Acidity Issues

[Kyled]

Stood in disgust as I watched my fish go from just fine to stressed out quickly I'm fairly new at this but I've maintained so far I have one catfish one guppy and one Dalmatian they are surfacing often I did a fifteen percent water change after checking water level acidity is high does anyone have suggestions.

 

[Autumnsky]

Stood in disgust as I watched my fish go from just fine to stressed out quickly I'm fairly new at this but I've maintained so far I have one catfish one guppy and one Dalmatian they are surfacing often I did a fifteen percent water change after checking water level acidity is high does anyone have suggestions

Read up in the link in my signature for Aquarium Advice article, Getting Started.

Use a test kit and find the actual numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, pH.

If you weekly do a 15% pwc and you do not have test kit to check parameters, do a 30% and then another 50% pwc.

If you do not usually do pwc weekly then do a 20% followed by another 20%, and then another 20%.

This is to make the changes with the clean water easier on the fish. If you have a test kit and can tell if the parameters are messed up, most specifically Ammonia, Nitrite or Nitrate - Chances are your tank is not cycled. Do the pwc and get the numbers into a safe level as I mentioned above.

 

[Autumnsky]

How did you determine the acidity is high? Is your tap water acidity the same out of your tap as in your tank?

How long have you had your aquarium running and did you cycle the tank yet and if so how did you do it?

If it has been running for months do you clean the filter pads in untreated tap water, and/or throw away the filter pads???

 

[Kyled]

I ran the tank for two weeks with no fish in it I have three fish in it now I'm not sure the best way of cycling a tank I've only read online of ways to do it and one was adding a few fish at a time I used a test strip it doesn't show actual levels just colors

 

[Autumnsky]

If you read that article in my signature it will explain the nitrogen cycle. Only rinse the filter pads in the treated water which can be pwc water you are taking out anyway or dechlorinated /treated water for. Make sure if your community water has chloramines that your water treatment is a treatment for that. Sometimes it will, but you need more drops, usually 2x the average amount, instructions should say. We recommend Prime water treatment becasue it can really help a new keeper with neutralizing spikes of toxic stuff in the water.

Never throw out the filter pads and change them, ...yes, I said never only when they fall apart. That is where the majority of BB /beneficial bacteria will colonize/grow making it THE thing which will do the most work to keep your tank running snoothly, using the nitrogencyle to do it.

It takes ~5 weeks, maybe more to cycle a tank. Could be less.

Do the water changes and then note the range color on the strip, it should have some numbers in there to give a range and you could post the results.

I didn't believe this either, till I had almost a tank of fish die because of a bad test strip reading, that they can and often will be fine and then fail and not give a correct reading. So you will read all over here in threads they are not reliable.

Getting a good liquid test kit is really a necessity. There was the old school way of just starting up a tank with a few fish and trying to get a colony of BB going but then we would throw away the pads every month or 2 when they were dirty and wonder what was wrong with the fish.

There are several FW articles about doing "fish in" cycling which is what you have now with fish in the tank, if you get good at testing water and keep up on pwc, the fish should be fine, and fishless cycling also. The article In my link will have some suggested articles too. Like "Fish in cycling - Step over to the dark side,"

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/fishin-cycling-step-dark-side/
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/

Hopefully a few water changes and some tests and a new test kit and a bunch of reading and maybe re-reading and you will we equipt.