Ph Crashed

[fionah]

Hello,

I had a problem last week with whitespot in my main fish tank. I cleared it up with raised temperatures and Protozin. This week, a couple of my gouramis started off with some red marks on their sides. Today it's developed cotton wool growths. I went to the LFS and they gave me Myxazin.

I did water tests there:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 0-5mg
pH lower than 6!! It's lighter than the lowest colour on my chart.

I am very alarmed by this pH crash. Since I had the tank in January, the pH has remained consistent at about 7.6. What can I do about this pH crash? The original plan was to do a water change, add some carbon (to get rid of Protozin) and then add the Myxazin tomorrow for fungus.

It's a 65l tank and I have honey gouramis, corydoras, black tetras, shrimps and a clam.

 

[jonnyf84]

i don't think its the meds that are reducing your ph. whats your KH? doing a water change will up your ph but do small ones as not to rise it too much in one go. crushed coral is a good way of raising both ph and kh but be sure to test how much you need by testing with a bucket of water first, bicarbonate will give you a quick fix and raise both ph and kh but is unreliable. Give it a few days before taking these drastic measures. post your kh and do small water changes to up the ph.

 

[fionah]

i don't think its the meds that are reducing your ph. whats your KH? doing a water change will up your ph but do small ones as not to rise it too much in one go. crushed coral is a good way of raising both ph and kh but be sure to test how much you need by testing with a bucket of water first, bicarbonate will give you a quick fix and raise both ph and kh but is unreliable. Give it a few days before taking these drastic measures. post your kh and do small water changes to up the ph.

I don't have a KH test kit unfortunately.

I've done a water change and the pH has now gone up to 6.4.

Should I start using the Myxazin tomorrow for the fungus? Unfortunately I don't have a hospital tank available to separate the gouramis. Though maybe I could move my corydoras in to the 2nd tank in the meantime with my betta? Would that be ok moving the corydoras to a tank with a pH of 7.4?

 

[rabbut]

You are going to need daily 10-15% waterchanges to recover the pH safely without inducing pH shock in the fish, so this isn't a good time for meds... That said, Myxazin is dosed daily so it won't be too bad....

Could you check the pH test kit by testing some tap water, or getting a sample of water tested at the LFS? Also, what is the test kit (Brand and strips/liquid drops?)

What is your usualy waterchange regime like?

All the best
Rabbut

PS, don't move fish out, for two reasons;

1) you will give them pH shock unless aclimated over several hours
2) more importantly you will spread the disease into the other tank. Once one fish is showing it, all fish in the tank are carrying it. You are potentially going to infect a second tank also by moving them into it, if the other fish have not yet built an immunity to the infection...

 

[fionah]

I'm using the API master test kit (drops) to test the water. I think the pH test is working because I tested it also on tap water and my 2nd tank and got readings of about 7.4, as expected.

I do about 25% water change every week.

OK I will continue to do smaller water changes and dose Myxazin daily, thanks.

 

[waterdrop]

I've started thinking that as soon as one of these problems is introduced, we should recommend that the member begin to seek out a good liquid based KH test. They are harder to find than the more common tests but it really helps these situations to see the real KH numbers and trends.