pH/parameter troubles?

[Br@in]

Alright. I’m at a loss. My tank is being super weird and I’m throwing a tantrum. I’ve had it for ten years. It crashed about two months? Ago. I’ve been testing it. It stabilized within a week. I waited a long time to add any fish to it (re-stocking basically) I added slowly starting last week when I retested everything. It’s moderately planted. I haven’t. Touched it. I’ve been letting it do it’s thing. I do my water changes and I duck out, nothing new right?? I mean I add plant fertilizer and recently started with root tabs too. NORMALLY my pH in the tank is a stable 7.4. We’ll I noticed my cichlid struggling and immediately transferred her out of the tank to another tank. Tested my tank and here’s the results:
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0.25
PH: 8.3
Nitrate: 0.4 (before my water change this week I.e. today)
What. The. HECK.
How did my pH go up that high? How do I fix that?? I own pH down but don’t use it. Like. Ugh

occupants: 7neon tetras, 5 Cory cats, 3 snails, and a cichlid. The cichlid is now removed because she’s the most sensitive. Picture is from right after a weekly cleaning.

 

[PorshaF]

I would do a big water change to get the ammonia down, any amount over zero could be bad. Maybe your tank wasn't done cycling, it can take 4 weeks to colonize the good bacteria even if you use established media or starter bacteria

 

[Guyb93]

What cichlid are we talking about ? , a rise in ph could indicate a bad choice if substrate or decor , are you using crushed coral sand or ocean rock ?

 

[PorshaF]

Also check for any dead plant matter, even check the filter compartment. Rinse your filter in separate bin of tank water if any rotted debris is stuck

 

[Br@in]

I would do a big water change to get the ammonia down, any amount over zero could be bad. Maybe your tank wasn't done cycling, it can take 4 weeks to colonize the good bacteria even if you use established media or starter

What cichlid are we talking about ? , a rise in ph could indicate a bad choice if substrate or decor , are you using crushed coral sand or ocean rock ?

It’s a peacock cichlid. And my tank has been set up for ten years. I use sand. The wood decor is all fake. The coconut shells are real though. My pH is usually super stable and never does anything. And I haven’t added anything new

 

[Guyb93]

It’s a peacock cichlid. And my tank has been set up for ten years. I use sand. The wood decor is all fake. The coconut shells are real though. My pH is usually super stable and never does anything. And I haven’t added anything new

What is your tanks Gh? Currently you hve a mixture of hard and soft water fish , with the neons and corys being softer water and the peacock cichlid being of lake Malawi would prefers a middling to harder water , a well established tank shouldnt read a ph change really not after 10 years , if tap water is reading 7.5 I’d expect maybe a reading of 8 by the end of the week depending on substrate and Decors

 

[Br@in]

What is your tanks Gh? Currently you hve a mixture of hard and soft water fish , with the neons and corys being softer water and the peacock cichlid being of lake Malawi would prefers a middling to harder water , a well established tank shouldnt read a ph change really not after 10 years , if tap water is reading 7.5 I’d expect maybe a reading of 8 by the end of the week depending on substrate and Decors

Normally my tank sits at 7.4. My tap water is 6.6. And my gH (I ran out of strips this week) is usually very hard, in the top of the chart. The water we get where I live is just really really packed with minerals

 

[Br@in]

Normally my tank sits at 7.4. My tap water is 6.6. And my gH (I ran out of strips this week) is usually very hard, in the top of the chart. The water we get where I live is just really really packed with minerals

And also: the tetras and corys are established inhabitants they’re used to the hardness. They’ve been with me for a long time. The cichlid is a newer addition though.

 

[Br@in]

Update: I found a dead snail in a crevice under a decoration. Probably where the ammonia came from.

 

[Guyb93]

Update: I found a dead snail in a crevice under a decoration. Probably where the ammonia came from.

That’s definitely your ammonia sorted lol , I’m almost certain tht the peacock will eat your neons as it gets larger regardless of your Gh really I just think the peacock is a bad fit for your tank plus side it’s the only cichlid and will have no issues with aggression it will directly fall into the role of tank boss

 

[Br@in]

That’s definitely your ammonia sorted lol , I’m almost certain tht the peacock will eat your neons as it gets larger regardless of your Gh really I just think the peacock is a bad fit for your tank plus side it’s the only cichlid and will have no issues with aggression it will directly fall into the role of tank boss

I’m okay with her eating them ??‍ Protein. Maybe that’s really messed up lol. I’ve wanted a cichlid tank for forever and so I’ve been trying to lean over into an aggressive tank. Probably won’t really put any other occupants in there besides her and the corys.

 

[Guyb93]

I’m okay with her eating them ??‍ Protein. Maybe that’s really messed up lol. I’ve wanted a cichlid tank for forever and so I’ve been trying to lean over into an aggressive tank. Probably won’t really put any other occupants in there besides her and the corys.

Ahahah I’m with you nothing better than a greedy cichlid that eats everything , you can find a balance though I keep 3 different types of cichlid with corys and tetras , I’d maybe jiggle a few things round with your stocking , maybe replace the neons with a larger group beens your thinking African maybe some Congo tetra beautiful fish and would be too big to be eaten but also middling to softer water , west African jewel cichlids would be a good swap out for the peacock, a similar Gh requirement and more mild mannered

 

[Br@in]

Ahahah I’m with you nothing better than a greedy cichlid that eats everything , you can find a balance though I keep 3 different types of cichlid with corys and tetras , I’d maybe jiggle a few things round with your stocking , maybe replace the neons with a larger group beens your thinking African maybe some Congo tetra beautiful fish and would be too big to be eaten but also middling to softer water , west African jewel cichlids would be a good swap out for the peacock, a similar Gh requirement and more mild mannered

Thank you!

 

[Byron]

It would help to have more data. There is something here we are not seeing.

Tap (source) water. What has the GH, KH and pH been for the tap water on its own? Remember you need to out-gas any CO2 when testing tap water for pH or the result will be false (if CO2 is in the water). Did you test the tap water for these when the pH in the tank suddenly increased?

Tank water. What has the GH and KH been, and has this been consistent?

Ammonia. I would ignore this, it has been reported in other member's threads too with no explanation. It is certainly not a dead snail, or dead fish...the plants would easily assimilate ammonia from any of that, assuming they are reasonably healthy.

Plant fertilizers. Which specifically, liquid and tabs?

 

[Br@in]

It would help to have more data. There is something here we are not seeing.

Tap (source) water. What has the GH, KH and pH been for the tap water on its own? Remember you need to out-gas any CO2 when testing tap water for pH or the result will be false (if CO2 is in the water). Did you test the tap water for these when the pH in the tank suddenly increased?

Tank water. What has the GH and KH been, and has this been consistent?

Ammonia. I would ignore this, it has been reported in other member's threads too with no explanation. It is certainly not a dead snail, or dead fish...the plants would easily assimilate ammonia from any of that, assuming they are reasonably healthy.

Plant fertilizers. Which specifically, liquid and tabs?

I use leaf zone liquid fertilizer every other week and I only put in root tabs once. I got them from a local seller. They’re not branded
My tap water pH is about 6.8 consistently and today. Now I ran out of GH and KH strips. But both typically always run on the extremely high end of the spectrum. Those are always very consistent. I need to go buy more for those tests so I have numbers for this week. And the GH and KH are always super high for both my tap and tank water.