Water Help

Question
QUESTION: Hi!

I have a 31 gallon tank with 8 neon tetras and 1 female guppy.  I recently had five fish die (2 neons, 2 guppies, 1 catfish).  I decided to test the water because they were new fish (I only had them about three days), and only 1 had outward signs of disease.  First off, this is not a new tank.  This tank has been set up for years.  I used to have multiple cichlids and catfish.  The cichlids got too big, and I ended up with only one and a catfish.  I cleaned the tank very thoroughly, and a week later, I took both the cichlid and the catfish and sold them.  The same day, I bought the 10 neons and 3 guppies and a catfish.

I tested my water, and my pH was 7.0, which I think is normal.  My general hardness was about 180, but I did some research, and I think thats normal for the fish I have. Am I right?  My nitrite levels were 0-.5, which I think is good, too.  My nitrate levels were about 200, which is way too much.  Before I tested the water, I added an ick medication, because my guppy looks like she has ick.  Does the medication affect any of these results?  My KH (whatever that is, the packaging wasn't clear) result was about 40.  I don't know what that means.

I called a local fish store, and they thought that the water conditions were bad, which caused stress, which killed the fish.  Are they right?  How can I lower or raise the different conditions in the tank?  I'm not really sure how to handle this.  Besides those deaths and the ick, the fish seem to be completely fine.

When I first noticed the fish were acting strange, I added aquarium salt to the tank to help with stress.  Could this affect any of those results?
I appreciate your help, I know this is a really long, multiple answer question.

Thanks!

ANSWER: Hi Kira,
If this is a new tank it must be cycled already and it looks like it from the low nitrites and nitrate readings.  Have you tested ammonia?  All fish naturally adapt to pH and hardness of your water.  The only time you want to worry about pH and hardness is when you are trying to breed certain types of fish.  Fish such as live-bearer fish like your guppies which require higher pH and discus fish which require a lower pH to breed effectively.  Nitrates of 200 is very high and I'm willing to bet this is the cause of the deaths.  There are certain bacteria that break down ammonia into nitrites and certain bacteria that break down nitrites into nitrates.  There is no bacteria to break down nitrates and the only way to remove nitrates, is by doing water changes.  A good rule of thumb is to do a 15% water change every week to keep nitrates in check.  I keep all my tanks nitrates at 40 or below.  I would recommend a 50% water change for you weekly until the levels are lower.  Remember to use liquid testing and not test strips.  Strips are very very inaccurate and will give you false interpretations of your tank.

Medications are very good to rid ick but there is a better way that won't affect your biological filtration in your tank.  You want to use medications as a last resort because it kills the beneficial nitrogen-converting bacteria in the tank that breaks down the 2 types of nitrogen (ammonia+nitrite).  For treating ick, try adding 1tbsp aquarium salt per 5 gallons of aquarium water to your tank and raise the temperature to 86F-90F.  So if you have a 31 gallon, add 6 tbsp of aquarium salt to the tank (remember to dissolve it first before adding).  Ich stop reproducing at 86F and die at temps higher than 86F.  Salt also helps kill ich.  This is called the heat+salt method and works very effectively.  You do this for a period of 1week-2weeks.  And after the heat+salt therapy, you remove the salt by doing water changes weekly.  Remember when you do a water change during the heat+salt treatment, replace the amount of salt removed.  So if you removed 10 gallons for a water change, replace it with 2tbps of aquarium salt.  The medication wont affect the results.  KH means Carbonate Hardness and that just tells you how much buffers you have in the water to keep the pH from fluctuating.

Hope I helped and let me know if you have any other questions!
-Matt-

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Matt,

First, thank you so much for you prompt response.  I really appreciate your help, because I don't trust the people at the pet store, and you really seem to know what you're talking about.
Now, to the fish.  I did test the ammonia yesterday.  It was 0.  When I woke up this morning, I did a 15% water change, like I did four days ago.  I cleaned as much of the gravel as I could without removing all of the plants.  I removed some of the plants.  I plan to do another change in 2 days.  There are 2 reasons I didn't do a 50%, like you said.  First, I was afraid of stressing the fish even more by removing that much water.  My guppy is pregnant, so she doesn't need more stress, and the neons just look freaked out.  The second reason is that I'm not sure how to replace the water in my tank.  When I replace water, I use water from my sink that I let sit out for days or weeks.  I only have about 4.5 gallons that I can do at a time.  I do have a product called Cycle.  Could I add tap water that hasn't sat out to the tank, and then put the correct dosage of that in?  I tested water straight from the tap without letting it sit out, and it seemed that all the readings were very normal.

Second, why are test strips bad?  I'm not looking for an exact reading, just a ball park.  Is that a problem?

Another question I have is that you told me to raise the temperature and add salt to the tank.  I did both, but will that just stress the fish more?  I guess I'm just confused about how and why fish get stressed.  Also, how often should I add salt? And what do you mean when you said to dissolve it first?

I'm really trying to do this right, and eventually, I'm looking to breed guppies, as well as having other types of fish.  

Thanks again for your help!

Answer
Hi kira,
0 is a good ammonia reading.  I did not know you had plants.  Are they live?  A heat and salt treatment for ick is a hit and miss for live plants because of the salt.  The live plants will brown and wither away but WILL eventually grow back.  Doing a 50% water change should not stress the fish.  Sometimes when I'm in doubt of whats going on in my tank I do more than a 50% water change.  15% is still adequate as long as you keep it up to reduce the nitrate level.  Do you have water conditioner/dechlorinizer?  The water conditioner Prime from SeaChem is a very good product and top of the line and is not too expensive either.  When you replace water, follow the directions on the bottle, it will usually say 2 drops per gallon of tap water to remove chlorine or 5ml for 20 gallons.  The product Cycle is only to help a new tank cycle.  And from your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings, your tank has been successfully cycled.  The readings from tap water is normal because there hasnt been any sources of ammonia in it.  BUT it does have chlorine which is deadly to both plants and fish.  I suggest you dechorinize it first either by what you are doing now which is letting it sit for 3-4 days or by using a water conditioner.  

I compared test strips to liquid testing and the difference is off.  The liquid test would show a reading of 10ppm Nitrate whereas strips showed 0ppm.  Ive seen other people complain about test strips too because they are trying to properly cycle a tank but would see both a reading of nitrate and a reading of ammonia during the initial cycling of a tank which is really puzzling.

Your fish are just stressed because of the high nitrate level.  As long as those are going down they should be feeling better.  The salt is not enough to cause stress.  There is a bath you can give your fish to kill ick but I did not recommend it because you said they are stressed.  A bath is made by doing 2-3 tbps of aquarium salt per gallon of water in a separate tank or container for a period of 10-30 mins or until there are signs of stress.  Keep in mind that the fish might be laying on its side during the bath or might be floating due to density but I assure you he is fine just tap the side on the container and he will be swimming agian.  Yes its very concentrated with salt but is very effective because it literally kills the ick embedded on the fish due to osmosis.  The first time I did this with one of my fish that had a lot of white cysts and after the bath, there was literally, no cysts, looked like a brand new fish.  I now do this on the very first signs of ick before it gets worse.  There are a few ways to do it on google and they all work good.  

You only add the salt once.  No more than 1 tbsp per 5 gallon of fish water and replace what has been removed during water changes.  When I said dissolve it first, it means dont just throw the salt directly into the tank, dissolve it in a bucket of water first and then put it in the tank.  

Guppies are very fun to breed and very easy.  You really dont have to do anything but put a male and a female together.  Ive had so many babies about 200+ that I dont know what to do with them so I give them to friends.  Its quite a chore.  

Hope I helped and let me know if you have any other questions!
-Matt-