[chris1949]

this is my aquarium 55 galls, new water about a month, and i added fritz 7 bacteriaabout 2 weeks ago at the moment there is 3 firemouth cichlids, 7 buenos aires Tetras, 2 rosy barbs.1 pleco, the firemouths have been in there about 2 weeks, tetras about week, barbs 2 weeks. all looking lively healthy. but about a week ago i added 6x healthy looking tiger barbs and they all died the following morning.
the water is PH 7.2, Carbonate KH120- 180 , total hardness GH 75 , chl. 0 nitrite 0, nitrate between 10 125 . using aquarium test strips. ammonia looks like 0. maybe 0.10.
do these parameters look okay? is my water hard or soft ? is the parameters okay to keep tiger barbs?
and how do you know if your water has cycled?

 

[susankat]

You have a Wild assortment there. Need to get liquid test kit to get better results. The firemouths are cichlids and once big enough you will find your other fish disappearing. A cycled tank will show 0 ammonia and zero nitrites and have some nitrates. Any time nitrates get above 10 to 20 do a large water change.

 

[chris1949]

You have a Wild assortment there. Need to get liquid test kit to get better results. The firemouths are cichlids and once big enough you will find your other fish disappearing. A cycled tank will show 0 ammonia and zero nitrites and have some nitrates. Any time nitrates get above 10 to 20 do a large water change.

thanks for your reply and help, can you recommend a decent liquid test kit? yeh, it is quite a wild assortment, but they seem to get along at the moment but im sure your right when the Firemouths get bigger it may be a different story.

 

[susankat]

API is a good liquid test kit that is reasonably priced.