I Need Help- Now Seriously

fish319

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Hi ive bought cichlids yesterday and 3 of them died already so i called my lfs and asked them whats going on they said they think my ph may be low so im going to by a ph test kit now but the petshop closses soon in 1 hr thats why i need respond quickly i dont wanna want till tomorrow i dont want anymore dead fish.. so i need to know how do i raise ph?? i heard get ph up, get coral, get crushed coral, get cichlid gravel..(never seen that in the petshop).. what is the best way please.. i need the respond now so i can hurry and go get it.. and i have one other question can i put the same excatlly cichlid but larger in the same tank with the smaller one? i like this adult red one but i have some small ones can i mix them? there the same kind though.. please help..
 
I am sure i have heard that you can add bicarbonate soda or if you are at school then go there and ask to have some Universal Indocator(not sure youll be that desperate)this is a ph tester.
 
you didnt give any real information (tank size, how long its been set up, how many fish, type of cichlid, any chemicles you used, how they acted before dying)
the worst thing would be setting up a tank and not adding anything to rid the tank of chlorine, chloramine,ammonia, as in a product like PRIME by Seachem. Also did you even cycle your tank? meaning let it cycle with filter running with some feeder fish to build up beneficial bacteria?
If you run out and get some kind of PH up crap and your level is fine but you go and add it anyway, thats worse then not doing anything to your ph., its not the low ph that kills most its the UP/DOWN UP/DOWN
ph shock that kills

and dont buy any more fish until you know what your doing first....
 
It could be all sorts of things, not just ph. You need to buy a full test kit so that you can test for ammonia, nitrate and nitrite as well as ph. If your fish store is local, it is likely that their water is similar to yours so ph shouldn't be an issue unless they artificially change it.

How long has your tank been setup?

Did you de-chlorinate the water?

Were the fish showing aggression towards each other and what species were they?
 
tank size.. 55.. fish 9 assorted african's.. eletric blue's yellow's and some others... it been set up for about a month now.. it was cycled.. the p.h i just tested is 7.4 woa.. so its suppose to be 8.0-8.5 right? so i boguht the crushed coral.. how much of it do i put in my tank ? and when do i check again to see my ph
 
If your water is PH 7.4 then your PH did not kill those fish and in fact many people keep them in water like that without a problem. For the Crushed coral use lots of it - use as your substrate.
 
I moved and went from a ph of 8.2 to 7.6-8 same fish, same tanks, same PRIME and I didnt lose a single fish.

something else killed your guys not the ph
 
Yep, definately not ph, how are the other fish?
 
if the water temp was to high/low could it affect the fish? (ex. water too cold and they were shocked?)
 
Well since ive added the crushed coral as gravel and settled all the fish have been acting more active than the day before.. but like when i check the ph im not sure if im seeing the colors wrong but it always seems the same like 7.4.. im not sure if its 7.4 or 7.8... i keep trying to match the color pretty good... but now they seem better lets just wait and see what happens i guess...
 
Well since ive added the crushed coral as gravel and settled all the fish have been acting more active than the day before.. but like when i check the ph im not sure if im seeing the colors wrong but it always seems the same like 7.4.. im not sure if its 7.4 or 7.8... i keep trying to match the color pretty good... but now they seem better lets just wait and see what happens i guess...


it will take a lil while for the crushed coral to have an effect in the water.


jus bought my first 3 cichlids for my african tank.

they seem fine so far. busy nippin in and out of all the rocks i built up in there.
 
Now my ph is 7.8.. it was 7.4.... but i heard cichlids need 8.0-8.5... but i heard 7.8 is good... well since ive added the crushed coral there like more active not so slow moving anymore.. there all hyper zipping around the tank now
 
Another sucess story! Horray!! lol good job.. Send me pictures when everything is set up for good.
 
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