It's The Stinky Algae Wafer Lady

Fish Kate

Fish Kate

Don't Eat the Puppies
Sep 9, 2005
126
0
0
Chicago
I have had my 10 gal for two and a half weeks; the past four days I've been down to my last living fish (lost a pair of guppies and a pearl danio to ich).

Since joining up here, I've been doing at least 50% water changes daily. I started adding salt to combat the ich as soon as you all told me it couldn't be the algae wafer that was making my guys sick. I also got a heater and set the temp at 81 after my first three guys died (I think my water was around 79 anyway). My amonia levels have never been above .25 and the Ph has been steady around 7.2 - 7.4 until TODAY when I tested AFTER the water change (close to 70%) and it had shot up to 8.0!!

What should I do?

My last fish, the red tail rasbora, seems fine, if a little lonely. I'd like to pull him through this so I can bring him some buddies to school with in a few weeks.

I did notice that my "live" plant (also have some fake ones and an ornament) was looking poorly and removed it today. I also noticed a few bits of extra "yuck" in the gravel vac (I've been feeding my mystery snail lettuce but not leaving it in overnight). Could the salt have affected the plants and raised my Ph??? Should I buy some of that Ph adjusting stuff?
 
Hi Fish Kate

Now - I'm not the biggest expert here - so I'm sure someone else will jump in! However, I'll have a go at addressing some of your worries:

First up - do you have the other readings for your tank? ie Is your ammonia currently zero (you say no more than .25) and what are your nitrite and nitrate levels?
This could be what is stressing your fish and making them susceptible to ich.
I'm glad you're using heat and salt - much much much better than the chemical treatment (and actually may even work!).

I'd try to avoid playing with your PH at the moment. Keep monitoring it. If you find it jumps around again you need to get a test kit for KH and GH. Now one of these (can't remember which but think it's KH) is a measurement of water hardness that has a direct effect on the stability of your ph levels - ie if it's out of kilter your PH will be jumping up and down.

PH levels by themselves don't tend to be THAT harmful once fish have acclimitized (though some breeds have preference) but changes in PH can be.

Your plant is probably suffering from both increase in heat and the salt in the water. Once you're sorted you should be able to replace it with no problem.

It's all very very dull when you're working to get things right isn't it?! Worth it though..

R
 
what is the PH level of your tap water?
 
Do you have any seashells in your tank? Seashell can leach minerals into your water which could cause your Ph to jump. If you have seashells in there, you probably should remove them. I agree with R about the Ph levels. I went literally nuts trying to get my Ph down. As long as all your other water parameters are OK your fish should adjust. You don't want to change your Ph by more than .2 or .3 a day so check the Ph of the water you're to the tank adding when you do your changes. Fluctuations of more than .2 - .3 can stress your fish. I have treated well water and my GH (General Hardness) is good but my KH (Carbonate Hardness) is high. I always checked my Ph before and after water changes so I was sure I wasn't causing to steep a flucuation in Ph until I figured out just how much water I could changed and keep the Ph stable. Ph stability is the key. I keep angelfish which are "soft water" fish but they're all doing just fine with my Ph at 8.0. BTW I tried the Ph adjusting chemicals. They didn't work. The Ph would just jump right back up in a few hours ... not good for the fish.

Sorry about the Ich. Temp/Salt and daily water changes did the trick for me.

Good Luck!
 
The Ph of my tap water is 7.6 or so...I have so much trouble reading the color charts, but I know it's not really high or really low...somewhere between 7.6 and 8, probably. No shells in my tank -- I had read somewhere not to put anything in my tank that wasn't specifically for that purpose.

I was really relieved to know keeping the Ph constant is better than a "quick fix," 'cause I was ready to run out and buy those chemical "up" and "downs."

For now I have just cut down to 1/3 water changes instead of 1/2; happy to report that my fish and snail seems happy as clams! THANK YOU GUYS!
 
I could be wrong, but doing 50% water changes every day might not be the greatest idea just because that gives new bacteria no chance to create colonies. I would think 15%-25% if your going to be doing the change daily. Correct me if I'm wrong!
 
correcting you - the bacteria in your tank are stuck in your filter, filter media, rocks, glass, plants, etc. . they are not free-floating, so doing water changes will not harm them as long as you are correctly using a dechlorinator.
 
wataugachicken said:
correcting you - the bacteria in your tank are stuck in your filter, filter media, rocks, glass, plants, etc. . they are not free-floating, so doing water changes will not harm them as long as you are correctly using a dechlorinator.
Click to expand...

I couldn;t have put it better myself!
 
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