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fish dying "randomly" any ideas?
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hi, over the last couple of weeks a fair few of my fish have died, and i have no idea why, heres my setup
160L tank, set to 26 degrees c, 2 filters, one internal, one external, tank has been running for a couple of years with no problem
current inmates were 1x BN plec, 2x krib, 2x keyhole cichlid, 1x RTBS, 6x serpae tetra
in the last few months we've lost 2 tetra, one keyhole cichlid, one krib and the RTBS last night
checked the water chemistry last night, results below:
ammonia - 0
nitrates - 5ppm
nitrites - 0
ph - 8.2 :eek:
my tapwater ph is 6.8, but when i add water conditioner it goes up to 8.0 ish
this was my initial most likely culprit but i dunno..presumably the ph will have been creeping up and up but i'm not sure what i can do about, i can chemically alter the ph but sending it crashing down to 6.8 will probably do as much harm as good, and changing the water will do no good if my water conditioner is sending the ph up to around 8.0
argh
160L tank, set to 26 degrees c, 2 filters, one internal, one external, tank has been running for a couple of years with no problem
current inmates were 1x BN plec, 2x krib, 2x keyhole cichlid, 1x RTBS, 6x serpae tetra
in the last few months we've lost 2 tetra, one keyhole cichlid, one krib and the RTBS last night
checked the water chemistry last night, results below:
ammonia - 0
nitrates - 5ppm
nitrites - 0
ph - 8.2 :eek:
my tapwater ph is 6.8, but when i add water conditioner it goes up to 8.0 ish
this was my initial most likely culprit but i dunno..presumably the ph will have been creeping up and up but i'm not sure what i can do about, i can chemically alter the ph but sending it crashing down to 6.8 will probably do as much harm as good, and changing the water will do no good if my water conditioner is sending the ph up to around 8.0
argh
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Also change your conditioner if its altering the ph by that much. They should be neutral.
i used tetra conditioner before, so i bought some nutrafin conditioner this morning, expecting it to not change the ph, as you said, but i did a before and after test on a bucket of water, with the new conditioner and before was 6.8, after was 7.8
doesn't make sense to me, the bucket isnt contiminated either, it's purely used for changing tank water
I'd be tempted to rummage around in the substrate to check to see if the kids haven't dropped something in there.
ETA: Some boffin will show up and sort it out . This place normally comes up with an answer .
personally i think it's something to do with the tapwater, maybe it's been altered slightly at the source or something, the ph shouldn't be changing when adding water conditioner, although i dunno
I dunno what else to suggest.
seems to me there's something in there that shouldn't be so maybe the kids may have dropped something in there.
In all honestly I rarely clean the filters on the tank, i have two, so every 6 months of so give one of the sponges a squeeze in tank water, that's about it, unless the flow drops noticably, otherwise it just doesn't need it.
I lost another tetra last night, ph is still 7.8 - 8....so not sure what to do, i'd rather not alter the ph myself with a PH down thing.
Will do more tests tonight, want to double check what the ph is coming out of the tap, last time it was 6.8, which turned into 8.2 after adding water conditioner, or i might take some water to the pet shop, get a second opinion.
When was the last time you tested your pH prior to this disaster, sorry to hear about your losses BTW. I lost 4 out of 6 angels last week so I know how you feel. I too thought high pH was the culprit but it seems not after running various experiments and checking with my LFSs as to what their pH is (both run at 8 same as my tanks at home).
There are also symptoms of pH shock which none of my fish exhibited.
'Lying on the bottom and paying little or no attention to its surroundings and ignoring potential threats.
It may even lay on its side or go upside down completely.
There could be other signs to, related to Acidosis and Alkalosis
Excessive mucus production.
Rapid breathing.
Swollen abdomen. (Alkalosis only).'
Did you notice any of your fish showing any of the above symptoms. My fish went from what appeared to be fine to dead within less than two hours.
You are right in not wanting to introduce chemicals to alter your pH as swings are actually more harmful than a stable but not 100% suitable pH.
The weirdest thing is that water from my tap read as 7.4. Then with dechlor and nothing else it went up to 7.6. With dechlor and a sample of the rock from my tank it also went to 7.6, in the tank itself with all the suspect rocks removed it went up to 8!!! Jug with dechlor & sand from tank also went to 7.6 and stayed there.
I know that's probably not particularly helpful to you but it's more to show your not alone.
Definitely take some water to your LFS and also find out what pH their tanks are running at (assuming they aren't using RO water or anything like that). It could be that like in my case the high pH was a red herring.
Fingers crossed you get it sorted, do keep us updated.
Don't bother with tap water it's got too many impurities in it, find a local fish shop with RO water. You'll find it won't cause algae outbreaks or fish dying off!