Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Beginner question

I cant seem to find a straight answer in any of the books.

I have 29 gallon tank. Been up for 1 month. I got poor advice from the fish store and I stocked the tank, after 48 hours of letting it sit, with 5 fish and 2 more within a week. As I read more and more, I realized that this was not smart. 4 died on me. Only three made it - 1 platy, 1 swordtail and 1 tetra. On top of that, two of the fish were non-compatible (completely contrary to the store employee's guidance but now obvious to me with my reading - 1 tiger barb and 1 red tailed shark.) The tiger barb and red tailed shark chased everyone for the week prior to their death.

Once it settled I assumed that everything was fine.

Now it has been running for 1 month and I have 4 guppies, 7 neon tetras and 2 gouramis, and the original swordtail and platy. Until yesterday, I thought I was in the clear. Now the final original platy died. And the swordtail is in the hospital tank.

Levels all look good except my PH is on the high side. But has been consistent.

Do you think my swordtail and platy is the residual effects of stress or that my higher PH is the problem?

Thanks much.

For future reference, always do a little bit of research on the species that you want to keep (for starters you can always go to www.liveaquaria.com), if you need help finding it just let me know and I'd be glad to help.
Your tank is still cycling, so do you have a water testing kit that has a numeric value for your water or is it colors? Mine is colors, so if it's one like that, knowing the colors won't help me. pH doesn't usually affect fish unless it is a sudden change from like 7 to 10 or more. And your tank was consistently rising. Now, pH does have an effect on osmoregulation (the fish's ability to move salt and water in/out of the body) so in that respect it can be a stress factor, but like I said it usually doesn't affect the fish unless it's sudden and drastic.
How long ago was it that you had the tigers and the shark in there? It could be stress from that if it wasn't too long ago. If it was more than a week, it's probably not that.
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Phishie

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Thanks - very helpful. Yes, in the beginning, I was taking the store employee's advice too much. Since I have been reading up.

They died a little over a week since the tiger barb was removed (took him back).

I just got back from the store and bought a numeric PH. But it sounds like you are saying it should be OK unless I see a big change in PH.

Thanks for settling me down!

Right.... big change in pH is bad. Keep me posted on how things are going.
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Phishie

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."