Can Fish Adapt To Different Water Parameters?

[boomer2000ctr]

Hello! I’m a bit confused. I tested the regular tap water in my home here in San Antonio in Zip code 78264 using a Mardel Master Test Kit and the readings were:

Ammonia: .50ppm
PH: 8.4
Total Alkalinity: 240ppm
General Hardness: 250ppm
NitrIte: 0ppm
NitrAte: 40ppm

As u can see the PH is really high and the water is hard. So I was thinking of buying something to lower the GH and KH. I already have something 2 lower the PH.
So I went to my local PetSmart, and I told them about this and what I could get to lower the GH & KH, and they told me that if I was buying fish here from San Antonio, I have no need to lower the GH, KH and PH, cus the fish that are here in San Antonio have adapted to those parameters, and that if I were to get fish from somewhere out of TX then it will affect the fish, and that I only have to keep the proper temp and monitor the ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte. Is this true? The fish I plan to get are Freshwater Community fish. Have a good one! Thanks!

 

[SkiFletch]

as far as fish in your area adapting, yes it is very true. the golden rule is if your LFS is nearby and on the same municipal tapwater or at least pretty close, you'll be just fine with pretty much anything except perhaps discuss.

As for your water test, please tell me that you used strips or an older testkit. because if you have 0.50ppm of ammonia in your tapwater something is very not right with your tapwater. ammonia is toxic to humans too, not just fish so either your testkit is inaccurate, or someone in your municipality is having a bad day...

 

[dwarfgourami]

Agree with SkiFletch and with your PetSMart employee. There are a few things you probably won't be able to do with that tap water (same as mine), such as keeping discus or breeding sensitive tetras, but you should be able to keep most locally bred fish. IF you start messing about with chemicals you risk a wildly fluctuating Ph which is usually more dangerous to the fish than a high one. What you can do is add a big piece of bogwood, this brings the Ph down a little, and gently- and it looks good in the tank.

 

[boomer2000ctr]

Alright thanks! yes i did use the old test strips, hehe, ya they might be inaccurate, so today i will buy the liquid based ones and i'll post the readings here. I'm also going to look around for some bogwood, cus petsmart dont have any, heeh! Well thanks alot! It really helped! have a good one! Bye!

 

[cujoho78]

My tap water is also high in the pH department as well as general and carbonate hardness. I don't worry about the pH as i figure a stable pH for the fish i have is better than one that flucuates. As for the hardness, i buy reverse osmosis water, and mix it 50/50 or 60/40 and it brings the hardness into a more reasonable range. Aim for stable water parametes rather than trying to constantly adjust them. Unless you are dealing with fish that need very particular water parameters you should be ok. I agree with the advice in the above posts also.