Water quality question - PLEASE HELP???

[Baba1969]

Hello everyone, how's everybody doing? I'm a bit stressed out. See, I have Multiple Sclerosis and have a fair amount of cognitive dysfunction- memory lapses being the most problematic in the last year or so. Anyway, last week, I checked my tank, and found I was short one albino cory! I freaked out and looked everywhere. She wasnt anywhere to be seen in the tank and the tank's lid and been left slightly ajar, so she COULD have jumped out. So, I begand searching everywhere under the tank stand, into drawers, under furniture.......all to no avail. She was lost!
Then, about 15 minutes later, when I had calmed down, I thought I remembered flushing her down the toilet. Had she died and I'd forgotten? no......well, wait a minute- I think maybe I HAD lost an albino a week before!
Whew!!

So, I went about my way and about a week went by when I noticed one of my other albinos was acting funny. So, I lifted the tank's cover off and inspected the heater......where I found my missing female albino! She was quite bloated and had floated into the heater and then up to the surface! Seems she had been decaying in there all that time, thus slowly increasing the water's nitrate level- to a very dangerous level! But, because of my MS fatigue that day, I wasn't able to do a half water change until the next day. Well, by the time the next day came- three of my four albino corycats were dead.


I am now down to only two cory aneaus,one albino and one male betta plakat.
My question is this: I have never really understood the difference between water's TOTAL HARDNESS (GH) and water's TOTAL ALKALINITY (KH). But now that I've done this 3/4 water change: the water testing indicates that I have a GH of 25ppm (very soft) and a KH of 40ppm (the ideal for freshwater is between 120ppm and 300ppm. So, how do I go about RAISING the KH??? Now, I know that the fish I have prefer a more acidic water pH, so what can I do to help KEEP the pH level in the desired pH level of 6.2-6.8???

Thank you so much for any help you can give!
-Baba

[MatsP]

Most likely, the reason your corys died is ammonia/nitrite poisoning. Nitrate is relatively harmless to fish, where ammonia and nitrite are highly toxic.

Now, for GH and KH, I would say it's fine with a KH of 40 ppm as long as you keep an eye on your KH values (keeping the stocking low will help). Keeping fish that like soft, alkaline water will be ideal.

--
Mats

[racoll]

Hopefully this article here will answer your water chemistry questions.

Your water sounds fine for your fish, but when dealing with water with low buffering capacity like yours, it is important to make regular (twice weekly) partial (25%) water changes, and to check your pH regularly too.

Do nothing to change your pH. This is quite important! Messing with pH kills fish.

Pretty much any stable pH between say 6 and 8 is okay for your fish, and regular water changes will keep it stable too.

Hope this helps.

[Baba1969]

Thank you for your help. I do know that the fish that I have like a more acidic water type....but what IF i wanted to try out African ciclids that like a higher pH?
Would I just need to use a regular does of something like "Malawi/Victoria Buffer"??

[MatsP]

If you want to have another tank (as your current occupants are certainly NOT suitable to go together with African Rift Lake cichlids).

To be honest, I would resist fish that require modified pH unless you are an experienced aquarist with a good eye for what is "happy fish" - and a technical inclination. Changing pH "wrong" kills fish.

--
Mats

[sidguppy]

not just pH, but Malawi fish are notorious for harassing and killing Corydoras

even if the water wasn't an issue (and it is) just that would make it a non combo

there are cheap available catfish that can be kept with the colorful Malawi Mbuna cichlids

the best and most available choice is this:



this is an easy to keep catfish.
it likes the same water as the Malawi cichlids; hard with a pH of 7.5-8

the real name is

Synodontis lucipinnis

but in the trade these are just called "Synodontis petricola" or "synodontis petricola dwarf".