Ph Dramatically Dropping!

[SaveSparkey&Swany]

I have a 20 L fish tank with 2 small african cichlids. I've had them for 2 weeks now. I know they like their Ph around 8 but since I've adjusted it it keeps constantly dropping back down to 6. Any ideas how I can stop this before my fish die from stress?

PLEASE HELP!!! I love my new fishes!

 

[fluttermoth]

Most fish will adjust to lower pHs it's the hardness that's more important.

However, I'm not going to give you advice on that as your cichlids are completely and totally unsuitable for your tank. They grow far too big to be kept in a 20l tank, and can't be kept as pairs; as they mature (if they don't die first from being in too small a tank), one of them will kill the other, there's no two ways about it.

You need to either get a larger tank (four foot long minimum) and stock properly, or take the cichlids back to the shop and get something more suitable for your tank.

There's not much that can go in 20l; two or three male guppies or Endler's or a betta (you can't have them together) and you'll be fully stocked; you can have some freshwater shrimps as well, as they produce so little waste.

Did you cycle the tank at all before you put fish in there? Are you testing the wate for ammonia and nitrite?

 

[SaveSparkey&Swany]

I've cycled the water for a week before putting them in, I used water conditioner and Liquid cichlid lake salt. i was always planning on getting a bigger thank this is just a start as they are so small. I had the ammonia and nitrite tested a couple of days ago and it was fine. Any ideas?

 

[fluttermoth]

Running the tank for a week is not cycling...you need to be adding a source of ammonia for a fishless cycle.

You're now doing a fish in cycle, and you really need to be testing the water every day, as ammonia can build up very quickly. Either buy your own test kits (and don't let the LFS say they're 'fine'; get them to write down the actual numbers, 'fine' is of no use to us whatsoever) or change 50% of the water every day.

We do have an 'Old World Ciclids' sub-forum where all the Rift valley experts hang our; you'll probably do better asking there, but you do need to do something now or you'll have dead fish very, very soon. They may be small right now, but like all animals, fish do most of their growing in the first few weeks or months of life; many can grow an inch a month, easily.

If your water is that soft, maybe you'd be better off looking at soft water fish; changing hardness and pH is not really for beginner;s, although going from sort to hard is a lot easier than going from hard to soft, it's still etter to match your fish to the water, rather than the other way around.

 

[SaveSparkey&Swany]

thanks for all your info, i will take your advice but back to my original question......... why is my Ph dropping so fast?

 

[fluttermoth]

Because you probably have soft water. it's quite hard to adjust pH as your water will naturally 'bounce' back to it's orinal values.

If you add some crushed coral or shells to the substrate or filter it's gradually dissolve and harden the water, but do please sort out the other issues, as right now they're more inportant than you pH or hardness (which are pretty irrelevant for most fish, most of the time).

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Because you probably have soft water. it's quite hard to adjust pH as your water will naturally 'bounce' back to it's orinal values.

If you add some crushed coral or shells to the substrate or filter it's gradually dissolve and harden the water, but do please sort out the other issues, as right now they're more inportant than you pH or hardness (which are pretty irrelevant for most fish, most of the time).

As fluttermoth stated, if you are able to start a fish/less cycle or at least prove you may have some beneficial bacteria growing, then would probably be the time to worry about your PH. It WILL become important later in your cycle (the bacteria in our filters grow alot quicker with a higher, more stable PH) but please try and consider what is in the tank at the moment, and what you need to get into your filter.

regards,
Terry.