So, so frustrated!

I wish I knew what it was off hand, but I know there is something natural you can add to your filter to raise the ph...That way, your tank water will match your tap water more closely. I'm sure someone knows, sorry about the corys

Anyone?!?!

Try getting some small filter for the rubber maid and fill it up with peat. Leave that over night and the water should be ready to go.

i dont know if your high ph is whats killing your fish but the best thing to do would mix ro water in with your tap water to get your ideal ph, thats what i do and i have no problems. i just buy water at the water store for $.25 a gallon. so just add ro to your tap to match the water in the tank. good luck!

What kind of water conditioner do you use? I was always losing fish after water changes and I was using the tetra brand water conditioner. I switched to Prime and I never lose any now. Maybe just a coincidence, I don't know, but it's something to try.

A couple of things, I do not know if they were answered in the other thread, but:
Do you have Chlorine or Chloramines?
Do you know your Kh and GH readings?
Have you verifiesd your test numbers with the LFs.

I apologize if any of this is repeat questioning, I Will find your other thread and review it as well. I highly suspect Phosphate buffers in your tap water, and low or no Kh/ Low Gh. Additionally, I would worry about the chloramine. There are only two products that recieve good reviews for neutralizing Chloramine, and The above mentioned prime seems to be the more popular of the two. I would definately buy some prime immediatly and start using it instead. I would also get a water report from your local utility and link it or copy it here it may shed some serious light on the situation.

Remember Fish do not read Ph, cannot read PH!!!! Dissolved solids are the culprit of PH shock that causes so much confusion and myth in the industry. Rapid changes of anything can be unsettling, but It is unlikely that the water change Ph, and tank PH difference is your real problem. Something is going on with solids Chlorine, chloramine, ammonia etc. the actually Ph reading may be an indicator, but adding additional chemicals almost never helps, only hurts and adds confusion. Likewise it is unlikely that your driftwood is an issue either. Given that you do decent volume and decent frequency water changes, you should not see a negative effect of this magnitude even if your driftwood is huge and leaches a lot. I run huge amounts of driftwood in virtually all of my tanks, and see little or no effect even when new wood is added. Definately not the changes you are seeing short term.

Secondly and the reason I would like to see you water report; It is uncommon for tap Ph to be high and then drop. In most cases the opposite is true. Whatever is going on your water company probably has a reason for it, and the answer could be your solution. Your water report will help with this a bunch.

Lastly, Without saying anything negative about your choice of dechlorinators, I would just say that if there is any doubt, IMO Prime is the answer. it covers all of the bases and does everything it says it will do on the label. Amquel plus recieves similar reviews, but honestly Prime is wat I keep around to protect my fish in emergencies and would reccomend it based on the reviews I have seen.

Dave

Something in your tank is causing the PH to drop a lot. I'm thinking that if you do a bi weekly water change of 20% you might keep the dissolved solids level down. Usually what drives down PH is organic matter in the water... plant and fish waste, wood tannins or co2. Water from the tap usually gets a higher PH when it sits out because the co2 dissipates. You could try adding some PH down buffer (one without phosphates like seachem) to your tap water. Obviously something in your tank is driving down PH so by the time the PH buffer wears off, I doubt the PH would rise. The dangers with PH buffers is that they are very temporary fixes but since your water quickly becomes acidic anyways, I don't think it would be as much of a problem.

It not only has the chlorine and normal tap water stuff, but it also has ammonia and other harmful additives. He also verified that the tap water has a very high pH. He said that they can't use "normal" conditioners in the store, either. He recommended Prime... He also said that my tetras are very hardy and cories are much more delicate, so that's why they probably were the ones to die.

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A couple of things to consider. If th fish guy Says you have ammonia, you probably have Chloramine and when you use a simple dechlorinator it leaves the ammonia. Very few water supplies carry actual ammonia in their drinking water. Secondly, if he says there are other harmful additives, I'd be finding out what if it were my fish tanks the water was going into.

You also still have a Kh issue to look at. Prime will not fix your Kh defeciency, and you will see an eventual Ph crash most likely. The high tap Ph is something you also need to learn about. As said before My guess is some type of buffer used to raise Ph, whatever it is it stands to cause you a problem.
Kissofthegorami is correct about organics lowering Ph. Biological processes consume Kh and thus lower Ph. The water changes you do should reduce most concern over this process, but the fact that your Ph can drop from 8 + to 7.2 in a short period makes me think there is far more going on than just biological processes and driftwood influence. So once again Finding out what is really in your water is essential. And once again, Kh depletion is a concern. 7.2 indicates a very low Kh level, and long term as your fish grow and your tank matures, you could see problems with this. learn now and prepare, rather than waiting until the next fish dies and trying to catch up on what was missed.

As said earlier, Prime is a good idea, and using it may fix your current problem. Long term, knowing what you are dealing with will prevent other problems.
Keep us posted, and we'll try to help.
Dave