hard alkaline water problems

[enkay78]

folks,
i had 3 betta fighters in seperate 2 gallon tanks and all of them died within a few days of each other after some fin infection. i used the color chart from pet smart to check water quality and found that water hardness was 1000ppm along with alkalinity at 300ppm and ph at around 8.5 which indicates those params are way into the highest levels.
is this a reason for my bettas die soon? also my main tank had a few rosy barbs and tiger barbs and few of the rosy barbs died. whats the best way to reduce the ph gradient in the water in terms of time and quantity. say 0.5 pH lesser for every 2 weeks will be ok until we hit 7.5?
regards
enkay78

 

[Jannika]

Has there been any ammonia in the tanks? That would be my first suspect. I have hard water too, (and bettas) with pH of 8.3 and 300 ppm alkalinity. With a high pH, even a little ammonia is EXTREMELY toxic. The general hardness is actually between 300 - 400 ppm, and water that hard probably won't respond much to traditional remedies. I think it would be easier and safer to just cut the water with R/O or distilled to bring it down.

 

[jpappy789]

What test kit are you using?

Were these tanks cycled? Were they filtered?

 

[enkay78]

thanks for your responses. i used the 5 in 1 test strips to look at the water params. the betta tanks weren't filtered they just had an air stone and i cudn't check the ammonia on those tanks but its a valid point to note that small increase in ammonia in real hard water could be fatal. but the lingering doubt is that given the metabolic rates of bettas being very minimal ammonia level increasing to substantial levels is hard to understand.
btw the main community tank where the barbs reside the nitrate levels we below 20ppm and nitrite was around 0.5, but that tank has a carbon filter...
regards
kumaran

 

[constevens]

thanks for your responses. i used the 5 in 1 test strips to look at the water params. the betta tanks weren't filtered they just had an air stone and i cudn't check the ammonia on those tanks but its a valid point to note that small increase in ammonia in real hard water could be fatal. but the lingering doubt is that given the metabolic rates of bettas being very minimal ammonia level increasing to substantial levels is hard to understand.
btw the main community tank where the barbs reside the nitrate levels we below 20ppm and nitrite was around 0.5, but that tank has a carbon filter...
regards
kumaran

Id be less worried about the hardness of the water or the PH in this case. Id bet your real culprit is the Nitrite or Ammonia. What do you have for filtration? If none you have no way to remove the harmful build up in the water except by doing frequient water changes. Also. The Test strips..... Are FAR VERY FAR from accurate. Most GH test kits even in liquids are garbage. KH on the other hand can be tested for such as with API's KH test kit. The water I use is as hard as most come. KH at 14dkh with a PH of over 8.0 and GH is quite hard as well. Its well water. So its full of mineral deposits. Ive had plenty luck with Betta's and more. If you measured .5ppm of Nitrite im pretty sure you probably have some ammonia. Nitrite is actually more toxic then Ammonia as well. So in smaller amounts Nitrite is quite harmful. Nitrates at 20ppm is nothing. Ive seen water out of the tap have that much Nitrates. Are these tanks heated? Whats the temps? Biological filtration is a must.