arrrgh!!! what happened???

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NowherMan6

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a few weeks ago one of my tiger barbs died. ok, fair enough...

now i just lost 2 more in the past 2 days! what could be going on here???
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - under 10ppm

i just tested the water and i noticed that my ph is drastically higher than it was last time i checked. it was usually around 7.4, now it's 8.4! what could have caused this?? could that be what's stressing out the fish, and would it stress them out to the point of killing them? before they died they stopped eating - the others are still eating but im afraid the same will happen to them.

could it be some kind of parasites? the fish were fine until i planted the tank, could something have come in on the plants??? and whats making my ph so high?? i added a few rocks a few weeks back, would that raise the ph??

please help! i thought i had things more under control than this... :confused:
 
I think it was probably the rocks. If you put a couple drops of vinegar on the rock and it fizzes, it'll probably raise your pH. You can do this with any acid. What you're doing is checking for carbonate content which is a base.
 
If you remove the rocks, I believe the buffer they added would remain in the water until removed by water changes. My first thought would be to remove the rocks and do a series of small water changes over a few days to slowly bring the pH back down, but someone else here may be able to give you a more authoritative answer.
 
I use holy rock (limestone) in my tanks, and they will raise your ph somewhat, just make sure for the first 2 weeks after adding it to do daily 10% water changes if not 20% every other day and that kept my ph in check. ofcourse my tap water ph is a hair under 7, this wouldnt work if your tap water ph is high. Also I was doing some reading, its not usually the ph shifts that kill/stress fish(as long as its not HUGE changes), its the ph shifts on tanks with low kh, because after hearing someone else mention it, I tested the ph of this BIG pond behind my moms house, and it will fluctuate around 2 points from morning to night, and the fish in there dont just up and die...FWIW.
 
measured my kh - it's about 5 degrees, so about 80ppm... which is pretty low... so does that go along with what youre saying, seaman? any other ideas???
 
Unless you added a lot of calcareous rocks, I doubt your pH would jump that high, especially with water that was starting at 7.4. Have you tested a sample of your tap water after it has sat out overnight in a shallow bowl? It is not uncommon for tapwater to contain dissolved gases that drive down pH (e.g., carbon dioxide). Allowing your tap water to age before testing for pH will give you a more accurate reading.

HTH,
Jim
 
ive tested my tap ph before using that exact method - 7.4

all of this is very interesting and well and good, but is it killing my fish? thats what im really after.. sorry to seem impatient, i really do appreciate the input, but 2 in two days has been kind of stressful
 
The rocks as said could make a difference, but It wouldn't seem to me to be that fast. IF you tap water is 7.4 after gasing off what is the KH at that point.
I would definately remove the rocks until further investigation, and do the series of water changes to get things back into control slowly, and then proceed once the tank is back to whatever was normal. I imagine you tap KH is much lower than 5 with a ph of 7.4 after gas off. Therefore the rocks may be the issue. As said Ph swings arent the real big deal. however quick changes in TDS levels and or kh can be a big problem for fish. The flip side of that is that if the rocks changed the kh they wouldn't do it quickly and the fish should adjust.

The other question is where did the rocks come from and what are they. many rocks contain traces of heavy metals that can do some weird things. I am a firm beleiver in going out and picking up free rocks, but there are good and bad sides to doing so.
dave
 
i removed the rocks and did a 20% water change. i'll didnt test the kh of my tap when i had let it sit out overnight. i'll do it tomorrow morning and post the results. as for the rocks, they came from someone's garden, they just kind of had them lying around. thinking back i probably should have known better, cause theyre kind of strange looking - different shades of different colors, but not in a natural way. i dont know what kind of material they are eaxactly but they seem to be more "loose" (not that a rock can be loose but...) than, say, slate. but as i said, they're out of the tank and i'll do another partial change over the next day or so, and ill run more tests.
 
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