Hi everyone,
I have a new tank (Fluval Roma 125 with Internal U3 Filter), setup in January with a fishless cycle done for about two weeks but also used a biological enhancer to speed up the process. One of my pals had 5 Serpae Tetras that he had in a seperate tank as they were nipping his Corys. So he gave me those to put in the tank as my first fish. After another 2 weeks i put in 6 Leopard Danios, 2 Pepper Corys and 2 Japonica Shrimp to see how the Tetras would deal with tankmates. Everything went fine. At this stage i was doing 50% water changes every weekend and everything was going well.
After another 2 weeks i added 4 otocinclus to aid in algae control from my plants. There wasnt an awful lot anyway but i read that they were a nice addition to a community planted tank. That weekend i done another water change and by the time i had finished an Otto was dead. I put it down to stress etc. A week later another had passed.
This time i let 3 weeks pass before adding more fish, 4 black mollys and 6 glass bloodfins. Again everyone was doing fine and my water tests were all normal. I decided to cross reference suggested temperature ranges, ph ranges etc to check that all my fish were compatible. It seemed they were but i decided to lower the temp from 26 degrees to 23/24 degrees. Again everything was going ok. In these 3 weeks i was doing a 25% water change every weekend.
Then yesterday i woke up to another dead Otto. Only 1 left from the 4 i put in and all the other fish doing fine. I'm just wondering if there is anything i have done wrong or should be doing to care for the ottos.
My water test readings from yesterday are: General Hardness: 60 ppm mg/L, Carbonate Hardness: 60 ppm mg/L, pH - 7.0, Nitrite - 0, Nitrate - 20, Temp: 23/24 degrees.
I have been feeding the fish twice a day, flakes in the morning and then pelles for mid water and bottom feeders in the evening.
Any help or advice would be warmly received.