low Ph, all my fish died, help!

[skinnyginny]

One of my tanks is a small 10 gallon with 2 ruby barbs, 3 small goldfish and a bunch of ghost shrimp. I cleaned out the tank as usual, changing one bucket of water as I always had before with no problems. I woke up the next morning and 4 out of 5 fish were dead. I checked the ph and it was at 6.0. I brought the ph up to 6.5, but ran out of ph up stuff. The next morning the last gold fish was dead. The ph was 6.5. So I went to the fish store and bought some more ph up, this time it was tablets. I bought some feeder goldfish just in case, and put them in the tank. The next day the ph was back to 6.2, and the new ph up I bought were tablets, I used them and they did not disolve like the directions said, and the water was cloudy. The fish were gasping at the top of the tank, and inevitable, everything in the tank died, even the ghost shrimp. I have since completely emptied the tank, scrubbed everything in it, and replaced it with new water. How do I prevent this from happening again? What happened in the first place? I am assuming the first fish died because the ph was too low. I am also assuming the second batch of fish died because the tablets killed them. Please help!

Ginny

 

[Blade]

I doubt the PH killed the fish, especially the gold fish. My guess would be that the PH is an EFFECT of what ever is killing your fish and not the CAUSE. So the question is what else is inyour tank that would cause it to become acidic? Any plants or drift wood? You should test some water straight from the tap and determine its PH to test my theory.

Did you clean out the gravel or sand, perhaos something killed your bio bed.

Getting a nitrate test kit might be a good idea

 

[jrd77]

I'm really sorry. What were the other levels in your tank such as ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

You should test the pH of your tap water to see if it is naturally acidic or if it is something in your tank like Blade suggested. And although pH probably did not directly kill them, the fish were probably really stressed out and some fungus, parasitic worm or bacteria killed them. Whatever the case, 6.0 seems low to me. I've had fish die at 6.4. I have a pH powder regulator that works really well called "pH Precise 7.0 Neutral COntroller" by Kent. I almost never have to use it but just in case, it's been used twice and worked really well (and I only used half the recommended dose). I have not used tablets for pH but have once as a fungal treatment and another time for cloudy water. Both times, my fish did not do well at all. I thought it was coincidence the firast time but results the second time were bad, including little injuries to my tetras. I'm anti-tablet but that's just me.

If you are starting all over with new water, do the usual. Declorinate and run either a fishless cycle or a cycle with maybe 2 really hearty fish like danios.

Prevention will depend a lot on what your results are from Blade's experiment.

 

[skinnyginny]

I do have plants in the tank, but they are the same plants I have had in there forever, and the same plants I have in all my tanks. When I changed the water I did in fact stir up the gravel. I use one of those tubes to sifen out the gravel as I am removing the water. However, keep in mind that I have been doing this everytime I change the water. I did nothing new this time around. I do have a bunch of those little grub snails you mistakenly get from the fish store when you buy plants. I had about 30 or 40 of them. I did not kill them off because I actually like them and they help to keep my tank clean. I have these snails in all of my tanks.

I never thought to check the amonia levels, or the nitrate or nitrite levels. Would a water change affect these levels?

I checked the ph level of my tap water and it is 7.2, which is the complete opposite of what the ph was just before my fish died.

Thanks for your help! Any more suggestions are greatly appreciated! I do not want this to happen to my poor fish again...

 

[Blade]

I checked the ph level of my tap water and it is 7.2, which is the complete opposite of what the ph was just before my fish died.

Well its definently something in your tank that is changing the PH. My first guess would be something that is decaying. Some type of dead plant mass or perhaps even a dead fish caused it. Drift wood would also cause it. Are you adding CO2 to the water? Have you inceased the amount of plants?

What type of filter? If its carbon based how old is the carbon?

 

[skinnyginny]

The filter I use is a Regent, which came with the whole set up. The filter is clean, I check it often and change it when necessary.

The plants I have in there grow rapidly. I often trim them and replant the sprouts. There is an excessive amount of plants in there, as I noticed the ghost shrimp like them.

I have not added any CO2, in fact, I had no idea you could.

As far as I know, there was nothing dead in my tank. Although it seems it needs cleaning more often than my larger tanks, but I assumed this was due to all the snails. There did seem to be a lot of dark debree being sucked up in the tube I use to clean, more than usual.

Could the snails be the cause of this?

Thank you so much for your help! You seem to really know what you are talking about. On my next trip to the pet store, I will purchase amonia and nitrate tests.

 

[sinistral]

Sorry to hear about your losses How long has the tank been set up? How frequently do you do water changes?

I have to second Blade and jrd77. One thing that can cause low pH syndrome is high bioload. Metabolic processes of fish produce a number of acids that can contribute to a pH that is low. How large were the 3 goldfish that you had?

This is not meant as a criticism, so I will advise you that mixing goldfish and tropicals in general is not the best combination. Goldfish while hardy and tolerant of a variety of conditions will not thrive at temperatures that tropicals prefer. In addition, goldfish produce quite a bit more waste than tropicals do (goldfish are thick-bodied in comparison to the slim-bodied tropicals, so that even common goldfish produce exponentially more waste).

The recommendation in general is only one "inch" of goldfish per 10 or 20 gallons of water (unlike tropicals, where you can stock them a bit higher). Also, common goldfish can grow as long as 10" to 1ft over time. Fancies tend to be smaller, but even so, 10 gallons is really too small for even one goldfish in my opinion.

I would definitely do as Blade suggested and get ammonia and nitrite tests. When you do water changes, it will remove these toxic substances (as well as nitrates).

 

[dan dan the fish man]

did u do a nitrate and phosphate and ammonia test ? im guessing it was an ammonia spike do u feed them alot ?

 

[skinnyginny]

I was not aware that only one goldfish should be put into a 10 gallon tank. The goldfish I had were only one inch. I clean the tank every weekend, I have four of them. I just checked the ph on my 55 gallon cichlid tank and it was also at 6.0. We finally got it up to 6.8. I don't know what could be causing it, the water in my tanks are crystal clear. I have had them for 3 years and have never had this problem.

Any other suggestions? I have not tested the amonia levels or nitrate, but I will as soon as I get a chance to run to the pet store to buy a kit.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[sinistral]

I don't advocate changing pH, but if there is a downward drift there's most likely something amiss in the tank.

Try looking at this link, it might give you some ideas as to what's gone wrong.

 

[shmax101]

straight tap water has its dangers also. Even if you dechlor every gallon you put in, there are fairly high levels of toxic materials allowed by EPA and others to be in the municipal water supply. Sometimes, the water is especially polluted, and they up the levels of chlorine/chloramine or other type of counteraction. It is rare, but it does happen, and very unfortunate. sorry for your loss