bringer of water change ... and death.

[bigjimmyjames]

i bring death. some bring the noise, some bring the funk, i bring death.

I had 3 cories in a tank. i did a water change, 50%. i have a ten gallon, at the advice of LFS i added 1 table spoon of aquarium salt along with my ferts.

Nitrates 2.06 ppm
Phosphates 0.45 ppm
Potassium 4.36 ppm

needless to say, the three cories all died. very sad.

I assume it was the salt, as the ferts were low. sources say i raised the dissolved solids ratio too quickly. this is likely. i vowed no more salt.

next i got some thread algae. mollies eat that. so i got mollies. again, the LFS assured me that mollies do in fact, need salt.

i just did another water change, bringing the ferts to the same levels as before, and again using a table of salt for 10 gallons. mollies like salt. This time ONE molly died, the other seems fine (i've lit a candle and will keep you posted.) i also have about 10-12 ghost shrimp, they were fine.

have i added ferts in an amount that would harm fish, or is it the salt? i hate salt. i have read that mollies can go without it, i'll never use it again.

perhaps my method? i vacuum out half the water, fill a barrell with water and let it sit for a while to get to room temperature. after temp is good, i hose it back in, slowly. after water level is up, i add ferts and salt all at once. Is this bad. should i add salt and ferts differently?

i am eager to read the responses. the damage is done, but it would be good to know before the next water change.

[yoink]

Are you using any declorinator? I wouldn't add any salt either, but I don't think that amount would be dangerous, especially to the mollies. I regularly dump more fertilizer than what you have listed into my tanks and everyone is fine, so It probably wasn't the ferts either. Did you notice any odd behavior from the fish before they died?

[crazie.eddie]

How do you add the aquarium salt? Do you just scoop the amount and pour it in OR let it dissolve in water and slowly adding it in the tank. If you just scoop then there's a high concentrated area. Cory catfish like to cover every part of the substrate and they may have been burnt with the high concentration. I would let the salt solution dissolve in a cup of water and slowly add it into the tank over a long period of time.

Also, you do a 50% water change on a 10 gallon tank and you add salt for a 10 gallon tank. You should ONLY add enough aquarium salt for a 5 gallon tank, since that's the amount of water you removed.

One last thing, how long has the tank been running? If it's a new tank, then it may not be cycled, which is another reason for the fish death.

[Brilliant]

This is freshwater tank?

And arent Cories scaleless fish?

Hmmm...

[the_noobinator]

Originally Posted by Brilliant

This is freshwater tank?

And arent Cories scaleless fish?

Hmmm...

no, i think you're thinking of loaches.

[mrbelvedere]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I always thought of them as "armor plates" rather than scales.

Any cory experts?

[bigjimmyjames]

i do not use dechlorinator. i let the water sit allowing the chlorine to dissipate. i dissolve salt in water and add the solution in smaller amounts. i add less salt than would be required for a 5 gallon. the molly would kind of sink, then sit, then flip out, the cycle would repeat. this is not a new tank. it is low light with ferns and crypts.

[Marilyn1998]

Although mollies can take some salt and it is said so can cories, I know from experience many types of cories just cant do salt. If you add too much salt, it is too concentrated when you add it, or you allow the salt to build up by adding more % than you take out during a water change, a cory will nto do well. I have killed a few cories in my day treating my fish with aquarium salt.
I wouldnt add salt, period with cories in the tank. put them in qt if you have to add salt to the main tank.

[MikeNas102]

I'd bet the farm on the fact that you don't use a dechlorinator. If your water company uses chloramine instead of chlorine letting it sit does nothing. Chloramine does not off-gas. The only way to remove it is with a dechlorinator. You should use a dechlorinator even if you do have chlorine and not chloramine. I mean, a bottle will last you over a year because you use so little. My bottle of Seachem Prime lasts a year for 2 tanks with weekly water changes. $4.00 a year is worth not worrying about losing bigger $ in fish.

[the_noobinator]

Originally Posted by MikeNas102

I'd bet the farm on the fact that you don't use a dechlorinator. If your water company uses chloramine instead of chlorine letting it sit does nothing. Chloramine does not off-gas. The only way to remove it is with a dechlorinator. You should use a dechlorinator even if you do have chlorine and not chloramine. I mean, a bottle will last you over a year because you use so little. My bottle of Seachem Prime lasts a year for 2 tanks with weekly water changes. $4.00 a year is worth not worrying about losing bigger $ in fish.

bingo! also, some products that dechlorinate and dechloraminate also do other helpful things to your tank.

[yoink]

Get some prime just to be safe and see if this stops happening.

[endparenthesis]

Even if there wasn't any chloramine... long enough to hit room temperature isn't nearly long enough to gas out chlorine.

Short of having some kind of carbon block prefilter, there's just no reason to not use dechlorinator.

[bigjimmyjames]

then it is settled. i will de-chlor the water. is seachem prime the agreed upon method?

[yoink]

Any declorinator that will take care of chlorine and chloramine will work. Prime dosages are so low that a bottle will last a good while. That's why I use it anyway.

[mr.gaboozlebag]

Sorry to hijack the thread but I always thought of them as "armor plates" rather than scales.

Any cory experts?

Ya, all of the fish books that I've read said that corys have bony plates not scales.