True, the pH will likely shift upwards gradually and the danios will be able to adapt, but if you are going to use this product for the arrivial of your danios then just use it that one time, it will not be necessary anymore after that. Besides why would you need to use it if your pH is testing at 7.0-7.2? Don't worry about your ammonia testing at 0 since it is most likely accurate because your fish were only dead in your tank for 20 minutes. 30 minutes of them being in the tank alive and 20 minutes of them being in there dead is not enough time for ammonia to accumulate in the water. Hmmm...."I can add the stuff while they are in there and it won't harm them", what do you mean by this? Do you mean that your are going to add the "pH Down" to the water in the tank while the fish are in there? If this is the case then you are wrong, it will harm them. If you are going to add this product to the water than you need to do it at least an hour before you put the fish in.
My fish all died!!
- Thread starter yashinfan
- Start date
I'd still be concerned about some type of toxin in there. If it were me, I'd dump it all out and rinse everything THOROUGHLY with dechlorinated water to make sure all the bleach is gone. Then start over and do a fishless cycle. Since you have access to an established tank, you can do a fishless cycle in a couple of weeks and have the tank truly ready for the new fish.
No, no! The pH is 7.0-7.2 now! lol. With the pH 7.0 stuff. Without it my water was 8 from the tap. Okay, I won't add it once my fish are in there- unless it is an emergency! I promise! I think the fish were in the tank dead for close to an hour, as we didn't take them out 'til after we got back from Al's. We then brought them to Pet Smart to receive store credit. What was I going to do with a bag of dead fish in between that time?? Okay, as for bleach residue: My tank has been washed out twice already, been running with dechlorinated water for the past 3 days. I don't think washing it out one more time would do anything at all. The tank does not smell of bleach and I believe that my b/f and I did a thorough job of cleaning it because I was so worried about losing my fish. As for the fishless-cycle, honestly, I'm not a fan of this. My boyfriend is not a fan of me stealing his pump in return for mine either, although that would be great. He does not want ANY of my stuff near his tank as he loves his four year old goldfish more than his parents. lol 
I might do it for my next tank since I could use my other filter for that. But right now I'm assuming that I will be getting new fish on Thursday. I know, for one who cares so much about her fish I should be willing to wait the 6 weeks but I'm just impatient.
I might do it for my next tank since I could use my other filter for that. But right now I'm assuming that I will be getting new fish on Thursday. I know, for one who cares so much about her fish I should be willing to wait the 6 weeks but I'm just impatient. I suppose the high PH could have shocked them and killed them that fast, but I don't know for certain. I've never seen fish die that fast even with moderately high ammonia levels. If you've cleaned it that well, you're probably right. I'd definitely do a HUGE water change before adding any more fish.
Take some of your tap water and let it set out for a few days (with an air bubbler if you can) then test the PH and see if it's still 8 or not. If it will stabalize on it's own after a few days, then you can keep a bucket of water out to "age" and use that for your water changes. Then your PH will stay stable without having to use any chemicals to alter it which can make it fluctuate too much and be harmful for the fish.
Good luck to ya! Keep us posted
Take some of your tap water and let it set out for a few days (with an air bubbler if you can) then test the PH and see if it's still 8 or not. If it will stabalize on it's own after a few days, then you can keep a bucket of water out to "age" and use that for your water changes. Then your PH will stay stable without having to use any chemicals to alter it which can make it fluctuate too much and be harmful for the fish.
Good luck to ya! Keep us posted
No! Please do not add the pH down product to your water even if it is an emergency. These products drop the pH very raipidly. The sudden drop from 8.0 to 7.0 could KILL your fish, or at least be very harmful. Like I mentioned before moving a fish from a lower pH to a higher pH is not harmful but it certainly is the other way around. It is good that your boyfriend is so protective of his goldfish, I am the same way with mine. Oh, and about being impatient, don't worry this hobby will teach you patience eventually . LOL!
. LOL!
Hmm, see my pH went down by itself to 7.4 before with chlorinator and sitting in my tank for a day. So it shocked me when they tested my pH today and it said 8.0 So I don't really understand what caused this dramatic change? So is the general consensus that I do a water change right now and add some new water with dechlorinator and wait until its pH has dropped naturally?
Yes. There is a possibilty that your test kit is faulty or that the gravel from your boyfriend's tank has added to the hardness of your water and caused the pH to rise. How long has that gravel you took been in your tank after you tested your water again and got the reading of 8.0? The reason that the pH in your boyfriend's tank is 7.2 might be because the presence of his goldfish. Water tends to acidify over time with fish in the tank, especially if there are alot of fish or the fish are big.
I'm going to assume that my test kit is not faulty because it reads 7 with the pH 7.0 thing added. My b/f's gravel had been in the tank for.. let's see.. we put it in this morning before we left. So not very long at all? I'd say, at most, an hour. I'd say it was in for at most, 2 hours before it tested 8.0. My b/f says he adds straight tap water to his goldfish tank and does not even treat it because they do not care and are in perfect health. My tap water is 8.0, so is it possible that adding his little jar of fish water & gravel spiked my pH??? If so then I shouldn't use his gravel and water again.
No, I don't see that it is possible that your pH spiked in only two hours. The only other thing I can think of is that you read the test strips wrong. You said that they go up or down in increments of .5. Is it possible that you mistook the one color for the other? Those test colors can be pretty hard to determine sometimes.
Well I know that the strip was green which is the 7.0-7.9 level. Maybe I mistook the 7.0-7.5 level for the 7.6-7.9 level? I know the the strips are working because when I poured the test water down into the sink it turned blue because of the tap water in it. I am going to make Pet Smart test their water and my water with the same kit to make sure they are compatible, if they won't then I will steal their fish *shifty eyes* Actually, something really cool: When they write you the paper for the credit, they have 3 lines. Two of which are blank right now because I only returned one species. It's already signed by the manager and there was no other copy of it. Do you think I would get away with writing that I need 4 guppies too? I know the code for them too. lol. I probably wouldn't do it, but it'd be a fun way for revenge and it'd save me like.. 11$. haha.
