Bogwood Lowered Ph Now Fish Are Stressed!

[saz_jam]

Hi all,

I had a small piece of bogwood in my tank for about a year, I bought a new piece that is really quite big (as the centrepiece). I put it in the tank on Sunday and noticed yesterday that my fish started breathing really heavily and weren't acting themselves so I tested the water and the PH had dropped from 8.0 to 7.4! (still the same today and everything else is fine) A couple of fish died today as well! The bogwood has leaked tanins and the glass has a slimey coating on it as well. Should I take the wood out and soak it for a week or so or what do I do?

 

[BethK]

Did you not soak the bogwood prior? pH shouldn't be an issue, esp if it's not that much of a drop. Averag is around 4.5 - 8.5.

What are your water stats?

 

[saz_jam]

Well I bought the wood on Friday and soaked it all of Saturday and half of Sunday but I couldn't see any discolouration in the water so I thought it would be ok to put in. The trouble is you read that you should soak the wood for a few weeks in one place then in another it says it doesn't matter as long as you don't mind the tannins. I can put up with the water colour but not the stressed out and dying fish!

Water stats are:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
PH now 7.4 (always been 8.0 until now)

 

[BethK]

I'm stumped

 

[saz_jam]

So am I! I have just taken the wood out anyway and will do a water change in a bit. I have never seen fish breathe as fast as what mine are, it's horrible! The glass literally looks white on the inside as well!!! Needs a bloody good clean! If anyone else knows what the problem might be please let me know!

 

[rdp50734]

Do you live in a soft water area? When water is too soft as mine is it can lower the PH. this happened to me when I first started out! Test your water for hardness!

 

[minxfishy]

If it is the bogwood you added that lowered the ph, it shouldnt be bothering the fish, they would have been in the water acclimatising as the water ph lowered, it wouldnt have been a sudden drop, it would have come down over a few days.

 

[saz_jam]

Newbury is definitely a hard water area, although I will do a test at the weekend anyway.

I just did a test on the tap water PH and that is coming up as the same as the tank water so the tap water reading has in fact changed over the last few months. So if they are both the same the problem doesn't lie with the PH? Does this mean there is a problem either elsewhere with the tank or that the wood has/had something nasty on it?

 

[Avinitlarge]

If I get any new wood, I boil for an hour or so then leave it to soak for a couple of weeks in the garage with a heater in the water then boil it again before I add it to the tank