Ph Levels

[presario05]

Hi Guys

I've just had a problem in my tank which has been through all the cycle but this week over night I woke up to a cloudy tank and all most of my fish dead

My tank is a 240 litres one. I'd just bought 4 new fish that weekend. Im not sure what happened as all reading were fine. Anyway we did a 75% water change and its all cleared up but as I do not know what happened Im concerned about adding new fish.

Also my PH now is very low 6.4 and Ive heard you can buy some sort of stone/coral to bring it up - can anyone advise on this. I do not want to use the liquids and powders unless I really need to

Thanks
V

 

[fatheadminnow]

Hi Guys

I've just had a problem in my tank which has been through all the cycle but this week over night I woke up to a cloudy tank and all most of my fish dead

My tank is a 240 litres one. I'd just bought 4 new fish that weekend. Im not sure what happened as all reading were fine. Anyway we did a 75% water change and its all cleared up but as I do not know what happened Im concerned about adding new fish.

Also my PH now is very low 6.4 and Ive heard you can buy some sort of stone/coral to bring it up - can anyone advise on this. I do not want to use the liquids and powders unless I really need to

Thanks
V

When your pH gets below 6.6, your beneficial bacteria in your filter start to really slow down the ammonia and nitrite breaking down process.

When the pH gets to around 6.4, you can pretty much say that your beneficial bacteria are dormant, not processing any ammonia nor nitrite.

When this happens, you are going to have a Ammonia spike, which killed off some of your fish, and lead to a bacterial bloom, (The cloudy water).

Do you know the KH, (Hardness) of your water. As water with a higher KH will be less prone to have pH swings.

There are rocks, ones that include lime, that will raise your pH, but I will let other members talk to you about that.

What is your tap waters pH?

Do enough water changes to get your pH back up to around 7, then your beneficial bacteria should "Come back to life" and they will begin to process ammonia and nitrite again.

-FHM

 

[buckiejim2]

Hi

I cannot guess to why your fish died as you havent given any exact readings. However i certainly would not add any new fish until you leave the tank to settle for another 10 days because doing a 75 percent water change on a new tank is close to starting again. I think we can assume that your filter bacteria will have been destroyed so dont add fish till you have settled your tank again. Dare i suggest that your problems occured because when you added your fish you also soon after added too much food. This would certainly cloud your water and kill the fish. When adding new fish to a newly set up tank be very carefull with the food added - its better to not feed the fish the first day and then gradually feed over the next few days to alooow the bacteria to build up in the filter.
hope thats of some help. BJ

 

[fatheadminnow]

Hi

I cannot guess to why your fish died as you havent given any exact readings. However i certainly would not add any new fish until you leave the tank to settle for another 10 days because doing a 75 percent water change on a new tank is close to starting again. I think we can assume that your filter bacteria will have been destroyed so dont add fish till you have settled your tank again. Dare i suggest that your problems occured because when you added your fish you also soon after added too much food. This would certainly cloud your water and kill the fish. When adding new fish to a newly set up tank be very carefull with the food added - its better to not feed the fish the first day and then gradually feed over the next few days to alooow the bacteria to build up in the filter.
hope thats of some help. BJ

*Read my response before yours*

His tank, like he stated as has been fully cycled.

A low pH will not kill off the bacteria colony in our filters.

A pH of 6.4 and lower will make the bacteria to go dormant, and when the pH is raised back up, they will began to process ammonia and nitrite.

When your pH dropped, your bacteria went dormant, the ammonia in the tank built up, which, IMO, killed off some of your fish.

Do a large water change to get your pH level back up to where it was.

-FHM

 

[drobbyb]

Also my PH now is very low 6.4 and Ive heard you can buy some sort of stone/coral to bring it up - can anyone advise on this. I do not want to use the liquids and powders unless I really need to

Thanks
V

Adding crushed coral in a nylon bag in your filter will buffer your water, and do it slowly enough not to harm the inhabitants (bacterial and fish alike!) There is a catch though. You must do frequent large waterchanges so that your pH (and KH) dosen't get too high that when you do a waterchange you do not pH shock your fish.

I think we should start this process with a few questions:

What is your tap's KH? You can buy a KH/GH testing kit pretty cheap.

What is your tap's pH?

How frequent and what percentage are you performing waterchanges now?