Ph Alert

[fish nutter]

Hi everyone,

I have a 240 53 gal / liter tank with 14 rummy nose tetras (one died recently and went a dark tinge along it's body)

I have a PH of 7.8 which is too high for my rummy nose tetras. What can i do?

I have some API PH down, should i use it?

Thanks heaps

 

[Mikaila31]

your pH is fine for rummy nosed tetras, I've been keeping them for years at a pH of 7.6. The use of any bottled pH affecting products will just cause more problems. Your RNT will just suffer from a unsteady pH. IMO you should chuck that bottle in the trash

 

[fish nutter]

ok then, what should i do if it rises to the unbearable? (it is happening very slowly - 0.2 every week) i am doing a fish - in cycle with them and about 4 months in.

Can i use Peat to lower it?

Bog wood?

thanks

 

[Mikaila31]

ok then, what should i do if it rises to the unbearable? (it is happening very slowly - 0.2 every week) i am doing a fish - in cycle with them and about 4 months in.

Can i use Peat to lower it?

Bog wood?

thanks

Peat and bogwood will both lower your pH safely. What is your tap pH and how often are you doing water changes? These are very poor cycling fish, I would be MUCH more worried about ammonia and nitrite levels then pH, cuz that is the last thing you should worry about right now. The cycle is what killed the one fish, not pH.

 

[fish nutter]

ok then, what should i do if it rises to the unbearable? (it is happening very slowly - 0.2 every week) i am doing a fish - in cycle with them and about 4 months in.

Can i use Peat to lower it?

Bog wood?

thanks

Peat and bogwood will both lower your pH safely. What is your tap pH and how often are you doing water changes? These are very poor cycling fish, I would be MUCH more worried about ammonia and nitrite levels then pH, cuz that is the last thing you should worry about right now. The cycle is what killed the one fish, not pH.

Don't worry, i am carefully monitoring the water and only need to do water changes once a week to keep everything under control (as soon as ammonia is above .25 i do a 30% water change), what killed my fish i am unsure, it seemed to have trouble breathing and swimming.

What i find strange is that i have not seen a single blip of nitrite throughout 4 months of cycling. I do however have ammonia (rising very slowly) and just started seeing nitrates (rising even slower).

It seems this cycle is slower than a snail (sorry for the bad joke).

By the way i am using a proper liquid API master test kit and testing every day.

 

[Mikaila31]

RNT are sensitive fish. .25ppm ammonia is still stressful for fish, especially for sensitive fish. Prolonged exposer at these levels will more than likely start killing the fish. These guys are even more touchy about the nitrites.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Mikaila31 that you might just need to increase your percentage and/or frequency of water change such that the toxin doesn't quite reach the 0.25ppm level before it gets diluted again. This is an example where a fishless cycle would have been superior but you are obviously working hard to operate the fish-in cycle in a responsible manner, which is good!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[fish nutter]

ok, thanks waterdrop and Mikaila31 for the information.

Another fish has died, it seemed to have very bulgy eyes... Is this a symptom for anything?

I have just done another 30% water change (i also added prime as a de-chlorinater).

 

[waterdrop]

Hi fish_nutter, you could describe you symptoms in a short post over in emergencies and Wilder and the bunch over their might pick up on something. Let us know.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[fish nutter]

Now there have been 3 deaths. all one after the other - Night 1 i find a fish unable to swim and lasts the night before i took it out because of suffering. night 2 - i wake up and find a dead fish tangled in the weed with bulging eyes. Night 3 - i wake up and find a dead fish on the gravel with bulging eyes.


Help is appreciated

Regards

Fish Nutter

EDIT: i have put up a post but not come to conclusion yet

 

[OldMan47]

Bulging eyes on a fish, often called pop eye, is a sign of poor water quality in most cases. With a fish-in cycling situation, you should be changing more water than 30% once a week. If you actually see changes in pH happening in your tank, you are not doing enough water changes to control pH, much less the other contaminants in the water.