Finally Got my tank sorted!!!

[Hannahbell]

Far out, what a mission. I was having loads of trouble with my tank, fish dropping dead on a daily basis just about. My friend took my wee little tank and some stones I had left over to set up for her breeding Platy Babies. She calls in the morning, everything dead!! Reckons it was the stones. (I had bought from mitre 10, boiled them and everything and thought they would be ok). So I took EVERYTHING out of my 90ltr tank. Boiled all the pebbles, threw away all the stones I had from mitre 10. New plants, new wood. Sweet as!!! I have even successfully added new fish, and had no deaths (apart from my king killi eating one of my smaller Killi's whole). I have two blue Rams (lady at pet shop told me they were 3 spot gouramis, and I had no idea what they were exactly). After research on the net I found out what they were. They laid eggs the first night, so obviously I have a male and female LOL. My Tetras were eating them last night, so I took the pot out that the eggs are on, and put it in a breeding net. The eggs have gone from clear/whitish over night to brown with little blackish lines in them. I dont know if I have done the right thing by taking them away, but the parents had seemed to loose interest in protecting them.

[Ianab]

What are the stones like?

If they were limestone or marble then it is possible that they were messing with the pH and hardness of your water?

If you still have them do a vinegar test on a piece. Drop a little vinegar on a rock, if it bubbles then the rock contains lime and best not to use it in a normal tank, unless you are keeping African chiclids that actually prefer hard alkaline water.

Cheers

Ian