. Thank you so much! The good news is, they aren't that expensive so it could be a "Live and Learn" lesson that didn't break me.

My tank is 78-80 degrees. I have not added any fertilizer to the water at all. I do roll the moss in my hands with each water change. I am ordering root tabs today and possibly some Easy Green liquid for my stem plants. The ball was green when I bought it.

I have one and it is completely brown. How do I fix this? My fish are definitely moving it around. This is the third location since I added it. 🙂

@Mitch Norton, thank you. I recently switched from flakes to bug bites. I didn't feed the fish from Friday to Monday am while I did the twice a day water changes. It was my hope that the ammonia would reduce to 0. I did feed them last night because the ammonia had dropped so much. I do have Prime so I will add that. I don't think I added it in the last 50% water change I performed yesterday.

Well, ammonia is back up to 1-1.5. I am struggling. Should I perform another water change or invest in an ammonia treatment? My 8 gallon tank is all livebearers: pH is 7.6; temp is 75-78; nitrite is 0; nitrate is 5. The water did measure as "Very Soft" on the Tetra test strips. How do I fix that for my mollies and platy?

I tested water all weekend (12/12-12/14) and did not feed my fish until this evening. pH, nitrite and nitrate measured within great ranges. Ammonia, however, started at 8 on Saturday morning and is between .5 and 1 today. I did 50% water changes twice a day for two days and once this morning. I will test the ammonia again in the morning since they had food and will produce some waste overnight. I may not feed again until Wednesday, depending on the result.

What a gorgeous setup you have! I cannot wait to get a larger tank.