unstable pH...

[Daral]

Hi,
I wanted to share my experiences with you fellow enthusiast to seek your knowledge and possibly find an answer to my troubles:

I have a 10Gal freshwater fish tank with 8 Mollies , different genders and types, some spotted, some orange, some solid in colors, and one bottom sucker to collect his meals. I don't know what type of fish he is sorry for the lack of name for it.

My issue is my tanks pH keeps going low , I started out with a pH of 7.2 and a few weeks later, with changing of waters (10 to 20 percent) every 3 days the pH has gone to a low 6.0 which is what I keep getting when I test with my test kit. I use the pH up and it goes up by a small fraction for less than 24 and it goes down again.

Is this pH healthy for them? They all seem to be fine but once my badge of fry that started out as 10 is now 3 in a separate small tank with a pH of 6.8 constant. I believe the low pH was what killed them, could this be true?


My questions are:

1. I have only fake/plastic plants in my tank, if I change them to real-live plants (and which ones are best? any recommendations?) would this help me maintain my pH on a more stable number?

2. What else can I do to maintain the pH in a higher range?

thanks for your time and any suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated

-Daniel.

 

[eco23]

Most fish can adapt to a wide pH range assuming the level is stable. The issue here is the "stable" part of it. Crashes definitely can be a problem and should be remedied IMO. Not to mention once pH gets down to 6...it can have major impacts on nitrification.

I have ridiculously low alkalinity water, and I run a tiny mesh bag of crushed coral in my filters. The key is to not add so much that it raises pH...but to add just enough that it maintains the natural value of your tap water by buffering it. In my 46 gallon I've got only a couple pinches of it and it works fantastically keeping my pH exactly at the same level as it comes from the faucet.

I might have missed it in your post, but your pwc schedule is important too. With low KH it's important to do them often to refresh the buffers and prevent crashes. If they're still happening even with pwc's 1-2x a week...it's definitely worth some crushed coral or aragonite IMO.

*Good call on the stocking jeta, I need to do more reading and less glancing. Looks like the OP has an excuse to buy a new tank

 

[jetajockey]

Buffering with crushed coral or aragonite will definitely deal with the ph drop issue, however another concern is that you are way overstocked. Mollies get very large, up to 3-4" as adults, so a 10g isn't really a suitable long term home for them. Another concern is I.D.ing the sucker fish, there's a few things it could be that also grow much too large to stay in a 10g long term.

If I had to put mollies in a 10 long term, I'd probably put 2 at the most. Just some things to think about. Best of luck!