Another Ph Crash Post

[koinukun]

Hello everyone!

I've searched on the site in regards to pH crashes and found some similar scenarios but I need some help on a few of the things I'm encountering.

Tank:
AquaOne AR850 (155L/40G)

Tank inhabitants:
One 6" angelfish, 5 Lemon Tetra, 4 Harlequin Rasbora 1 oto 2 mystery snails

Decor:
Lots of plants, gravel substrate, medium piece of lava rock, small piece of drift wood.

Water stats:
Ammonia -0ppm
Nirtite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
pH - below 6
(pH from the tap reads between 6.8 and 7 which is unusual as normally it is about 7.4!)

What's happened is that I went away for 4 days. Before I went I did a waterchange and all seemed fine. When I got back I noticed my snails looked a bit sad, none of the other fish showed any signs of discomfort.
I checked the ammonia and it was at 0.3ppm! I panicked and did an immediate waterchange. I checked the water again later that evening and it had crept back up to 0.1ppm!

The next day out of blind luck I decided I ought to check my pH and it was right off the scale in acidity! Where the ph6 is a yellowy green, the liquid in the tube was a browny orange!

I did a large water change (60%) to try and raise it. I read afterward that this isn't such a good idea as it can pH shock the fish. I'm really really worried that all my beneficial bacteria are now dead. D:

I have no idea why this has happened as the tank has been up and running for nearly 8 months. It's not old tank syndrome as I change 15% of the water biweekly and gravel vac on both occasions.

I had this problem when I was first cycling due to the huge increase of nitrates but my nitrates never get over 10 at the most.

Based on what I've read, this is what I have done so far:
- I've put a bag of crushed shells in to buffer the water
- kept a close eye on ammonia levels
- looked for signs of stress in fish but so far nothing.
- I have removed my snails and put them in my Q-tank as the acidity looked like it was dissolving their shells to no end.
- I also went out and collected a new fish that the LFS had been holding for me but I put him in the Q-tank too as the environment is much more stable.

This is what I'm not sure to do or what the outcome will be:
- Should I put some of my filter media into my Q-tank to relieve it from the acid environment and hopefully save some bacteria?
- Should I perform two 20% waterchanges a day with 1 teaspoon of bicarb soda to help buffer the water?
- Have I lost all of my biological filtration? And if so, do I need to act like I'm doing a fish-in cycle from here on?

Finally, I don't have anything to test the kH of the water and don't have the opportunity to go out and get a test kit anytime soon unfortunately.

Is there anything else I should be doing? I'm trying not to panic, but this has come at the worst time, as I'm getting ready for my final exams in my last year at university! >.<

I'd really appreciate any help you can spare!

~koinukun

 

[WILDER]

What substrate do you have in the tank.
Do you have any bogwood in the tank.
What ornaments do you have in the tank.
Do you have any rocks in the tank.
What type of test kit do you use, and check its not out of date.
Add some boiling water to the test tube to steralise it and do the test again.
Also test your tap ph to see if that changed.

 

[koinukun]

Hiya Wilder!

To answer most of your questions I had already put them in the beginning of my original post
"Decor:
Lots of plants, gravel substrate, medium piece of lava rock, small piece of drift wood."

"pH from the tap reads between 6.8 and 7 which is unusual as normally it is about 7.4!"

I use a liquid test kit which I bought about 3 months ago.

I removed the drift wood as I know it makes the water acidic and added in about a teaspoon of bicarb soda last night. This morning I checked the tank and the pH has was 6.8.

I didn't mean for it to jump up so high so quickly. There are no noticeable signs of stress in any of my fish except perhaps my oto who seems to be breathing a bit faster than usual, but waterstats are all 0ppm.

Do I need to add bicarb soda every time I do a water change or is the small bag of shell grit enough to keep it stable from now on?

Thanks~

 

[drobbyb]

Hiya Wilder!

To answer most of your questions I had already put them in the beginning of my original post
"Decor:
Lots of plants, gravel substrate, medium piece of lava rock, small piece of drift wood."

"pH from the tap reads between 6.8 and 7 which is unusual as normally it is about 7.4!"

I use a liquid test kit which I bought about 3 months ago.

I removed the drift wood as I know it makes the water acidic and added in about a teaspoon of bicarb soda last night. This morning I checked the tank and the pH has was 6.8.

I didn't mean for it to jump up so high so quickly. There are no noticeable signs of stress in any of my fish except perhaps my oto who seems to be breathing a bit faster than usual, but waterstats are all 0ppm.

Do I need to add bicarb soda every time I do a water change or is the small bag of shell grit enough to keep it stable from now on?

Thanks~

It sounds as if your KH got low. This happens naturally over time. Your nitrifying bacteria stop working so well at 6.5 pH and start to die off at 6.0 pH. Adding baking soda will raise your KH while raising your pH. Get it close to your tap pH raising no more than .2 in 24 hours to avoid pH shock. When it is the same as your tap, do a waterchange.