Goldfish water tests?

Question

We Were adding Jungle Bowl Buddies to the fish bowl and then Tetra Aqua, Aqua Safe to the 10 gallon tank. We tested the water today and the levels are as follows
pH 8.4
Alkalinity over 300 ppm
Hardness 300 ppm
Nitrite 3 ppm
Nitrate 40 ppm
We went to the local pet store and got some
Aquarium Salt to reduce the Nitrite and the hardness,
Tetra, Easy Balance to stabilize the pH and Alkalinity levels it also reduces nitrates and phosphate,
Kordon, AmQuel plus mainly cuz it removes the nitrite and will remove the chlorine and chloramines but it also helps with nitrate and ammonia.
We added 1 T salt, 1 t AmQuel, and one cap full Easy Balance to the tank all at once. The levels never changed and the fish flipped out so we took them out, Washed the tank out with the salt. Then tested the water the Nitrate was 20 ppm and the Nitrite was 0. I then added 1 T salt (should have added 10 t) and one cap full Easy Ballance. Hardness still 300 Alkalinity over 300 pH 8.4. What should we do?

Please I need help with water hardness, ph and alkalinity if you dont know anything about that please dont answer. Goldfish bowls are bad for goldfish due to the fact that they dont get enought oxygen!!!! SO please stop with the comments about omg goldfish in a 10 gallon tank thats not answering my question. Fish need room to swim!!! Generally, the rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon of water... but this really depends on the type of fish you are keeping....little skinny Neons easily fit into this rule while dirty "fat" goldfish actually need about 5-10 gallons per inch of fish....overall, it is best to understock the tank and let the fish grow in to the tank, rather than shove a bunch of fish in the tank and watch some natural steel-cage-match process of elimination take place.

We also have a bottom feeder or algy eater in the 10 gallon tank with the goldfish.

Answer 1

I would suggest you check the tap water hardness and pH. If it's really high then you would need to mix some distilled or R/O water in to lower the levels a bit. 8.4 pH is survivable for goldfish, but he would be more comfortable with a little lower pH and the best way to do that is by mixing in some low hardness, low pH water. The chemicals you mention won;t be able to stabilize the tank due to the very high hardness.

Also check your tap water for nitrates and nitrites.

Beyond that keep the Amquel handy for the cycle your tank will now need to run through. Other than that, I wouldn't add anything to the tank except a little salt. Given that they are goldfish, maybe go for 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, but a fill teaspoon per gallon won't hurt them at all.

Sum it up to say start watching your ammonia levels and as they begin to rise start doing small daily water changes with 1/2 tap water and 1/2 distilled water. Watch the pH and once it's below 8.0 use a mix of tap and distilled that reads the same as the tank for your water changes. Ignore the hardness and just watch the pH. The goldfish really don't care at all about the hardness and are perfectly ok in yours. Replace the salt that is removed by the water changes and continue to use the Amquel during the cycling process to detoxify the ammonia somewhat.

If you have any other questions please feel free to email me.

MM

Answer 2

Too many chemicals in the water. Don't put gold fish in a 10 gallon tank.

Answer 3

Did you cycle your tank before adding show fish?
Sounds like way too much quantity and variety of chemicals in your tank. Aquarium shop people are also sales people [some lean more towards sales] and goldfish are hardy.
Please visit wetwebmedia.com or aquariumfish.net and learn as much as you can about starting up and keeping a healthy aquarium.

Answer 4

just wait....and YOU HAVE GOLDFISH IN A TEN GALLON??? r u crazy..


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