Naturally lowering PH?

[Korczyk]

My girlfriends 20g has some albino corys in it, and they are continuing to look worse and worse. She's lost two of them in about a month, and we believe the PH is the problem.
It is currently 7.8, jesus. I had to use the high range PH test to get that.

Okay, that is too high for corys, right? What should I shoot for?
And the way I've heard to do this naturally is to add peat moss to the filter.
So, I've picked up a small amount and a filter media bag for it.
Is this the way to go?

Also, the tank-mates are tetras; red belly x-rays and red phantoms to be exact.

 

[Star_Rider]

test for gh.. it is really a type of measure for dissolved solids in the tank.
it is what determines if you have hard water etc.

many fish can adapt to a higher pH.

but the best way to adjust pH is to use RO/DI water mixed with tap.

messing with pH usually is not recommended.

 

[Hurley]

:iagree: How long has the tank been set up. Like Star_rider said, fish will adjust to pH so its much more important to have a stable pH then constantly trying to battle with it and having pH swings. That is what stresses the fish. How were the fish behaving? There could be lots of things that made the fish get weaker such as internal parasite.

 

[Korczyk]

I don't believe my API thing has the required stuff to do alkalinity testing, can't tell you if the water is hard or soft.
Anywhere I can go to get that? Or to get it done?

The tank has been set up for about a year.
The corys just appear dead over time, not a single tetra has died.

 

[Star_Rider]

it is a separated test kh/gh and worth the investment.
it is possible you have too high gh which may cause health issues.

 

[KarlTh]

Not high at all. 9 is high. 7.8 is virtually neutral. Fish care very little about pH, as long as it's not so high or low as to be corrosive.

Contrary to popular belief, pH swings do not bother fish either. It's the swings in dissolved solids (TDS) which generally accompany pH swings which do damage, but people mistakenly think pH is to blame, because that's the only thing they measure. They shouldn't; they should measure KH and GH as well; far more important.

 

[msjinkzd]

what is the substrate in your tank? what are you feeding teh cories? what is your maintenance routine? these might give us some clues as well as to why they are not doing well.

 

[lucy42083]

I agree we need more info. on the tank -- I can tell you it is not your 7.8 pH that is doing anything to your cories. I keep much more sensitive fish that come from softer, more acidic water (rams, rummy nose tetras) as well as cories in 7.8-8.0 pH with no problems.

 

[Korczyk]

I'm sure to feed the corys themselves shrimp pellets or algae wafers.
Its black gravel (her choice, it looks horrible), and I try to gravel vac/water change once a week. I'm doing that today, actually.

 

[DrNo]

Not high at all. 9 is high. 7.8 is virtually neutral. Fish care very little about pH, as long as it's not so high or low as to be corrosive.

Contrary to popular belief, pH swings do not bother fish either. It's the swings in dissolved solids (TDS) which generally accompany pH swings which do damage, but people mistakenly think pH is to blame, because that's the only thing they measure. They shouldn't; they should measure KH and GH as well; far more important.

This is a great post.... osmotic sensitivity is usually ignored despite the fact that almost all water bound organisms are susceptible to it. TDS (total dissolved solids, for those not familar with) is therefore a critical determinant and measuring GH/KH is one of the easiest ways to assess this parameter. It has been my experience that GH is a more valuable determinant for osmotic considerations than KH (carbonate hardness) due to the abundance of ions that fall within this category (i.e. Mg, Na, etc.).

However, 'raw' pH is also an important determinant for water species and it is a parameter that should not be overlooked. Larger swings in pH, at a stable TDS, can have a profound effect on biological processes. Most bound cellular organelles require a pH gradient in order to function, including the mitochondria responsible for ATP synthesis. Ambient water parameters have a significant effect on intracellular and extracellular chemistry and are inherently subject to stress.

Fortunately, bioenergetics are flexible enough to allow gradual changes in pH to be tolerated. Indeed, most specimens of 'tropical' fish can adapt well to an atypical pH range so long as the change occurs gradually. Nevertheless, some specimens (e.g. many African cichlid specimens that are not tank raised) do not do well without the pH range that they are biologically engineered for.

Acute deaths are more likely to result from osmotic shock (i.e. TDS change), but I have (sadly) seen 'modest' pH swings at a relatively constant TDS have a devastating impact on certain species.