snails and phosphates?

fishywishywashy

fishywishywashy

AC Members
Dec 4, 2008
55
0
0
40
Virginia Beach, VA
so, i have a 15 gal that i was having trouble maintaining the correct ph. well, i have always had a little trouble in that area. i recently added two baby gold weather loaches (tank already home to 7 baby mystery snails). Took the water into the LFS and was told my ph was low. around 6.5. so after getting my fishies home i added some alkaline buffer to raise ph. this morn. the ph tester said way too high (7.6). went to the store again and got neutral regulator by seachem, which is supposed to set it right at 7.0.
So, I was reading the thing after I added some in, and it says contains phosphate buffers and conditioning agents. Aren't phosphates bad, especially for snails? Any suggestions or ideas welcome!
 
In most cases even fish store workers (PetsMart? PetCo? WalMart?) don't have a clue what they're talking about when it comes to water or pH. Don't mess with your tap water, just leave it alone. The fish don't care, they just need stable water parameters. pH raisers and lowerers have killed many fish.
 
Phosphates can cause algae if not kept in check, but it would have to be very high to be considered toxic to fish or snails.

General hardness (GH) and carbonate hardness (KH) are more important to fish and inverts. Although pH and TDS are not directly connected they tend to be related.

But I have to disagree with ksane on one point...pH swings do not kill fish unless you see a complete crash to below 6. Problems also arise when the TDS is changed too quickly. 'pH shock' is a myth.
 
No, I agree 100% with you, Jpappy. I meant people using the pH upper & downer chemicals left and right is what kills fish. pH shock is a myth as far as I'm concerned. Although everytime I say it someone always wants to argue about it. Maybe I need to hang around by you more often :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom