CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Before water change:
pH over 8.4
Alkalinity over 300 ppm
Hardness 300 ppm
Nitrite 3 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm

After Water change:
pH over 8.4
Alkalinity over 300 ppm
Hardness 300 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm

At water changes we use:
AmQuel plus (1 tsp) to remove the chlorine and chloramines but it also helps with nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia.
Tetra, Easy Balance [2 tsp (one cap full)]to stabilize the pH and Alkalinity levels it also reduces nitrates and phosphate
Aquarium Salt (5 tsp)to help prevent disease it also helps with Nitrite.

With the water being so hard there is no point in putting the Easy Balance in because it won't do anything. Now if I add half tap water (what I have been using) and half R/O water at water changes I know this will bring the pH, alkalinity, and Hardness down.

We have 3 goldfish about an inch long and a bottom feeder, a filter, a bubble stone, 4 plants (fake) and a fake coral in a 10 gallon tank.

So my questions are:

1 If I do the half and half water will the easy Balance be effective?

2 Am I using too many chemicals at water changes?

3 Should I take the fish out during the water changes ( I have read this stresses them)
       If not do I add the chemicals directly to the tank with the fish in it (already know to dissolve the salt
       before placing it in the tank)

Your water is to  high in pH to keep goldfish in.. they really dont' like a pH over 8.0.. BUT dont' worry just yet. Mine in my pond are in a pH of 8.0-8.2 and KH 214.8ppm and GH 250.6ppm,, and they are fine..
This 10 gal tank is going to need to be BIGGER in just a months time.. Goldfish grow FAST..  Be looking now for a 55 gal and DON"T get any more goldfish.. YOUR local newspaper is the best place to find a great deal on a complete tank for less..

PLECO is not needed here in such a small  tank, but for now it is ok..  they are messy and get really big!!

NOW, YOUR water changes, HOW DO YOU DO THEM AND HOW MUCH DO YOU TAKE OUT??

YOU seem to be adding in everything in the tank at once. this can burn the fish's gills  and that is not good..
IT IS BETTER TO PRE-MIX EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU ADD IT TO THE TANK..

The standard water changes here is like 2-3 gal every week.. NOW trying to get the measures right here on the dechlo/others is a problem as they are meant for a 10 gal dose.. I use a 5 gal bucket then I know the measure to be 1/2 tesp. , but I have more tanks for the rest of the water..  IN 2 gal but under 3 gal, you can safely do 1/4 tesp and be GOOD on your doses..  With your goldfish, they are extremly messy and produce twice the ammonia than other fish.. SO you really need to do every 5 day water changes of 2gal..
NO don't remove them.. Best to remove all the deco out, VAC the gravel.. YES you need to VAC the gravel into a bucket so you know how much you are tanking OUT and dont' go OVER 1/2 of the tank water.. (you can always add some back in once the debri settles)

SALT.. I am confussed here on HOW MUCH you are adding back into the tank.. ARE YOU TOTALLY EMPTYING THIS TANK?? NOT good if you are.. YOU ONLY REPLACE BACK IN, the amount of SALT on the water you are replacing.. SO if you are taking out, 3 gal of water, you only dose for 3gal of water. NOT THE WHOLE AMOUNT OF 10 GAL..

SO TELL Me please how MUCH water you do remove ON EACH WATER CHANGE YOU DO....

EVEN a small 10 gal tank, it stil needs to cycle.. From your readings, NITRITE, it is still cycling and IF you are emptying this tank completely, then the nitrite just comes back.. IF you are not VACUUMING the gravel, this also wil keep the nitrites high.. YOUR NITRATE  is high here too. so that tells me the gravel needs to be cleaned.. Something is not right here as you should NOT have a NITRITE READING and a high NITRATE TOO...

WATER: I have a RO system and use it on my American cichlds. I dont'have too, as they seem to do good in the water I have except the high pH.. NOW I do add in some REGULAR tap water to stabilize the hardness so my pH stays stable.. MY pH from the RO is : 7.0-7.2 KH 0-1=17.9 ppm  GH 2=35.8ppm   MY tap: pH 8.4   KH: 12+=214.8+ GH: 14+ 250.6ppm+
I do however use a 30 gal trash can to mix my water in and a pump to insure mixing.. I mix in 3 to 5 gal of tap water, this helps me keep my RO tanks stable..

IF you want to lower the pH /hardness content, then use more RO and less TAP.. BUT make sure you TEST it first before you add it in the tank. A SUDDEN pH drop or change can hurt the fish.. So beware of that and only do 1 gal every 3 days to ajust them over. THIS WIL NOT SHOW ON THE FIRST 2 TO 3  1 GAL CHANGES BUT REGISTER LATER AT A LOWER pH and hardness. So be aware of that.. YOUR hardness in the tank will over ride the LESS hardness you are adding in until it ajusts more to the LESS HARDNESS. THIS will make the pH come down too but slower/natural way and not shock the fish..

I am unsure here on using the Easy balance BUT it seems it wil work better once you get the hardness down..

YOU really need a 3 gal bucket to do your water mixing/testing in. Make sure on your RO amount to the TAP water you need so when this gets changes over, you know what to do.. TEST AND RETEST the water.. ONCE you get it figured out, you  are home free.. EASY then.. Goldfish can do good in a 7.6 to 8.0 so you really dont' need to ajust it much IF AT ALL... THEY  do ajust fine to the water they are in and yours have been fine so far..
The problem here is the HIGH NITRITES.. So monitor them and keep them down with water changes of 1 gal every 2 days.. this wil also help the high NITRATES.. KEEP the filter cleaned WEEKLY...  NOT just change the filter media pad, but the WHOLE BOX FILTER!! Do so in the sink with a small scrub brush.. Once you add it back to the tank and fill in with tank water, this nutrilizes any chlorine in the filter.  This could be keeping the NITRITES HIGH with a dirty filter!!  Why clean the tank and leave a dirty filter??

 

When We have only had the tank about two weeks. We Started with 4 in a bowl and three of them died. So we got the last one a tank and put three new ones in there. Well the one from the first batch died a couple days later.

I changed the water last night and washed the stones with some salt. When I change the water I take out about 4 gallons once a week. This morning we had three fish in the tank one died about an hour ago and the other is still alive but not enough to last probably another 30 min. So now we have one gold fish and a bottom feeder.

When I do the water changes I only put enough salt in there to replace the water I took out.

I just tested the water and there is isn't any Nitrite in the water. There hasn't been since I changed it last night. The Nitrate reading is 20ppms which according to my test strips is safe.

I plan on going down to the local store and getting some R/O water.
Should I wait another 5 days to change the water or since its so hard and killing the fish should I do a gallon change?

Also am I placing a whole gallon of R/O water in the tank or half R/O and half tap.

How does all of this effect the bottom feeder?

The hardness and high pH is not killing the fish , it is the tank cycling.. THAT is what your problem is..

the only way to keep this tank going with the GOLDFISH is to do the 1 gal every TWO DAYS WHEN YOU REGISTER any NITRITE.. Dont' worry about the NITRATE... YOU need to test this tank every day, when you see the NITRITE has a reading, and it will, then do the 1 gal out/back in with dechlor.. DONT' DO SALT ON SUCH A SMALL AMOUNT!

IT is always best to use a bucket and just mark the OUT SIDE with a black marker on ONE GALLON or find a good bucket with this on it already.. ADD in the Water condtioner FIRST so it mixes good, then the water from the tap/other IF you want to use RO, but I dont' think you need to.. NOT yet anyway until this tank cycles.. As you had a NITRITE reading of 3. then that tells me the tank is cycling still. WHEN THAT GOES TO 0PPM AFTER a good 3 days, then you can be asured that the tank is cycled. BUT in 2 weeks, I dought this very much.. FEED these fish ONLY ONCE a day!! this will help you here to help the cycling.. TO much food here is going to make the NITATES high..

Sorry you are losing fish, even goldfish, I have some and I really like them.. I even bring them in for the winter.. Some  are in my neighbors pond as they are to big for my 55 gal tank.. I need to get them.. 

DID U condtiion the water before you added the change water into the tank?? this will hurt the fish fast if you dont' condition the water FIRST..

Sounds good on the salt/change water.. Your post was kind of confussing on that...

NO dont' do anything on the RO water right now.. TEST the tank daily for the NITRITE...
DO you TEST for AMMONIA?? THAT is the first step into a cycle.. Then the NITRITES...

NITRATES are all ways in the water but best to keep them under 20 to 40ppm.. LOWER is better...ONLY vacuuming the gravel will keep this LOW..

IF I missed anything you want to know, post back on it.. Barb