I've moved into a new house in July of this year, and have had my aquariums set up since then. Previously I had these tanks and most fish within them for several years.
I noticed that my rope fish were slowly but surely acting a little odd in this new water. I lost one, the rest were swimming a little oddly (bloat, tail up, struggling with balance) but nothing too dramatic. I've since lost a second. Each time it's a pretty slow process, with things slowly getting worse over a few weeks.
I have been trying to think of anything that could be the problem, and finally stumbled on a YouTube video talking about this.
For reference my pH is ~7.5, my KH is ~200 and my GH is ~60. My ammonia/nitrite are 0, and my nitrate out of the tap is 0. I do weekly WCs of about 80% (and have for years w/o problems), and my nitrates usually top out around 40.
I am assuming the water softener is the culprit here. All of my other fish seem fine, but this is all I can think of.
I am hoping some people can chime in with their experience. I have been thinking of setting up a tankless water heater disconnected from the main water treatment system. The water treatment system comprises of a iron/sulfur filter, a softener, UV filter, and then a sediment filter. If I go the tankless route I will set up a duplicate UV and sediment filter as my water tests positive for e. coli and comes from a shallow well.
I noticed that my rope fish were slowly but surely acting a little odd in this new water. I lost one, the rest were swimming a little oddly (bloat, tail up, struggling with balance) but nothing too dramatic. I've since lost a second. Each time it's a pretty slow process, with things slowly getting worse over a few weeks.
I have been trying to think of anything that could be the problem, and finally stumbled on a YouTube video talking about this.
For reference my pH is ~7.5, my KH is ~200 and my GH is ~60. My ammonia/nitrite are 0, and my nitrate out of the tap is 0. I do weekly WCs of about 80% (and have for years w/o problems), and my nitrates usually top out around 40.
I am assuming the water softener is the culprit here. All of my other fish seem fine, but this is all I can think of.
I am hoping some people can chime in with their experience. I have been thinking of setting up a tankless water heater disconnected from the main water treatment system. The water treatment system comprises of a iron/sulfur filter, a softener, UV filter, and then a sediment filter. If I go the tankless route I will set up a duplicate UV and sediment filter as my water tests positive for e. coli and comes from a shallow well.