Fish Dying?

I would also like to add last week I did a water check but I can’t check for ammonia is it worth investing in this kit as it might be what’s having a effect in my fish

22* or 72F
No3 - 50
No2 - 0
Gh - 7D
Kh - 13D
Ph - 7.5
Cl2 - 0

And on the 28th august 2019

Temp - 24 *C
No3 - 10
No2 - 0
Gh 16D
Kh - 15D
Ph 8.4
Cl2 - 0.5

June 4th 2019

Temp ?
No3 20
No2 0
Gh 7D
Kh 13D
Ph 7.4
Cl2 0

I attached a picture of my tank just so you can see it

I think I will invest in a liquid test kit then as I do want to set up a bigger tank in a year or 2 so it wouldn’t go to waste

As for the gouramis I won’t be getting any more any time soon but the shop I bought them from had 15 - 20 easy in A tank I would say not much bigger than mine 😖

And that’s maybe why the ottos died because I’ve been after some for ages and the one pet shot I found sold out so they called me as soon at they got them in stock so they will have been bred shipped put in shops tank I came next day shipped them to my house and then put them in my tank

I double checked my diary on the day of the high gh and it says 16*D so I’m not sure what that’s all about as for my area of water a quick google search revealed that it’s soft water

“ WF8 *** (I just blurred my postcode) is in a soft water area

What does this mean?

The water supply to your property contains low levels of hard water minerals. Soft water is below 60ppm and means that currently, your washing should be softer, your energy bills more efficient and your appliances should last longer due to a lack of limescale build-up, compared to hard water areas.” And I never really thought about the hardness of water levels in my area but how does the pet shops deal with this because they will have the same water hardness as me no?

And the female fighters I know there time was short lol but I didn’t notice any bullying going on but reason I bought 3 the shop I bought them from it was 3 for £10 and I am guilty for just going to a shop and buying fish only problem is they will sell you anything or they just don’t now anything themselves unfortunately for most it’s more of a profit than a hobby but I do need to research what goes into my tank next before I buy anything

As for if my decor is safe I mean I guess because I bought them all from local pet stores that are for the aquarium use the rocks I bought I actually broke 1 apart to get some smaller pieces so it would blend and the one I broke can’t even grow algae on it when the other one I bought and didn’t smash up its covered in green algae ( I will attach a image) as for the rest it’s just spider wood substrate for the plants with a mix of aquarium sand and a top layer of gravel

And I have sprays and that yes but I don’t really use them plus the tank has a lid on it now and only the front of the tank is open with 2 - 3 inch opening ( I will also attach image ) I’m not sure this would affect new fish right because like I say I have a thriving Colony of cherry shrimp and 4-5 danios in there

Moving onto the water changes I do a 1/3 water change every week I vacuum the gravel of what I can if you look at my other picture from first post I can’t get at back of the wood not the back of the rocks but all the front bit gets vacuumed plus most of the crap gets sucked to the front because the black box at the left side of the tank houses the pump and heater plus I clean my sponge in the dirty water I just sucked out so I keep my bacteria

The chemicals I add is API tap water conditioner it removes chlorine , chloramines and detoxifies heavy metals and it says it’s supper strength high concentrated formula it’s the big bottle that’s 473ml but that’s all I really add I have liquid co2 and liquid plant Fert but my plants a doing really well and I havnt touched those in 4-5 months easy

Now we reach the funny part the filter now this filter came with the tank and the tank I have the the aqua home 60 but I don’t think this is right so the way it works it’s just a basic filter pump sponge at the bottom that clips into the pump so the dirty water goes through the sponge and into the pump but the other day I noticed the inside was was a little brown so I took what I could apart the the nozzle and and that and give it a good clean with a toothbrush I use to clean the tank and what came was was awful aha I don’t don’t how to describe it glops of fish shite just flopped out it was really nasty lol but the sponge is supposed to contain all of that right it should go trough the sponge through the pump and back into the tank surely not right? ( edit I just found out the filter is called aqua internal 200  and the flow is 200-400 L/h and I run that on high normally so I’m probably getting about 400L/h I guess)

I can’t attach file because it’s too large 😑

Like I say I havnt used those in months because it’s been growing really well

Thanks for your help anyway and I’ll do some extensive research on the next fish to see if it that helps maybe it’s down to stress mostly no idea though ... thank you very much for your help 😊

Manufacturers will tell you to change the media frequently regardless of what it is!
Carbon is either impregnated in a sponge or inside a cartridge.
Carbon sponges will be black. But there are also black sponges that don't have carbon in them. The main difference is that carbon sponges are stiff while non-carbon sponges are soft like ordinary filter sponge.
Cartridges are a white bag filled with carbon granules, and attached to a frame. The best thing to do with these is to make a slit in the bag and empty the carbon, then put the bag back. Find some filter sponge, any make, and cut it up so it fills the space in the filter now the carbon has gone. After a couple of months, throw away the remains of the cartridge and just use sponge.


The ammonia test must be read after the time stated. If left longer it will give a false reading.