The Puffer Forum

since my fahaka died, i wanted to make sure my tank was fully cycled and safe before adding another one
i replaced the heater with a new one, couldnt regulate the temp properly for a couple of days, and the temp soared to above 30 and looked like cooked most of my ramshorns
my pond snails had went up out of the water and were above the water line and so they survived.
one of my shrimp also survived 2 days in cold water when no heater was on, and the 2-3 days when new heater put the temp up.

the temp has now stabilised at 25, and has been this way for 4 days.
i removed the dead snails, and did a wc and params were amm 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 5

so i went and bought 5 guppies yesterday to keep the tank cycled until i got a fahaka in the near future
this morning, 2 guppies dead. no marks on then?
my params are the same 0,0,5, ph 7.6 using api test kit
is there something else in my tank thats causing the deaths? the shrimp is fine. been in there about 2 weeks, the pond snails are in the snail breeding tank now, and are in that water looking better.

other 3 guppies seem ok, only time will tell?
my tank doesnt smell weird or anything, the water is clear etc
only thing i can think of, is that something is leeching out of the rocks i got from the beach? same rocks are in my bw tank, and fish are all great.



any ideas?!

I don't suppose you can borrow a hydrometer? That would check the SG level is there were any salts that dissolved into the water from the rocks.

Also closely inspect the rocks for little brown patched that look like rust. Some rocks contain variations of iron that are not good for the tank.

i checked for salt with my hydrometer when the fahaka was poorly

there is some rock that is a reddish colour, dont know if its putting anything into tank.

is there any test kits that tests for metals in water? wouldnt using prime take out any metals present?

Why would there be salt from a fakaka tank? Unless your new purchase is going to be a tiny one, I don't believe the guppies will put out enough bioload to support a fahaka. I'd remove everything live & either add ammonia (as per the fishless cycling article) or a piece of shrimp in a stocking.

Pufferpunk wrote:Why would there be salt from a fakaka tank? Unless your new purchase is going to be a tiny one, I don't believe the guppies will put out enough bioload to support a fahaka. I'd remove everything live & either add ammonia (as per the fishless cycling article) or a piece of shrimp in a stocking.

Just a thought, but if the rocks were from the beach wouldn't they retain some salts?

Those look like FW rocks.

I'm not saying it is indeed the rocks but there are a couple things in the rocks to be careful of.

In the below 2 pics you see 2 rocks. The one on the left is tank safe, the one on the right is not. The one on the right contains traces of iron in the glittery "pyrite"

"Unfortunately, pyrite does not seem to be very good for the fish tank. This article at cichlid-forum.com states that it's reactive enough to acidify water, and potentially release more iron than is good for one's tank, which is bad for fish and terrible for inverts, and I'm finding enough consensus searching on "pyrite aquarium" to back it up. (The problem being that the "sulfide" turns to "oxide" over time, releasing sulfur, which reacts in water into sulfuric acid, and then you've got iron oxides, which can release their iron, especially in low-pH water, and ugh."

also see:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/rock_metals.php

In the below 2 pics you see 2 rocks. The one on the left is tank safe, the one on the right is not. The one on the right contains traces of iron in the glittery "pyrite"

WOW great job J-P

We need to look out for stuff like that,

thanks jp! that one in the pic that you have circled looks like the rock that i have in my tank =[

we're just going to bin the rocks and go to lfs to get some

the guppies are in my snailtank and are looking perkier and eating, so is the one shrimp

ive done a 50% wc on the main tank, and will put the prawn in stocking in to maintain ammonia and keep it cycled