Why are my 6 flame tetras not swimming like normal?
Usually I see my 6 flame tetras cooped up in the low corners of my tank. The water temp is perfect, and I am working hard to get the perfect pH level, but when I look at my fish, the’re always either low and close to the walls, or lower, and in the 2 back corners! Are they ok?? They sometimes swim in the open, but for a short amount of time. Please help! I love my fish!! (https://i.stack.imgur.com/lLScx.jpg) I have a 29 gallon, with 6 flame tetras, 2 smaller mystery apple snails, and 2 other bottom feeders. (Brown spotted with dorsal spike and main fin spikes) my nitrate/ nitrite are both 0 (safe on the test strip) my water hardness is hard, because I have well water, my alkaline level is 300(not safe on the test strip) my pH is 8.4(not safe either) that’s why I’m using easy balance plus, once a week to help keep my fish safe! I obviously have a heater, thermometer, and filter. My filter is called Aqueon, and it is only for 10 gallon tanks. I have had my tank sense March 29. I clean my tank once a week, that includes I turn up the gravel. But once a month I will deep clean, that includes taking the decor out, and really washing all of the gunk off. (Always do I turn up the gravel)
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The first thing to do when you do the regular water changes is to replace part of your well water with bottled water-demineralized water or destilled water(to get the PH and hardness down)You might try 50% well water and 50% bottled water.
You need to stop using easy balance plus and replace this with Aqua safe or an other type of water treatment(easy balance plus brings the Ph up and you need to get the Ph down into the 7,5 range.
Your filter needs to be upgraded to one that is for your size of tank,your tank is 100 liters so you need to get a filter for a 150-200 liters tank to be safe it can handle the waste products.
When you do the water changes use an aquarium vacum to clean the gravel once a month,You do not need to clean the decorations unless they looks dirty.
Your filter does only need to be cleaned when you can see reduced waterflow from it(it works best if there is some gunk in it)Use water from your tank when you clean the filter.
When/if you change the filter to a new one you need to run both filters in paralell for atleast two weeks to seed the new filter with nitrifying bacteria.
Your next waterchanges needs to be done like this,Change 10% water weekly replace with bottled-demineralized-destilled water only(You can use rain water too if you live in an unpoluted area but this is risky)An other option is to buy reverse osmosis water(demineralized water).
When you have replaced 50% of the water after five weeks you continue the changes by using 50/50% well/bottled water.
If you have lots of plants in a well lighted tank you can cut down on the water changes but you will need to cut back the plants from time to time(keep an eye on the nitrate and change water if it goes up to 20mg/l).
REMEMBER ALL CHANGES IN WATER PARAMETERS NEEDS TO BE GRADUAL so your fish can addapt to the new conditions,And you need to addjust the % of well/bottled water to fit your situation.
I do not answer the fish part of your question here directly but the thing is if your water quality is good your fish will be fine too.
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