Hi guys,
I've been dealing with some health problems, and I think I've traced a multitude of problems back to a water chemistry issue.
This is a south / central american cichlid tank with a few other tropical semi-aggressive fish (gourami, silver dollars)
Before I started having problems, I'll admit I was seriously lax in my testing, so I can't provide any long-term history. The short-term goes like this: I bought some new fish and started having issues with fin and mouth fungus, changed the water and added MelaFix and aquarium salt. This prompted me to start testing again, so my only recent history of the tank is AFTER I started having problems.
When I went to test my water, I noticed a ridiculously low pH (measured with a meter) - in the mid 3's! I quickly did a large water change to bring it up into the 5's. At this point, I only had the meter, and my test kit for everything else was expired and not giving any readings.
My tap water tests at a pH of about 7.5
What generally happens is, I do a water change and the pH goes up a bit, then it slowly starts dropping. Since then I've done a series of water changes, and added baking soda and a half handful of powdered lime to try to get the buffering capacity up. Right now, the water tests as a hardness of 75, alkalinity of 40, and pH of 5.5. Earlier today, immediately after a water change, it was around 6.5. Obviously these swings are quite dangerous, but I'm worried my pH will get crazy low again and do serious damage to my fish.
I'm wondering what could be causing these drops? Today I removed a significant amount of gravel, and ran the gravel vac (something I admit I hadn't done in quite a while). I know a lot of organic waste in the tank can cause pH crashes, and there was certainly a lot of waste in there, but the pH still seems to be dropping even after the gravel removal, 40% water change, and vacuuming I performed today.
My tank decor consists of a few plastic ornaments from petsmart, some plastic plants, and two decent sized fellerstone carved rocks - one lava rock, and one "rainbow". The only thing relatively new in the tank is a Fluval 305 filter, but I doubt that could be leeching anything that's lowering my pH.
In addition to the Fluval, I've got two of the external hang-on-tank filters, one no-name brand and a small penguin biowheel. The tank was well established and cycled, but I'm pretty sure the ridiculously low pH killed off the bacteria. I've gotten a bit of gravel from the LFS to try to re-seed the bacteria, and am using Amquel+ with my water changes to try to keep ammonia low.
I'm at a loss, both about what could be causing the pH drop, as well as what to do about it. Your advice is greatly appreciated!!
I've been dealing with some health problems, and I think I've traced a multitude of problems back to a water chemistry issue.
This is a south / central american cichlid tank with a few other tropical semi-aggressive fish (gourami, silver dollars)
Before I started having problems, I'll admit I was seriously lax in my testing, so I can't provide any long-term history. The short-term goes like this: I bought some new fish and started having issues with fin and mouth fungus, changed the water and added MelaFix and aquarium salt. This prompted me to start testing again, so my only recent history of the tank is AFTER I started having problems.
When I went to test my water, I noticed a ridiculously low pH (measured with a meter) - in the mid 3's! I quickly did a large water change to bring it up into the 5's. At this point, I only had the meter, and my test kit for everything else was expired and not giving any readings.
My tap water tests at a pH of about 7.5
What generally happens is, I do a water change and the pH goes up a bit, then it slowly starts dropping. Since then I've done a series of water changes, and added baking soda and a half handful of powdered lime to try to get the buffering capacity up. Right now, the water tests as a hardness of 75, alkalinity of 40, and pH of 5.5. Earlier today, immediately after a water change, it was around 6.5. Obviously these swings are quite dangerous, but I'm worried my pH will get crazy low again and do serious damage to my fish.
I'm wondering what could be causing these drops? Today I removed a significant amount of gravel, and ran the gravel vac (something I admit I hadn't done in quite a while). I know a lot of organic waste in the tank can cause pH crashes, and there was certainly a lot of waste in there, but the pH still seems to be dropping even after the gravel removal, 40% water change, and vacuuming I performed today.
My tank decor consists of a few plastic ornaments from petsmart, some plastic plants, and two decent sized fellerstone carved rocks - one lava rock, and one "rainbow". The only thing relatively new in the tank is a Fluval 305 filter, but I doubt that could be leeching anything that's lowering my pH.
In addition to the Fluval, I've got two of the external hang-on-tank filters, one no-name brand and a small penguin biowheel. The tank was well established and cycled, but I'm pretty sure the ridiculously low pH killed off the bacteria. I've gotten a bit of gravel from the LFS to try to re-seed the bacteria, and am using Amquel+ with my water changes to try to keep ammonia low.
I'm at a loss, both about what could be causing the pH drop, as well as what to do about it. Your advice is greatly appreciated!!