PH Importance

[ricoishere]

Speaking of PH, I think it killed one of my Elecric Blue Jack Dempsy'. A PH Spike over the last 2 days, up to 8-0 seems to have done him in. Any other experiences like this? I started readg this evening what causes PH Spikes. Should be interesting.

 

[mgamer20o0]

how are you testing your water? what did you do to it to change it?

 

[ricoishere]

Immdiately 25% change, checked it agai, is now 7.0-7.2 I jst realized that EBJD did not eat today. It might be intimidated by its tankmates:

29G,
Parameters: Nitrate: 40; Amonia 0;Nitrite 0; PH 7.8-8.0!!
Planted, natural CO2,
Filter Eheim 2028 w/prefilter and UV Filter
Seachem Red Subsrate
Has wood for decor
25% water changes weekly
mates: 3 zebra loaches, 1 Bristlenose leco, 1 Chinese algae eater, 1 rainbow shark, several zebra snails

 

[mgamer20o0]

whats natural co2?

have you test your tap water? what kind of test kit? what ph is your tank normally?

 

[ricoishere]

Tap Water is 7.2 normally. The only change was over the weekend, I added a carbon pd to filter because I ended some algae treatment. Natural CO2 is mixture of sugar, yeast, water and is used for plants

 

[bs6749]

I can tell you right now that a pH swing didn't kill your EBJD. 7.8-8.0 is not a bad pH to keep most fish in and I regularly have spawns from rams, angels, and discus, which are natively found in soft and acidic water. My hardness is 300ppm or more and the pH is 7.8-8.0 and I have high fertility with my rams and discus.

 

[ricoishere]

Ttrue. After doing some more reading, I'l just re-establish my other tank. Here apost from another site followed by my response:
Don't screw with your pH, it's fine where it's at. Mine is higher than that and my 2 EBJD's were raised in it and grew super fast. Messing with pH causes more problems than it ever solved. I agree with the poster that said your nitrate reading of 40 ppm is more of a problem than pH ever would be. That's high. Low nitrates (ie lots of water changes) is what makes fish grow fast. My 2 grew fast and did great for 9 months and then 1 died with no warning whatsoever. These aren't always the hardiest of fish and have quite a few problems.[/quote]
I agree with you 200%. I wont screw with the PH, just do 25% water changes every other day and reduce my stock. I guess I'll have to re-establish my other aquarium. It should do well. I might just have these in an aquarium all alone with a few loaches