high ph in shrimp tank. what's the best way to lower it?

[the-chad]

Long story short..I had some rocks my cherry shrimp Tank 4.5g my ph was high at 8! I never really tested anything till this week when my first shrimp died. So I tried to figure out why my ph was so high and turns out these rocks (slate with fossils in it) failed the vinegar test (I had used these rocks for years in larger tanks with no issues) so I removed these rocks and now I want to lower the ph.
Will a coconut shell have much affect? The tank is too small for any of the driftwood available at the LFS.

 

[aqua_chem]

You could just do a large water change to reset your parameters after you removed the rocks.

 

[the-chad]

I did 2 50% water changes one on first day, second two days later. Ph only lowered to 7.8.

 

[aqua_chem]

What's your tap pH? Also, what kind of shrimp?

 

[the-chad]

Tap ph is 7.2 and cherry shrimp

 

[Darkseid76]

My pH is 7.4-7.6 and my cherries do fine.

 

[the-chad]

my gh and kh dropped after removing the rocks, gh is now 75ppm, and kh is 80ppm.
nitirite is 0 and nitrate is 10ppm.

i iknow ph of 7.8 isnt horrible but like i said, i had a shrimp die for the first time this week (ive only had them about a month) also, i have witnessed 7 females become saddled but never end up berried and somehow just lose all the eggs.

after my first shrimp death i started thinking i better try to figure out why he died and why the females are not breeding properly and all i can see so far is the higher ph...

water temp is 78 degrees, i do weekly 30% water changes, fair number of plants including moss ball, java moss, ludwigia, wateer sprite, wisteria... i dose Seachems Flourish once a week, dosing calculator calls for 0.42 ml and i only dose just under 0.4 ml

also is this weird? 4 of my 12 cherries molted over night last night, ive only ever seen one molted shell at a time, and this morning to wake up to 4 seemed a little bizarre to me.

 

[bud29]

I have a nice breeding colony of both malawa shrimp and painted fire red cherry shrimp in a tank with pH 8.2. High pH will not kill them.

Sometimes I too will find several shed exoskeletons at once, IMO it's nothing to be concerned about.

 

[the-chad]

I have a nice breeding colony of both malawa shrimp and painted fire red cherry shrimp in a tank with pH 8.2. High pH will not kill them.

Sometimes I too will find several shed exoskeletons at once, IMO it's nothing to be concerned about.

Thanks for that info bud... so what other possible explanations could there be for the death and for my saddled females never become berried?
Most of my females are between 3/4 to an inch long. Are they still too young/small?

 

[bud29]

Thanks for that info bud... so what other possible explanations could there be for the death and for my saddled females never become berried?
Most of my females are between 3/4 to an inch long. Are they still too young/small?

How new is the tank? Also are there any other inhabitants besides the shrimp?

Breeding age for RCS starts at about 3-4 months. IME at 3-4 months, you will all of sudden see several berried females pop up.

 

[the-chad]

The tank itself was set up 6 months ago with a few platys. The day the shrimp arrived 1 month Ago,The platys were moved to my community tank. The shrimp have been by themselves in this tank ever since.
I can't really say how old they are but when they first arrived they were between 1/4 inch and 5/8".

 

[Coursair]

Check your TDS

Also you might try doing a PWC w part Tap/part RO or Distlilled water.

You can also add Indian Almond Leaves or pieces of them.

 

[the-chad]

unfortunately i cannot find a tds meter anywhere in this town (sault ste marie, ontario) ive checked LFS, home depot and other hardware stores, walmart, drug stores, water filtration shops, nobody carries them. grrr... looks like i will have to order online

 

[MMantelli]

Tap ph is 7.2 and cherry shrimp

Did you let you water sit over night sometimes the ph wil l change to your true ph after sitting and what not

 

[the-chad]

No. I treat tap water with nutrafins aqua plus to remove chlorine and chloramine and add it immediately.

 

[MMantelli]

No. I treat tap water with nutrafins aqua plus to remove chlorine and chloramine and add it immediately.

I was just talking about getting an accurate ph reading. for example what I do is take a shot glass of your tap water let it sit over night or throughout the day I usually set mine out before I go to bed then when I get home from work the next day and I test the ph where I live the ph is almost 8 straight from the tap but when I let it sit out it drops to 7.4 and holds steady there

 

[the-chad]

Interesting...I''ll give that a try.

 

[Scottyhorse]

Your PH is fine. I've also had a breeding colony at a PH of 8.2 or so.

 

[bud29]

unfortunately i cannot find a tds meter anywhere in this town (sault ste marie, ontario) ive checked LFS, home depot and other hardware stores, walmart, drug stores, water filtration shops, nobody carries them. grrr... looks like i will have to order online

They are not terribly expensive, you can probably find one on ebay for $5-$10.

 

[the-chad]

Ok. I finally have a tds meter. Its reading at 321ppm. Ph is still 7.8. Gh is 7 (or 125ppm) and kh is 5 (or 90ppm). Copper is 0. Nitrite and ammonia 0. Nitrates 20. Temp is 77.

Still no berried females. In fact I havent even seen a saddle in a month.