Ph Dropped

[PrairieSunflower]

Every single on of my guppies were acting strangely my usual things of "when you don't know, do a water change", and changed 50% of the water. After a couple of hours, nothing had changed in their behavior, so I tested the water. It turns out that the pH dropped from 7.4 to 6.8. I figure this must account for the odd behavior... I've never had the pH drop before, so assuming it is my tap water that must have changed as nothing else has. By the way... I also have neon tetras in the tank and they seem fine, as does the one platy in the tank.

My guppies are sort of hanging there at 45 degree angles not at the top, just wherever they are... and sort of looking... I don't know, fluttery, if that makes sense.

I've never read a thing about changing pH before, nor had any issues... no clue what to do.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

What are your other readings, specifically nitrate?  What's your normal water change regimen?  (Given that you did a 50% water change right before this, the pH was probably significantly lower than 6.8 before the change - possibly down to 6.0 or so.)
 
 
If nitrates build up, or you have wood in the tank, the pH will drop.   You may be suffering a bit from "old tank syndrome".  Its not bad, in general, as tetras generally prefer lower pH, but most livebearers prefer the water a bit higher than that.   Guppies are also extremely delicate these days (especially males) as they are so inbred to get specific color variants.  
 
 
 
If it is "old tank syndrome" its not a really hard fix...  Just start by doing multiple smaller water changes weekly - 15-20% say every other day or so, and meanwhile do as thorough a gravel vac as you can to remove as much detritus that has built up as possible.  Eventually you will bring your tank water back to very similar results as your tap water.  Doing it slowly will enable the fish to adapt to the new chemistry (just like acclimating them to your tank in the first place).  Ultimately, you are going to reach a point where the water is nearly the same, and then you can go back to your regular maintenance schedule, but you may need to up either the frequency, volume or both of water changes.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I change water every 3-4 days, between 25-50% with a full gravel vacuum. So, I doubt it is old tank. It has always been my theory that if I change it regularily that clean water would be the norm and less of a shock.

My nitrate readings are 5... they used to be 10 up until a couple weeks ago when I re-scaped my tank, switching my type of plants for only java fern and anubias.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, then that answers that.  Did you test your tap water recently?  And did you record what it was before?

 

[PrairieSunflower]

No, I haven't tested my water. I will do that this morning after dropping my kids at school.

Could my pH have gone up over night as well? My fish look a lot better than yesterday, will also test that again too.

I also need to order a new test kit as it is on its last legs!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Right, back.

I have re-tested my tank and this time also tap water, and both are reading at 6.8... so I guess the source is clear...

BUT... what can I do about it since my guppies don't seem happy entirely? They are better than yesterday but not quite what they normally are.

Oh, forgot one question.... I've never tested my tap water before today so I don't know what it normally is... but up until the other day my tank has always been 7.4.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well its hard to say.  Guppies prefer higher pH than 6.8, but they can tolerate lower.  They are probably in the midst of adjusting to it.
 
You could raise the pH in the tank slightly, if you wanted, but then the other fish would be less pleased.  Personally, I'm not one that likes to keep guppies anymore with tetras.  The guppies do best with the water a bit more basic, meanwhile the tetras generally prefer more acidic conditions.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I have given up the majority of my guppies recently and only have females remaining who are either finished having fry or are virgins. Once they are gone, I don't intend to buy more.... but... I suspect that to be at least a year for most of them as I only have 1 that is truely an "old lady"

Do you suppose when my pH was 7.4 that this was why my neons seemed to be getting NTD? Were they perhaps more susceptible then?

I am assuming, at some point, that my pH will come back up, as surely this must be some sort of dip in the tap water since it has never been this way before.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That would make sense.  My neons are happy and healthy, and my tap pH starts at 6.8, and the tank water settles in at 6.4 - plenty of wood in the tank, for its size.  The neons are colorful, fairly active - as neons go, and I still have all 9 over a year and a half later.  As I understand it, neons are best kept in water from 5.0-7.0 pH.  So, putting them into 7.4 pH would be outside their "comfort zone".
 
Maybe I got lucky with my batch, but I think that they just really are thriving in my water!   My dwarf gourami, on the other hand, lasted no more than 3 months, if I recall correctly.  We all have certain fish that just refuse to thrive in our set-ups, meanwhile others have great success with them.  It has nothing to do with the aquarist sometimes, and is just a matter of different factors in the water, some we can measure and understand, and some we don't.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I do have one platy in the tank with the low pH (the only one, I am assuming, which has had the water changed since the pH in my tap dropped), and it is not at all bothered about the change in the water... which is promising as I want thinking to swap to platies (hence me having started a separate platy tank). Anyhow, that platy is entirely happier than my guppies, and that is my moody platy to boot!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Platies in general are tough little hombres, especially when compared to guppies!  6.8 is just outside their comfort zone, generally prefering 7.0-8.0.  So, it isn't surprising that the guppies would be the ones showing more signs of stress - and if the change happened rapidly, that would also be a reason as to why they acted so strange before, and are acting less strange now.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I'd say about half of them are mostly swimming around now and half are more often hanging there at a funny angle. My oldest and most of the youngest seem better off... those inbetween look more unhappy.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

No further improvement it seems. They have returned to hovering in random places... it is like they come to life when they think I will feed them and then hover when they think I'm not looking.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

UPDATE:

My pH has never gone back up again, but my guppies FINALLY appear to have adjusted and stopped that strange hovering. They all look happy and are swimming around normally.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Glad to hear it.