Tank Update

Well, I lost another tank inhabitant last night. One of the japanese trapdoor snails died. I'm not sure what happened to it, because the one that died was the one that was thriving from its introduction into the tank. There is one possibility that I have not ruled out: there is another new snail in the tank now. The new snail is much, much smaller (the japanese trapdoor snails in the tank are approximately 3/4" to 1" in size - whereas this *new* snail is less than 1/4" in size). I am wondering if this new snail is the offspring of the snail that died... I will try to capture an image of the new snail as soon as I can get a decent shot of it.



It is also looking as if more of the temple - narrow leaf in the back right corner of the tank is in trouble. If I have to remove any more of it, I'll end up with a blank back, right corner. Since I really only ordered one group of temple - narrow leaf and only one group is really surviving, I can't be too upset. I guess I am going to try to find something else that can fill that void - or maybe the water wisteria will grow into that area...



I performed a partial water change (I'm still trying to get pH lowered without doing it drastically - I have an acid regulator that I could use, but I don't want to stress the fish any more than they already have been stressed.) I removed 3.5 gallons of tank water and added in 3.75 gallons of my recipe replacement water. I then tested some of the water that I had removed:

48 Hour Water

Test	Results
NH3 (ammonia)	0 mg/L
NO2 (nitrite)	0 mg/L
NO3 (nitrate)	5-10 mg/L
GH (general hardness)	7 drops = 7*20 = 140 ppm = 7.84 dH
KH (carbonate hardness)	12 drops = 12*10 = 120 ppm = 6.72 dCH
pH (high test)	7.8 pH

I call the above water my "48 Hour Water" because it represents the status of the water 48 hours after my last 30% or greater water change... I will post an updated picture of the tank in the next few days.