Help ! my blue damsels lips are strange..

[andysam]

I fully agree about keeping the salinity in the natural range of 32-35. The natural PH of seawater is 8.2, it goes down as the water becomes more acidic as you stated ,however it becomes more acidic because of the buildup of dissolved organic compounds. Many people including myself consider the PH as a very good barometer of water quality. If you watch your tank after a large water change the PH is going to drop as the quality of the water deteriorates,especially without a skimmer.Ammonia and nitrite are not the only water pollutants. While you are right that fish will survive in a given range of PH, salinity and other parameters I believe that the closer we can get to what they lived in in nature the better off they are.Water quality and stress in my opinion are the number 1 cause of all the problems we encounter.

 

[Innovator]

It becomes more acidic due to: low alkalinity, reactor use, excessive CO2, or still cycling (CO2 converted from nitrogen and organic waste). DOM actually helps maintain pH by slowing precipitation of calcium carbonate. Organics may play a role in oxygenation, but the impact would have to be severe, imo, for photosynthesis to be impacted considering the use of filters and powerheads providing constant aeration and turnover. Water quality and stress have always been the caveat of aquarists in maintaining a "healthy" display, this has never nor will it ever change. Either way, we are arguing semantics since I don't believe it to pertain to this particular problem (assuming the tank is set up properly filtration-wise). The most noticeable information given was that after 1 week of cycling your lfs deemed the water quality to be good enough to add fish. Most cycles range from 2-4wks so that is to be taken into question. I would purchase your own test kits and not rely on the lfs and use ca/alk reading that give numbers (liquid tests if anything). Did you acclimate them? Are you fully mixing the water for 24hrs prior to water changes? Do you notice any other problems with the fish other than occasional scratching and faded coloration? Make sure you quarantine your animals

 

[andysam]

You are right that in essence we agree.What I was trying to convey to this member is that a good starting point is to bring the water chemistry to as close to perfection as possible.I like you question the use of a "cheat" chemical to cycle the tank.Most of this stuff comes from China[where industrial toxins find their way into baby formulas, god only knows what finds its way into fish supplements] Even if the product has no negative effect Im not convinced that that tank fully cycled.