Truly a DAY OF DEATH for fishkeepers...

It seems that the last day has not only been bad for James.... while he lost
a betta, I've lost two neons in my tank (6 gal, cycled, good quality water,
was originally 6 neons and 2 platys).

Not a big deal, of course - but I'm wondering if it's my stinky pH, which is
now sitting at around 8 after I added a couple of white rocks (any idea what
they are?) to increase the kH, which was about zero. So, while my water's
buffering capacity will be good, I'm wondering why these neons have died...
kinda hoping that it's just survival of the fittest (I only bought them 2
days ago) and that they were probably ill in the first place, but was
wondering what people thought on here. Can a fish die purely because the pH
is a bit too high? I'm going to buy about 4 more neons so they can form a
school - the remaining 4 are very happy - but I don't want to bring them in
to a slow death by alkaline poisoning!

This tank's great, though - having gone from 2 months with a boring old
goldfish to 2 platys and a bunch of neons, it's making me keen to save up
and buy a huge tank!

thanks as always for your help, people!

R

El Roberto wrote:
It seems that the last day has not only been bad for James.... while he lost
a betta, I've lost two neons in my tank (6 gal, cycled, good quality water,
was originally 6 neons and 2 platys).

Not a big deal, of course - but I'm wondering if it's my stinky pH, which is
now sitting at around 8 after I added a couple of white rocks (any idea what
they are?) to increase the kH, which was about zero. So, while my water's
buffering capacity will be good, I'm wondering why these neons have died...
kinda hoping that it's just survival of the fittest (I only bought them 2
days ago) and that they were probably ill in the first place, but was
wondering what people thought on here. Can a fish die purely because the pH
is a bit too high? I'm going to buy about 4 more neons so they can form a
school - the remaining 4 are very happy - but I don't want to bring them in
to a slow death by alkaline poisoning!

This tank's great, though - having gone from 2 months with a boring old
goldfish to 2 platys and a bunch of neons, it's making me keen to save up
and buy a huge tank!

thanks as always for your help, people!

R


My guess, although I couldn't put my hand on it, would be the difference
in hardness and pH did for the Neons - so yes they can die by being
moved from soft, low pH water into harder, higher pH water....Neons are
a challenge in hardwater and high pH areas (such as mine) as they
naturally prefer softer water and low pH...the key here being the
acclimisation of the fish once you get them. But that being said there
is a possibility of something called Neon Tetra Disease (NTD)- did you
see the fish behaving strangely before dying - for example losing the
ability to swim...did you notice any white, blister type markings on them?

Neons are great looking fish....and I have them in two different tanks
(hubby likes me to maintain at least one school and it is a small price
to pay for the number of tanks I have) - but I do find the mortality
rate a little high and often lose around 25% of those purchased over the
first few weeks....

Happy the tank is looking good....but sorry about the fish loss....

Gill

PS My guess is your white rocks contain calcium carbonate - they are
leeching this into the water raising your pH and KH....absolutely ideal
if you get into a bigger tank and African cichlids....

You never mentioned the temperature of your aquarium. I have found
that Neon Tetras do not do well over 76 F. I bought ten of them for 99
cents and they all lasted but three days at 80 F. I did some research
and learned the temperature was too high. I never bought more because
I prefer a warmer temperature aquarium for my plants.

Gregory Ho wrote:
You never mentioned the temperature of your aquarium. I have found
that Neon Tetras do not do well over 76 F. I bought ten of them for 99
cents and they all lasted but three days at 80 F. I did some research
and learned the temperature was too high. I never bought more because
I prefer a warmer temperature aquarium for my plants.

I beg to differ as I have a school in a tank with discus and the water
temp is always in the higher range, from 29-31 degrees celcius, and
they've survived more than six months now, withstanding the temperature
change from the LFS to my tanks. I've read about neon tetra disease
which causes kidney stones cause by calcifying deposits in that organ,
due to the very hard water.

"Gregory Ho" wrote in message
ups.com...


You never mentioned the temperature of your aquarium. I have found
that Neon Tetras do not do well over 76 F. I bought ten of them for 99
cents and they all lasted but three days at 80 F. I did some research
and learned the temperature was too high. I never bought more because
I prefer a warmer temperature aquarium for my plants.
==========================
They don't live long for me because our water is too hard and too alkaline.
When I lived in NYC they thrived in the slightly acid soft water there. I
no longer even consider soft water-acid water fish.
--
ZB....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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