Raising Ph

[finchfarm]

I'm looking at likely getting a Bristlenose and maybe a few other fish sometime, but I confess, I've been a bad fish owner and haven't gravel vaced the tank in a long time.

Last week, my Sailfin Pleco died. A couple weeks before, I noticed he didn't look so hot.... he had obviously been picked on as his fins were tattered and chewed on. He also seemed to have a boyancy issue where his tail seemed to want to float upwards. We were leaving on vacation, and he died shortly after we came back. Other fish in the tank seem fine.

I went to look at some catfish yesterday at the LFS and was advised to test and clean the tank out before getting new fish, which was something I wanted to do anyway. The person there thought the Pleco may have died from parasites from me not cleaning out the tank. That the pH was probably low and there was likely an ammonia bloom.

Before I cleaned out the tank, I tested the water:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
PH: 5.0

I have no nitrate test kit. By all accounts though, nothing seems up with my water other than that the pH is a point lower than it is normally. It is usually 6.0. As a general rule, if I have water problems, it usually affects my Silver Dollars first, and they appear right as rain.

I gravel vaced the tank out yesterday, and in so doing, took out about 10 gallons of water from my 75 gallon tank and refilled it.

I tested the tank again this morning and the pH is still 5.0. Gravel vaced again after the test this morning and removed another 10 gallons of water. I'd like to get my tank back up to at least 6.0 before getting any more fish.

I just wanted to know if anyone here had any ideas on raising pH. Am I not removing enough water during my water changes? Should I be doing water changes more than once a day until I get the pH back up to 6.0? Is the pH not budging from yesterday a normal thing and its something that only time and daily 10 gallon water changes will cure? Haven't changed filter parts out in a while either, replacing anything there help?

As a side note, I already have a rock/coral in there that is supposed to raise the pH, without it my tank pH starts plumeting after only 3 days.

 

[Wills]

It would be rare for a fish in an established tank to suddenly get ill from disease or parasites if nothing had been added for a number of weeks or months.

What is more likely to have happend is your nitrate built up and even low levels of ammonia and/or nitrite became present in the tank. If you say his fins were tatty this could have been a burn caused by any of the above.

What is the ph from your tap water? A ph of 5 in the tank is very very low. You say you have already added a rock to raise the ph, I would add quite a few of them to raise it even higher as 5 really is low and goes towards needing to stock it in a really specific way....

Also a 10 gallon change in a 75 gallon tank is nothing really, since the tank is in a bit of a state I would be tempted by a very very large water change and a very good gravel vac - possibly such a large scale clean where you take the fish out. But make sure you keep the filters on and always use dechlorinator.

I think that once you get a big clean done you need to get back into regular maintenance - like weekly water changes of about 25 gallons a week and a good gravel vac each week to keep it under control.

Then in maybe 2 or 3 weeks when things have settled down give your filter sponges a quick rinse out in tank water that you have taken out in a water change.

Before you go adding any more fish, just have a think if you can commit to maintenance on your tank first and get it back into good shape and make sure none of your other fish are on their way out.

What other fish do you have in the tank?

Hope its helped and sorry if it comes across too harsh just being honest to be helpfull
Wills

 

[finchfarm]

All ammonia and nitrite levels were 0 though, and the ammonia test was done before any cleaning was done whatsoever. I guess at some point I need to buy a nitrate test kit

Currently in the tank I have 4 Silver Dollars and 1 African Knife.

Water out of the tap is 8.0. I've had nothing but pH problems since setting up this tank again, and had them even before that. Due to circumstances in which I had to do a fish-in cycle in resetting up the tank, after only three days of having fish in the tank, my pH began to quickly drop. I would do water changes and bring the tank pH back up, but after another three days the tanks pH would begin to plummet again. This continued after the cycling process. Every third day the pH would plummet.

After fighting with this, is when I took all my recordings into my LFS and they recommended the coral/rock. Thus far the coral has been able to maintain the pH at 6.0 until I slipped in my tank cleaning.

pH has always been a constant battle here.

 

[Wills]

Cool sounds like it will be a nice tank when were back on track

Did you add anything in the past month? Fish, plants or decor? Just trying to work out if there could be a disease in the tank and if its worth dosing anything or if its just going to be fixed by a good water change.

Got to admit I have been lucky with my tap water and tank water always just sitting around 7. But a plumet of 8 to 5 I think there are a few people who are better to explain this and help with it. Just need to be careful not to "sort" it too quickly as the ph change could shock the other fish.

Wills

 

[finchfarm]

No, I haven't added fish, plants, decor.... anything in at least 6 months, if not longer.

I did go to gravel vac again and to do at least a 20 gallon water change (20 total, not 20 in addition to the 10 I already did earlier.)

Did find dead fish remains in a faux sunken log in the tank..... I don't think its part of the pleco unless he was bitten in half and if its not the pleco I hate to think how long its been in that log. My knife practically lives in the log and all I can think of is I had a fish die, he found it and drug it into the log to munch on it and I never saw it. Never even knew the dead fish was in the log until I rolled the log over to clean under it and happened to see it through a small hole in the faux log.

Possibility this dead fish sitting in there is my problem?

 

[TwoTankAmin16]

I am first most curious how you tested the pH to be 5.0 since most Aquarium test kits don read below 6.0?

If you are not doing regular maintenance and water changes on a tank the pH will drop from the natural production of acids cause by the cycle. Also, pH is held stable by KH. Have you any idea what your KH is?

the nitrogen cycle creates a tendency for an established tank's pH to decrease over time. The exact amount of pH change depends on the quantity and rate of nitrates produced, as well as the KH. If your pH drops more than roughly two tenths of a point over a month, you should consider increasing the KH or performing partial water changes more frequently.

from http/fins.actwin.com/aquariafaq.html

I also wonder how you are testing your tap. A drop from 8 to under 6 is pretty big. Ar you allowing your tap to stand a day berfore testing it or bubbling it with an airstone for an hour before testing?

Finally, if you are not vacuuming your substrate and you have a gibby which is niot a small pleco, you are getting a build up of poop and rotting food on your substrate. This is where the pleco spends most of its time. The stuff not being removed via vacuuming is not good for the plecos and is a hotbed for nasties to thrive.

 

[finchfarm]

I was able to find a "broadrange pH test kit" at my LFS which will test pH and show ranges as low as 5.0 and as high as 9 or 10. As far as testing the tap, the reading of 8.0 was straight out of the tap without letting the water set and without bubbling it.

Unfortunately, I do not know my KH. I have a test kit for it, but seem to have misplaced the guide for it. I'm thinking of taking a water sample down to my LFS and have them run a test on KH and nitrates.

 

[finchfarm]

I ended up taking a container of tank water to my LFS and having them do a full panel test on it.

They didn't tell me exactly what everything was in terms of number (nitrate and KH), but they said all the tests came back perfectly fine with the exception of the pH, which was low.

They did say the pH was about 6.0 to 6.2, and I believe they use the broadrange pH test that I use as it looked the same. So, I was able to bring the pH up a degree, it seems.

I'm wondering if the Pleco died from its water conditions.