Ph Crisis.... Maybe

[Starfishpower]

the pH in one of my tanks has been steadily declining for almost a month now. i use the log book i the back of the kit manual to keep track and back in the middle of February it was at 7.8, it has since declined to 6.4. i didnt think pH was supposed to change without buying special equipment to do that. is this safe for my fish? ... (2 peacock eels and 3 black kuhli loaches)

 

[dthoffsett]

A few questions to see if we can help.

1. What size is your tank, and what is your full stocking?

2. How often and how much water do you change?

3. Have you tested your tap water to see if it has changed?

4. Do you have live plants, and if so do you dose with C02 or fertilizer?

5. Have you added anything new since you've noticed the PH decline?

6. How old is your test kit?

And finally, what are your current PH, Ammonia, NitrIte, and NitrAte levels (actual readings if possible)?

Oh, almost forgot, do you use the test strips or a liquid testing kit?

 

[Starfishpower]

1. What size is your tank, and what is your full stocking?
-5 gallon, 2 peacock eels (about five inches each, yes i am saving for a bigger tank ASAP) and 3 black kuhli loaches, (and there is a quarter inch baby feeder guppie).

2. How often and how much water do you change?
-was once a week/30-60% ~ since i got the second eel 3 days ago im bumping it up to twice a week/25-50% per change depending on what the test readings are.

3. Have you tested your tap water to see if it has changed?
-no, not officially. its however my favorite part of water testing to dump out the pH water in the sink and watch it drastically change to the most extreme color. i cant say if the tap water pH has changed but it is definitely still higher than the tank water.

4. Do you have live plants, and if so do you dose with C02 or fertilizer?
-yes/no; java moss, i had some water sprite but it didnt do well, propably cause i dont have a CO2 injector since this is such a small tank. i dont use fertilizer. i like to read up and be rather educated on a subject before i start doing it and i havent really learned that much about fertilizers yet. i will though, the plan is to have a 75 - 90 US gallon spiny eel tank by this June and have it well aquascaped, hopefully even turn it into a biotype.

5. Have you added anything new since you've noticed the PH decline?
-within the past 2 months (i think) - 1 airstone 2 heater 3 slate 4 and iv started using a large plastic bucket to cure tap water in, i let it sit for a few days before doing a water change. and just for the record there is a fairly good size piece of bogwood in there which i bought already cured, it could be going though some changes though i thought that 'already cured' meant it didnt do that any more, IDK, just an FYI in case its important. 5 i recently changed the filter cartridge, instead of just throwing the old one away i cut out the fuzzy part (the part that has to develop to cycle the tank) and put it under the new filter to help make sure my tank didnt go through a mini-cycle. it is still in there.

6. How old is your test kit?
-new, not more than 3 months old, it is the API freshwater master kit, liquid tests - not strips

And finally, what are your current PH, Ammonia, NitrIte, and NitrAte levels (actual readings if possible)?
- pH: 6.4 / Ammonia: 0 / Nitrites: 0 / Nitrates: 20 (this is the about the highest i have seen them - nitrates - since i got the tank cycled, they are usually around 10 or less - im assuming its the new eel that is causing this)

- to reproduce the pH record for you it goes like this: before 2/13/08 it had been 7.8 or very close to it. after that: 2/24/08 pH: 7.2; 3/6/08 pH: 6.8; 3/8/08 pH: 6.4; so you can see my concern, i dont think its supposed to do that.

 

[three-fingers]

iv started using a large plastic bucket to cure tap water in, i let it sit for a few days before doing a water change. and just for the record there is a fairly good size piece of bogwood in there which i bought already cured, it could be going though some changes though i thought that 'already cured' meant it didnt do that any more

That'll be it then, I've never seen 'cured' bogwood in stores, probably just means sterilised. Bogwood can leach small amounts of tannins for yeaaaars, and will pretty much always lower the pH .


Also, do you know if your tap water contains chloramine (most water companies seem to put this in addition to chlorine), as if it does then letting the water sit isnt going to be doing much good . Even though not necessarily needed, I'd still reccomend spending a small amount of a decent concentrated water conditioner like seachem prime, one bottle will last you ages.

 

[@ombomb]

i would say a combination of the wood, the waste from the fish and probably a CO2 build up.

Do you have an airstone you can introduce or anyway of increasing the surface agitation?

Why are you putting more fish in there...

since i got the second eel 3 days ago

...if you know the tank is too small?

yes i am saving for a bigger tank ASAP

could also be a change in the supply, do you test your tap water?

ultimately most fish are fine with ph within a reasonable level and as long as it's not a sudden drop / increase they will be fine.

 

[Starfishpower]

Do you have an airstone you can introduce or anyway of increasing the surface agitation?

Why are you putting more fish in there...

i was told about this guy that put an outrageous number of tetras in a small tank and they were just fine, being convinced that the inch per gallon rule was only for goldfish and high waste producers i thought that i could get away with it since eels dont seem that messy, so i presumed that if i just did more water changes it would be ok. i thought i was being responsible by thinking that but i guess thinking that in the first place was irresponsible. im just so eager to get more fish. i better clam down.

 

[Amunet]

The inch per rule is just a very basic easy rule to follow for beginners until they learn more about keeping fish.

It sounds like you're doing/going to do the right thing by upping the water changes since you added in another eel. But definitely don't add anymore. You just have to be patient (which is hard I know heh).
As for the guy who kept the tetras.... is it possible to keep alot in a small tank? Sure i guess, but it's not fair to the fish when they have no swimming room. I mean would you put a family of 10 in a bathroom to live in? Sure they could be fine, but they wouldn't have room to move and things would probably foul up very quickly.. ya know?

Anywho... save up that money quicker! lol

 

[Starfishpower]

lol ya. im thinking about just getting a 20 gallon for my fish just to help out until i can afford a nice big tank, one that thy can grow old in

 

[Tobigara]

you might want to look into your kh and gh. if the kh is really low then having bogwood will drop the ph by quite a bit