High Ph Levels

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afulltank

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Mar 27, 2004
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Recently my fish have been dropping like flies. First it was just the babies to go which I thought was pretty natural as they are very sensitive. But then 2 of my males and 2 of my females died. Now I'm down to my last male. But he's not doing to well. I also have 2 cories and an ADF that are doing perfect. I checked my Ph and it was around 8. Not good. I put some Ph lowerer(not sure of the name) in my tank to lower the Ph and that seemed to work. But it's still up around 7.4. I'm not sure what to do. The culprit is my tap water. The water straight out of the tap is a Ph of 8. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be very grateful. I just want to have a tank full of happy fish. :(
 

Danimal

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May 12, 2004
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My ph is at 8.4+ and everyone has told me not to mess with it because it is real hard to maintain a ph when adjusting it. I am a novice so I'm sure someone with more knowledge will help you out. BTW... my fish and tank are very healthy.
 

afulltank

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Another problem I think is that I have this low nesting grass that settles under the rocks in my tank. The fish seem to be getting stuck in it and can't get out. So they're not able to swim and move around. I'm not sure why this is happening.
 

tomm10

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Oct 15, 2003
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I agree with aquariumfishguy here. 8 is not an outrageously high pH when you consider 7.0 is neutral. Its true that its a bit higher than most would find ideal of a pH of 8 alone will not kill adult fish. Fry and eggs could have a tough time depending on the fish.

What will harm the fish is fluctuations in pH. Don't use any products that proclaim they raise or lower pH. They don't work. They'll adjust your pH temporarily but it will go right back to where it was in days or even hours.

Check your water's pH right out of the tap. Then wait a day or two with the water in a shallow bowl. this will allow the water to gas off. Test it again. If you find that the pH reading is different, it could be that large water changes are hamring your fish. If your tank is at a pH of 7.6 on a regular basis but the water straight out of your tap is 8.0, when you do a 30% water change you're raising the pH of the tank pretty quickly. If this is the case you may need to age your water before changes.

All that being said, I would double check your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates before blaming the pH. They're more likely to have a lethal effect. What were the fish that died? What temp do you keep the tank at?

Tom
 
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