Low Ph Harmful To Platys And Ottos?

[piratedninja]

lately after adding my platys and ottos ive noticed the ph of my tank has been realy low (around a 5.8-6.0)
ive changed about 50% of the water one day and brought it up to about 6.8 but within 12 hours it shot back down to below a 6
any ideas of what could be causing this?

ive tried the API ph UP but that doesnt seem to help at all (the water is still very yellow when i test the ph)

also is a ph this low harmful to my sunset fire platys and otocinclus?

please help asap

should i completely change the water(about 75%)? or anything that i can do to bring the ph back up?
the ph of the water coming from the faucet of my sink is at 7.2-7.6 (varies from day to day)

i am using some algae remover (about 14 drops at a time since my tank is only a 10gallon) to keep the algae down because the tank is in the corner of a room and kinda near a window (but no direct sunlight at any time of the day)
some other things i add every few days is:stress coat, water conditioner(when i change the water), and amonia remover (used to have 2 blue gouramis in there and they were producing a lot of waste so the amonia was kinda high but its now at about .3 ppm)

the ammonia level is about .3ppm and nitrite is about .05ppm (as of 18 hours ago)

 

[theotheragentm]

I won't comment on Ottos as I am less familiar with them, but with Platies a stable pH is going to be more important than the exact pH found in nature. The reason behind this is that fish are able to adapt to different pH levels, but swings in pH from trying to adjust it wreak havoc on the fish causing stress. If your fish were fine and you're just worried because you just tested it, I wouldn't touch it.

 

[piratedninja]

ok
i'll just leave it alone for a week or two and check back on it


another thing, my male platy jumped out of the bowl one day(i was cleaning the gravel, so i put the fish in a temporary bowl for about 30min)
and was laying on the carpet for about a minute b4 i noticed it wasnt in the bowl anymore
so i picked it up and put it back into the water, thankfully he was still alive and started swimming again
but now the very tip of his tale is white (maybe dead?)
overall hes fine, and spends most of the time swimming around doing his thing, but i want to know if there is a way to help his tale become normal again
will it grow back over time? or is there something i need to do about it?

also, one of the female platys just sits on the bottom of the tank, and will come up and swim around for a few minutes and go back to the bottom near the airstone and just sit there motionless for a while any idea why she could be doing this?

 

[theotheragentm]

Platy on the bottom of the tank is likely pregnant and getting ready to give birth if she's hiding away. Does she look large?

The fish that jumped out probably lost some of its slime coat being out of the tank. It may have damaged his tail. His tail should grow back to normal. I had a fish tear off her tail almost completely and it grew back. You might want to look into treating the fish in quarantine tank to make sure there are no problems in the healing process. Melafix for bacteria, Pimafix for fungus.

 

[piratedninja]

the female that sits on the bottom is definately not large (about the same size as the male)
but you could be right i guess, there is a possibility of her being in the early stages of pregnancy (i really hope so )

what exactly is a quarantine tank? im pretty new to the fish stuff although i have kept 5 fairly large (3-7in) goldfish for over a year
and have never heard of such a thing
also where can i get one?

i wont be getting one anytime soon because i currently dont have a job and after spending over $150 on my aquarium in the last 2 weeks im trying to stay away from spending anymore money unless i absolutely have to
but id like to know what it is and where i can get one because as soon as i get the call about a certain company telling me that im hired, i'll go out and buy one as well as a much bigger tank and some more fish

 

[theotheragentm]

A quarantine tank is just a separate tank. Generally I like to use one so I don't medicate a whole batch of fish that don't need it.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I think I would disagree with theotheragent about the ph in this particular case. Though not as fussy as mollies, platies do actually need hard alkaline water. Besides there has got to be something wrong if the ph crashes like this overnight. You need to find out what is going on in this tank. What is the water hardness like? How many fish do you have in there? It sounds to me like old tank syndrome where a tank that has been overstocked or not had enough water changes done on it suddenly experiences a ph crash. These tanks often have a high buildup of nitrates which may not affect the old fish, but if you add new fish from cleaner water it can come as a dreadful shock to them.

Also, any ammonia or nitrites in the water is going to be bad news for them. I know platies are said to be hardy fish, but when I've had a sudden ammonia spike, I've noticed it first from the changed behaviour of the platies. It could well be that they have suffered longterm damage from the higher ammonia levels you used to have, but even very low levels are enough to affect them. I would keep on with water changes daily to dilute the ammonia.

Finally, I have found that platies are easily stressed out by being moved, not like some of my wilder livebearers that hardly seem to notice. You should never need to move fish for a tank clean/water change- just work around them.

The white area on your platy's tail sounds to me like finrot which is a very common result of water problems. It can be treated with Melafix, but the main thing is to provide clean water so the healing can start.

 

[piratedninja]

thanks dwarfgourami
i think i have figured out the cause of the ph crashes
last night before i put the new water in i tested its ph which came out to be 7.4
then put in the water conditioner and tested again and the ph went down to about 6.9
im not at home right now but when i get home i will post the name of the conditioner im using
i think this is the main cause of the ph crashes
however it doesnt say on the bottle that it will effect the ph

as of last night ammonia and nitrites are down to 0ppm

before i put the new fish in i completely emptied out the tank and cleaned it with a mild bleach and water solution
and completely started over so i know it doesnt have anything to do with the old fish

for now i keep doing about 30-40% water changes everyday making sure the temperature is as close i can get it to the temperature in the tank
which is accurate to within .5 of a degree according to my digital thermometer

after i did the change last night i noticed that all 3 of my platys and both of my ottos were very active again but this morning they have calmed down (maybe they are just resting still?)