Sigh...i need to know something..

NeonFlux

Water agent
Oct 16, 2005
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Los Angeles, California
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William
:confused: What does acidic water..mean basically?3 of my silver dollars unexpectly died 1 by 1....no,they didnt die altogether...just...unexpectedly....sometime of one day of a month.I heard some web page about silver dollars liking a little acidic water...actually,to tell u the truth,my silver dollars are kinda weak on the fins..a few fins them looked bit off...but i dont actually really think it's the other fishes....i had 6,now..sigh i have 3...=\ i dont want to lose another fishy life...if any of you can help me out,id be very happy...1 one of silver dollars look absolutely fine....while the other two's are in a fin problem.maybe i'll shoot up a pic here or something.
 
Flowerhorn916 said:
Acidic is above ph of 7 whiich is neutral

That is incorrect. PH is acidic when it is BELOW 7, it is alkaline when ABOVE 7. Ergo, an tank with fish that prefer acidic water, ala tetras, silver dollars, etc would range in the low to mid 6s.
 
Well, I would need to know what size tank, what other fish are in there, and all of your water parameters before I could offer any meaningful input.
 
I've a couple of juvie dollars with questionable fins. The fins do not seem to heal, nor get any worse. They are not being bitten or harassed by any other fish. They were that way through 3 weeks of QT and have stayed that way.

One of them also *appears* to be carrying blackspot, but whatever it is he's had it and the "ragged-looking" fins for months and it's not communicable. The other dollars do not have it.

They otherwise appear healthy, eat well, have no clamped fins or any other classic displays of illness. Their behaviour has been on par with the rest of the dollars.

I do intend to QT both of the fish in question again and study them more thoroughly.

The other day I believe I saw a white liquid expelled from the anal cavity of the fish with the spots. I was not in a position to remove him from the tank at the time, and I have not seen him do it since. His health has not declined.

I cannot find any references to this anywhere, so I'm a little puzzled.

The pH of my water runs 7.4 out of the tap, however, the GH is quite low at 5.0 dGH, ergo the water is on the acidic side. All of my other Amazon origin fish do quite well in this water.

Roan
 
i am really clueless...what is Ph?
 
NeonFlux said:
i am really clueless...what is Ph?

I know this won't help, but pH is defined as the logarithm of the reciprocal of hydrogen-ion concentration in gram atoms per liter.

But let's face it, that makes no sense to anyone but a chemist.

So what you need to know is that pH is a measurement of how acidic or how basic water is, with 7 being neutral (neither acidic nor basic)

Most average tropical fish we keep live somewhere between 6-8

You should test your pH regularly, but know that a stable pH is much better for your fish than trying to adjust it to some ideal pH. My tanks are all at 7.2. Some of my fish would live in slightly acidic water in the wild, but do just fine in my very slightly basic water.
 
pH is technically the concentration of Hydrogen ions called the pH scale
low pH corresponds to high hydrogen concentration. high pH corresponds to a low concentration of hydrogen ions.
a substance that raised the hydrogen ion concentration is called an acid
a substance that reduces the hydrogen ion concentration is called a base(ie baking soda)
subtances that are added that help the solution resist change is called a buffer.(these help maintain a balance of pH.
neutral pH = 7

raising that number ie 8 would mean that the solution is a basic solution.

lowering the pH like say 6 means you have an acidic solution.
did i make any sense??
 
hmm,i see..How do i test? :thud:
 
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