Ph Crash - Cycled Tank

[indir-emir]

Hi everyone, been a while since ive posted after my fishless cycle finished like 2 months ago.

All was going well so there was no need to post. Untill today

I came home from University and found my female krib dead

I tested my water to see what was going on. Results are as follows:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 40
PH = 6.0-6.4 (Its a dirty yellow/green colour colour )

I dont know how long the PH has been down like that for. Havnt tested PH in about 2 weeks or so, but the rest is tested 2-3 times a week and is constantly stable.

My question is, is there anything i can do to bring back up my PH? Tried a 50-60% water change but no luck.

If its any help, fish stocking is in sig (20 gallon tank). Oh and theres 2 kribs added about a week or two ago.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and im sorry for the large post.

Regards,
Indir

 

[Miss Wiggle]

whatsthe pH of your tap water?

 

[backtotropical]

As MW indicates above, the pH of your tap water may be the cause. Sometimes the water authorities play with the water chemistry without giving anyone advance warning. It may even be the case that the pH is lower than 6 but 6 is the lowest reading on your test kit, and so the water change didn't appear to help.

When you let us know the pH of your tap water, can you let us know what your water change routine has been also? Are you injecting CO2 or using a special substrate for plants? Do you have lots of bogwood in the tank or peat in the filter?

Also, what is the kH of the water (if you have a test kit to measure it)?

BTT

 

[indir-emir]

Thank you for the responses.

PH of water is 7.4, my tank water was also 7.4 until today when i noticed the crash.

I change the water once weekly, and i do a gravel clean during this (gravel vacuum). I change approximately 30% of the water using dechlorinated water. And the water temp is approximately same temp (finger test) when it goes in.

No live plants, had some Fentalios (spelling?) for about a week but it was getting dirty alot and making the tank a bit dirty so i took it out (was attached to a rock thats in my tank). Therefore no special substrate for plants.

And no bogwood/peat in tank or filter.

Cleaned my external Fluval 105 filter in old tank water after i saw the PH drop, hoping itd help with something.

And sorry but i dont have KH tester, so im not sure on that.

Regards,
Indir

 

[waterdrop]

If the tap is now 7.4 it would seem like multiple (perhaps one a day for 3 days?) gravel-clean-water-changes would do it. It doesn't sound like any external force pushing pH down has been identified.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[indir-emir]

Will have to try that tommorow waterdrop. Need to get it back up before anymore fish die Poor beautiful krib, just got her brightness back

Any other ideas i coudl try if the water changes dont work?

Regards,
Indir

 

[Amunet]

You could put some crushed coral in to the tank. Mix it in w/ your substrate, or put some in a bag somewhere in the tank.
I'm not sure how quickly it raises pH though.
If you want a quick cure, then baking soda works. Add it very slowly though.. like 1-2teaspoon every 30min-hour until you get it back up to what you want it at.
There are some types of rocks that raise pH as well.. but can never think of the name.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Amunet. Of the 3 methods, I'd stick with the first two and skip using hardscape items. The crushed coral is by far the best method when you have fish but the main reason is that its so slow and you sound like you feel you have a special case here. So I'd perhaps go with both. I would only use part of a palmful of crushed coral. The best method is still in a stocking or mesh bag and fitted somewhere inside your filter and it has to be inspected and potentially cleaned when you clean your filter. It won't dissolve as much if you let it get covered with bacteria and debris for too long.

But then for this situation I'd do what Amunet is saying and very, very cautiously add bits of baking soda while testing with your KH and pH kits. The crushed coral can take a week or two to do anything sometimes but the baking soda is extremely fast. I don't know what a max change rate would be for your fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[indir-emir]

Ok if in 3 days the water changes dont help. Ill have to try the baking soda way, because the coral if it takes a while may cause the fish to get PH shock or something. So ill have to try something that is fast.

Thank you very much for the help everyone.

Regards,
Indir

 

[waterdrop]

Not sure of your reasoning there. The definition of pH shock is moving pH too fast. That's more likely to happen with baking soda than crushed coral. Even if fish have somehow found themselves in the "wrong" pH, they can't be moved quickly from it or they -would- suffer pH shock - at least this is my understanding of it. We've got a lot of experienced fishkeepers here, so maybe we'll get some more opinions/verifications here!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[indir-emir]

Well lost one of my Bolivian Rams today

Any idea what could have killed it then? Stats are same, even after the water changes. So im going to try some baking soda for the quick fix How much do i need to put in and how often?

Regards,
Indir

 

[waterdrop]

I guess if you're intent on trying that the way to judge it is that 1 teaspoon per 50 liters should raise the KH by about 4 degrees and hardly begin to raise the pH, adding more than that begins to raise the pH. So that 1t/50L would be your startpoint to play with slowly and carefully.

I remember thinking you were setting some pretty tough goals for yourself as a beginner, with some of the fish like these being a bit more advanced I thought, but then again I'm not that good with the ins and outs of all the different cichlids myself. It can be very, very hard sometimes to know what has killed a fish. Think how hard it can be with humans even with all our cultural knowledge about medical things. With fish we are flying much more blind about many symptoms and internal things. Anyway, that's just to say perhaps don't be too hard on yourself...

~~waterdrop~~

 

[indir-emir]

Thanks mate, these are the first fish ive lost Ive always stayed ontop of my maintanace and feeding properly and taking as good care as possible. But i guess some of them are just not ment to be. Just sad to lose them

Well i must get it back up somehow, if i do it slowly it should be okay. How often should i add the teaspoons of baking soda?
Thank you for all the help everyone

Regards,
Indir

 

[waterdrop]

You would have to determine that based on the feedback you're getting from your KH and pH test results, with your goal of slow raising of pH in mind. Not sure what rate of raising pH you had in mind. I don't know myself, but not having the info would just make me guesstimate a very slow rate.

~~waterdrop~~