Many aquarium tank questions; water changes; plants; etc.?

Question

I have a 50 gallon aquarium with many types of non-agressive fish (community tank). My water always test fine for everything (pH, ammonia, etc.) do I still need to do water changes; water gets added when it evaporate which happens quickly. If you think I need to still do water changes why? (Currently I'm still doing changes; but not as frequent; other owners of fish have suggested not to do water changes they said it will mess up the natural balance). I have many live plants; but some seem to have dead leaves; do I remove the dead leaves/ plants? Also I'm having problems addind new fish tehy always seem to die (2 guppies and 2 african dwarf frogs died within 3 weeks of adding them (properly); I have successfully added cory cats. 1 guppy I found stuck to the filter when i went to remove it; it was still alive but died a couple days later (it had injuries but unknown if it was due to filter) the other ones didn't look to have any damage

however; i had a guppy a little over a year old that i found withe it's top lip ripped off 10 days later it was dead. Is it possible that my community tank is attacking any new or old fish?

I haven't tried adding fish since I have lessened water changes. As for the guppies two out of three died due to injuries (top lip removed on one; the other one found stuck to filter). I have plenty of aeration and I am not overstocked (15 smaller fish in 50 gallon). When I do siphon not much seems to be there my filters doing that job; thats why I need to know the overall importants of water changes. Isn't all about levels?

At this point I'm not worried that new fish are dying to water quality; I'm more worried that the other fish are killing them. The cory cats I got did just fine; but the four other I added died very quick (the 2 ADF and 2 guppies (one guppy had noticeable injuries). My water quality is also fine; I do water changes but not as frequent 3 or four times within the last 2 months or so.

I read AFD need to be at 78 degrees which they were; if it dies due to water temp then i really only have lost one fish. All my kits are knew and liquid and I believe the fish that died have to do with where I got them. I just didn't want to add more and have problems. I do water changes; but I don't need to do one every week when my quality fine. I don't think anyone really understood my ?; but thanks anyway.

Answer 1

You still need to do water changes. There is still bacteria and uneaten food all around the tank that could be harmful for your fish. Everything you are testing for may be fine, but everything harmful is just diluted due to the fact that you have a 50 gallon tank. Now that you aren't doing them as frequently, that could be the problem of why your fish are dying. Guppies are very hardy, so something very drastic had to occur for them to die. Is your tank over crowded? I would remove the dead leaves too. Dead leaves aren't doing any good. Remove dead plants too. There's no reason to keep dead things in your tank.

Bottom line is to keep doing weekly water changes, take out anything dead, and use a gravel siphon to clean the bottom of your tank. It sounds like you've got plenty of fish, so you might want to buy an air pump, that way there's always plenty of oxygen for your fish.

Answer 2

If you do complete water changes, yes, that will mess up the "natural balance." What you need to do isweekly water changes of about 25% because this takes out some of the toxic elements of the water which kills fish, but leaves in some of the beneficial bacteria which keeps your water healthy. Another factor that contributes to poor water quality is dead plant leaves. Those need to be removed every week when you do weekly water changes. During these water changes, you need vacuum your substrate and rinse your filter in the old water your removed from the tank. Don't overclean anything as this removes the beneficial bacteria too and causes your tank to need to cycle all over again. Your new fish are dying either because you are overstocked, resulting in poor water quality, are not maintaining your tank properly, again, resulting in poor water quality or they were sick initially. You say you test for ammonia, but if new fish are healthy, while they may die from the stress of transport, equally as often it's the result of poor water quality.

Answer 3

I don't think your water is fine at all, otherwise your fish wouldn't keep on dieing
I suggest you get yourself a new water test kit for ammonia, preferably the fluid one because they are more accurate
I'm pretty sure your water will test for at least some ammonia

oh yeah, and african dwarf frogs are coldwater not tropicals

Hope that helps
Good luck


EB