pH/KH crash, fish dyeing, help!

[Laird-and-Dad]

Yeah, it could be fluctuations in the tap.

The interesting thing is that your tank appears to be cycling again which seems quite strange.

That's what I thought, but even when I was doing my first - fish in - cycle I never got trItes that high. Even the ammo is higher than I've seen.

I added the baking soda like PNW said.

 

[Brookster123]

Yeah, it could be fluctuations in the tap.

The interesting thing is that your tank appears to be cycling again which seems quite strange.

BB/ said cycle will stall sub 6ph.. could that be the case? Probably not.. what about a massive influx of ammonia in the tap? Briefly..
Laird.. can you find out if they are doing work on the pipes in your area?

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[dalto]

Be careful, raising your pH with baking soda in the presence of ammonia can be very dangerous. Ammonia gets toxic at higher pH's. Also, the 50% water change should have raised your pH all on it's own.

 

[dalto]

BB/ said cycle will stall sub 6ph.. could that be the case?

If it stalled there would be no nitrites. Also, I have kept tanks in the upper 5's and the BB has not gone dormant. For me, that didn't happen until it got down lower than that.

 

[Brookster123]

If it stalled there would be no nitrites. Also, I have kept tanks in the upper 5's and the BB has not gone dormant. For me, that didn't happen until it got down lower than that.

If it stalled out for a while than fired back up is what I was getting at.. highly unlikely though.. 10 ppm of NITRITES is pretty off the charts. .

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[Laird-and-Dad]

Honestly, tap ammonia would be my first guess. But then ammonia is very alkaline. Why then would my pH dip to 6.2, possibly even below (my test goes down only to 6.2)? The KH is also concerning because if the KH is that low, then the pH can swing more. That's mostly why I added the baking soda, to raise the KH. I will monitor the pH to make sure it doesn't get too high as per Dalto's warning, but also not too low.

Also, new results

TrAtes: 30

TrItes: 3

KH: 150

pH: 6.8

Ammo: 1.5

 

[PNWaquarist]

How much baking soda did you add? Did you do it little by little while monitoring the pH? It only took 1/2 of a teaspoon of baking soda to get my tank from pH 7.6 to 8.0.

As has been mentioned already, add a double-dose of Prime and do 50% water changes until your parameters are healthier.

 

[Laird-and-Dad]

How much baking soda did you add? Did you do it little by little while monitoring the pH? It only took 1/2 of a teaspoon of baking soda to get my tank from pH 7.6 to 8.0.

As has been mentioned already, add a double-dose of Prime and do 50% water changes until your parameters are healthier.

I added 1/3 tbsp. mixed it in 2 cups of tank water, like you said.

 

[PNWaquarist]

Honestly, tap ammonia would be my first guess. But then ammonia is very alkaline. Why then would my pH dip to 6.2, possibly even below (my test goes down only to 6.2)? The KH is also concerning because if the KH is that low, then the pH can swing more. That's mostly why I added the baking soda, to raise the KH. I will monitor the pH to make sure it doesn't get too high as per Dalto's warning, but also not too low.

Also, new results

TrAtes: 30

TrItes: 3

KH: 150

pH: 6.8

Ammo: 1.5

That's better, but do another 50% water change tomorrow. Don't worry about the KH right now. Mine is very low and my pH is stable. The ammonia and nitrites are your main problem right now.

No idea what's going on with your tap water, but you may want to consider using bottled water.

 

[wildroseofky]

I have had this happen in all my newly cycled tanks and in one older tank. If the PH drops to 6 and below the bacteria do die. Then you end up with a mini cycle when the PH goes back up. My water department here is really bad. The water PH goes up and down. I keep buffers in all my tanks now to guard against this. The one tank that I did not buffer is the one that had a PH crash. I now put limestone rocks, eggshells, and seashells in my tanks. It keeps the PH steady at 7.4. The baking soda trick will work for about a week and then has to be redone. I find it easier just to add buffers. You can use any of those I listed plus cuttlefish bone or crushed coral.

 

[PNWaquarist]

I added 1/3 tbsp. mixed it in 2 cups of tank water, like you said.

Wow, that is weird. Did you measure the pH immediately afterwards? Not that it should cause THAT big of a pH swing, though.

For reference, my tap water is only 2 dKH. If I add a half of a teaspoon of baking soda, that will raise my pH from 7.5 to 8.0.