PH Levels...fish dying

[bearyconfused]

Hi...i know this question has been asked alot but i'm concerned about the loss of 3 fish in 24 to 36 hrs....

I have a 25 gallon that has been established a year...all readings at 0 with a ph level of 7.0...

I have a newly cycled 90 gallon with 0 ammonia..0 nitrite...5 nitrate and a PH of possibly 7.6 or higher...

Question is i had 20 white cloud mountian minnows in the 90 gallon and took 3 more fully grown ones from my 25 gallon (that had been there for 6 months or more) plus 2 zebra danios (one a long fin)

within 24 hours two of my older white clouds had died and as well about 36 hrs later my zebra dania long fin died...i can only assume that the huge change in the PH killed them as everything else was normal including temps...

Does anyone else have any other reason why this possibly may have happened...i orignally had lost around 6 white clouds from the new tank but none with in the past week...

I heard you can lower your PH by adding Peat to your filtering system? I've seen it in the pet store...Has anyone tried this? Our 25 gallon has store water in it where as the 90 gallon is tap water...

Any answers would be helpful so we know where to go next before we kill anymore fish...Thank you for your time

 

[ashdavid]

How did you acclimatise the fish to the new water? Is the temp the same in both tanks? With a ph difference of 0.6, if acclimatised proberly that should not psoe too much of a problem. Is there anything else that you could think of that could possibly cause a problem?

 

[Sully]

the comment about acclimation method may be on target--you should not net them in one tank and place them directly into another tank.

I have had best result lowering pH utilizing peat when it was a part of the substrate. Got minimal, if any, results when utilizing it in filter. Buying the Super Peat Pellets at the lfs might not be the best route. Maybe look at a lawn and garden store and buy spangum peat. Make sure that it is Sphangum, and that it is not fertilized--if it is fertilized it will say so on bag. So much cheaper this way.

Several years ago I saw something called the "peat Bomb". You might try a google search on that. ignore any links to the Irish Republic Army that show up--a totally different thing with the same name. lol.

 

[bearyconfused]

The temp varied by about 2 degrees between tanks...as well because the ph was higher in the 90 gallon we mixed the water together and put the fish in it until we felt they were semi adjusted to the ph level and then we put them in the tank...

We added a 6" algae eater this way as well 2 days ago and he's thriving...maybe he's more hardy then the others though we thought the white clouds were pretty hardy...

Well i guess its all a learning lesson...though i hate losing fish i guess its bound to happen a few times...

they seem to be adjusted now and the other 2 Plus 20 white clouds are having a blast...

Nitrate to day again only a trace 5 or less...so i figure in another week i will feel safe enough to add my 3 clown loaches...

Thanks for your input

 

[ashdavid]

What is your ammonia and nitrite levels when you tested a second time?