Did i kill my fishes ?

[kenneth_kpe]

i dont know what happened but both of my dwarf gouramies dropped dead on after the other...... is it because of my c02 levels ?

i was trying to buffer the outflow of my HOB using a foam so that it doesn't create any splashes on the surface, well when i look at the surface of the tank now its almost flat with only a few ripples coming from the foam.

I measured my PH and KH to determine my c02 level and found it to be still low.

KH - 3 degrees
PH - 7.0

that about 9 ppm

i was only worried because im using a sera ph test and the color difference from 6.5 - 7.0 is kinda little
heres the prob at 6.5 my levels of c02 would be 28.46 which is bad !!! are there signs to tell that i have high c02 ? or is there any thing that i have missed out ???

does a low KH affect the accuracy of my ph test ?

 

[enchanted]

I'm not sure about how a KH might affect the PH test. Personally I use Aquarium Pharmacuticals tests which seem to have a good color spread. It's the inbetweens (6.7, etc..) that are hard to tell.

Back to your problem though. There are CO2 tests on the market and you should really by one of these.

Also, by lowering the surface agitation you lower the amount of oxygen that gets dissolved into the water. By doing this you could cause Oxygen Deprivation in your fish.

First you should purchase a CO2 tester if you want to work with the CO2 in your tank. I believe there are also O2 testers to test for dissolved oxygen.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

wont my plants make up for any deprived oxygen in the water ? my plant is a medium planted tank.

Also how long does c02 diffuse into the water ? im using a bell method and it always seems to be empty, so i shake my diy bottle and fills it up around 1/4 the way, and then after around 3 hours its empty again ( full of water again) i tried replacing the cup 3 times and the same thing happens. ?!?!?!?! what the waht the

 

[Bangin]

I doubt the CO2 levels played a role in the fish deaths. A reading of 9ppm-30ppm shouldn't have such a negative affect on fish (25ppm is usually the suggested maximum amount). Is oxygen really a factor? Dwarf gouramis are labyrinth fish; they take air from the surface. Did you make any other changes to the tank? Could the foam have been contaminated? Are you sure the yeast mixture isn't getting into the aquarium? I'm sure you have a check valve on it.

You shouldn't have to shake the bottle either. I've never used the bell method, but I would expect some air to be seen if there is a consistent amount of CO2 being injected.

 

[Bustacapp]

sorry to hear about your gouramies


if last post still exist i didnt read the previouse post and was skimming through the page my own fault hehe

 

[kenneth_kpe]

i tried to shake my bottle to use as an experiment and fill the cup and see if the air dissapears and god enough it did, yup i pretty sure about the yeast because i have a water bottle connected to it to allow me to count the bubbles before it goes into the tank, and if it goes into that bottle then the color of the water inside the bubble would change. I think it might be the foam, but it has only affected the gouramis..... dunno really, i placed the foam in hot water, just to be sure that it was clean since it was sitting around in my drawer for quite a while already, could this might have caused it ? should i remove it and replace it with a newer one ?

 

[Lateral Line]

Are there other fish in the tank that are okay? If so, then probably not low O2 due to reduced surface movement. Gourami's, (labyrinth fish generally), are able to take O2 from the surface. In low O2 situations, they tend to fare a lot better then other fish.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

yup as far as i know they are okay, they dont seem to be having problems breathing or anything. im kinda worried because they are the only fishes that died, when i look at the tank, the other fishes seem to be doing okay.

 

[skimpy]

does a low KH affect the accuracy of my ph test

The KH is the buffering for the PH, it should not alter the accuracy of you PH test but because you have a low KH it would mean that you PH is less stable.

HTH

 

[kenneth_kpe]

oic, should i act to increase my KH ? or just leave it as it is ?

 

[konrad05]

You should leave your KH, you should not get a CO2 test kit, and CO2 DOES NOT replace oxygen in the water. The difference in hydrogen ions between 6.5 and 7.0 is huge, so I would get a better pH test kit. Also, be very careful when adding CO2 to a fish tank especially if it's small because the pH will drop fast and low as compared with a larger tank. If you're using yeast, I would leave the bottle bubbling into a cup or something until the bubble rate has slowed down. HTH

 

[enchanted]

I disagree with the test kit. They cost less than $20 and if you are adding CO2 it is a good thing to have.

 

[konrad05]

KH and pH is enough, KH won't change dramatically so you're only doing pH tests, and pH tests cost pennies compared to CO2 tests

 

[kenneth_kpe]

maybe i would stick to the PH KH testing because im having a hard time finding a c02 test kit here, the only one i find is the sear c02 testing kit which i doubt is accurate. I would like to get one of those electronic testing kits for ph but, daaaamn its soo expensive.. do you think the ph swings in my tank is causing my fish to die ? especially my gouramis ?? if my ph does swing because of the c02 level increase ?

 

[konrad05]

I doubt the pH is causing deaths, my pH swings sometimes from 8 to 6.8 within 24 hours when I mix a new yeast bottle and I never have fish die. Maybe gouramis are sensitive? Unless your tank is heavily planted and lit, I wouldn't bother with the CO2 at all.