Water Levels for chiclids

[Candi1990]

I got my new testing kit ( someone here suggested a great one for me). Its really pretty simple to use! Now i need to know what levels are important and what they should be.

I know PH level is a big one because i am losing fish daily because of it, what else is important?

 

[xwing]

Ph needs to be above 7.8 and everything else ammonia. Nitrite. Should be at 0

 

[nw968]

Ph needs to be above 7.8 and everything else ammonia. Nitrite. Should be at 0

Just curious, I have an oscar and the PH for his tank is running around 8. I understand that they can live in that but from what I've read, optimal PH is between 6 and 7. So, are the things I'm reading bs or is he safe where it is? I've tried a ton of PH Down during the fishless cycle and that crap really doesn't work.

 

[xwing]

You need a discus buffer that brings ph down fast. I read ciclids so I assumed Africans ph of 8 for oscars is too high they can live in it but it's not ideal for him either

 

[xwing]

I guess what's more important is what kind of fish to you have because every fish has different ph depending on where they are from Africans love high ph and SA love low ph

 

[Fresh2o]

If you are thinking about changing pH, it should either be done very slowly or not at all. FW fish can adapt to a variety of pH levels (of course, some more than others) as long as the other parameters are within normal range.

You should strive for 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, and 0-20 ppm nitrates. > 0 ammonia and nitrite are generally considered toxic.

 

[Candi1990]

If you are thinking about changing pH, it should either be done very slowly or not at all. FW fish can adapt to a variety of pH levels (of course, some more than others) as long as the other parameters are within normal range.

You should strive for 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites, and 0-20 ppm nitrates. > 0 ammonia and nitrite are generally considered toxic.

This confused me. Whats toxic?

 

[FrankoQ]

This confused me. Whats toxic?

Ammonia or nitrites readings higher than zero = toxic

 

[Mebbid]

Oscars will do just fine in an 8.0 pH. I would avoid messing with it unless ABSOLUTELY necessary.

Ammonia and nitrIte are both highly toxic to fish. Optimally they will both be at 0 but .25ppm is still in the range of being safe.

Acceptable nitrAte levels are constantly debated but personally, I try to keep my tanks below 40ppm and have a lot of success with that level.

Weekly 50% water changes and proper feeding will help keep parameters in happy ranges.

 

[Candi1990]

Thanks!!!!! My ph was dangerously low which I think made the ammonia high. I am going to check them ONE MORE TIME then I am rehoming my jacks. I lost 3 of 8, and if the water isn't better tonight I am giving them to my sister. Can't stand to let them all die.

 

[xwing]

Ok ammonia and ph don't have anything to do with each other however they both kill fish fast. Ammonia can't be dealt with two different ways one is start doing 25% daily wc the other is adding a good Bactria starter. I would if I were you is start doing wc daily until the ammonia drops to safe levels. Second what kind of filter are you running

 

[xwing]

And with all those water changes don't worry about the ph for now as it's just going to go to where your tap water is at I would test your tap water ph just to know or give me an idea where the ph is moving too

 

[xwing]

How big I the tank or tanks what kind of filter are you running and what do you have in them

 

[Candi1990]

The ph of my tap water is 8.8 very high! I had to use the high ph solution. But my tank ph is barely up to 7.0 and thats after raising it slowly with baking soda. The ammonia is .25 in the tank.

I am running a marine land carbon filter ( does that help?)

Thank so much for your help!

 

[Candi1990]

I have a 55 gal tank. The fish are currently in the tank. The sick one isnt getting better, or worse.... Where when the others was sick they died in a few hours after showing signs.

 

[xwing]

How many fish do you have what kind oscars and what else. Number oscars get big fast and they eat and eat and **** and **** as much as you can feed them they will eat. If you are feeding them more than once stop at once. Could just be you have exceeded the bio load your tank can sustain water changes can help but if your past your bio load you need another filter unless you like wc like no other lol or don't over stock the tank

 

[xwing]

To raise or
Lower ph I myself prefer buffers over chemicals but the most important thing is don't raise or lower to fast that will stress your fish out and kill them do that slowly. 8.8 is really high make sure your reading that correctly in your test kit in a high ph test kit 8.8 would be dark purple

 

[xwing]

But for you I would stop messing with your ph for now I think it's confusing you ph of 7 is fine for oscars I said 7.8 because I though you had african ciclids ammonia kills way faster than low or high ph levels. First ask you LFS store of your reading the level right maybe your reading the salt water card I don't know all I saying is make sure your readings are accurate and than investigate where your ph should be for your fish than decide where you want your ph to be at and keep it at that level always

 

[Candi1990]

To raise or
Lower ph I myself prefer buffers over chemicals but the most important thing is don't raise or lower to fast that will stress your fish out and kill them do that slowly. 8.8 is really high make sure your reading that correctly in your test kit in a high ph test kit 8.8 would be dark purple

Let me clear up some things. My TAP water reading was 8. Something on PH my tank was reading 7.2.
My TANK reading was .25 on ammonia.

I have Jacks, not Oscars. I had 8. Actually I had about 60 fry, about a year ago and some months ago. I managed to give them all away but 8. I have had them only for the last 6 months now. So this tank HAD 8 jacks about 2.5" long (still very small) til they started dying about a week ago. Now I am down to 5. They are still tiny I don't think I am over stocked. I have the parents in a separate tank. They are huge!

My pump is a double pump, don't know much else about it.

What do you think?

 

[xwing]

The solution for ammonia remains the same you get rid of it with bacteria or with daily wc 25% until the reading is 0. So if you only have 5 jacks in the tank are you over feeding of not is the filter really doing is job or did you recently clean the filter. Ammonia won't spike just because. The ph level of 7.2 is fine but you keep giving me different readings without saying you have different tanks