High ph Help!

[Gallonmilk]

My ph has been high for a while and I’ve been adding ph down and it hasn’t made a dent In the ph. The ph is at a steady 8.0 and today one of my glass cat fish is flopped over on the bottom. Is there some way to make the water more acidic I’ve heard that you can add vinegar but I’m still skeptical about it. Do I have a faulty test it’s the api freshwater master kit? I also have driftwood in the tank which I thought should also bring down the ph. Please help I don’t want to kill my fish.

 

[rlederer]

Don't add any pH down and don't add vinegar. They will both bring down pH but only temporarily and will stress the fish. A pH of 8 isn't awful, but to bring it down, use driftwood, peat moss, or reverse osmosis or distilled water, a little at a time. What's the pH out of the tap? If it's 8, you might consider a reverse osmosis system.

 

[charliebankston]

Don't add any pH down and don't add vinegar. They will both bring down pH but only temporarily and will stress the fish. A pH of 8 isn't awful, but to bring it down, use driftwood, peat moss, or reverse osmosis or distilled water, a little at a time. What's the pH out of the tap? If it's 8, you might consider a reverse osmosis system.

[emoji106][emoji106]

 

[charliebankston]

Glass catfish are pretty sensitive to water changes. They like over filtered, very bacteria free established tanks

 

[Gallonmilk]

Glass catfish are pretty sensitive to water changes. They like over filtered, very bacteria free established tanks

This is the thing that had caused me to worry and I was trying to avoid messing with the water. Do Marimo balls count as peat Moss what I’m reading is unclear.

 

[charliebankston]

I'm not sure about the balls. I've never used or read about them, sorry

 

[Caliban07]

My ph has been high for a while and I’ve been adding ph down and it hasn’t made a dent In the ph.

Why are you trying to bring it down?

The ph is at a steady 8.0 and today one of my glass cat fish is flopped over on the bottom. Is there some way to make the water more acidic I’ve heard that you can add vinegar but I’m still skeptical about it.

Are you sure the PH is causing the issue?

Do I have a faulty test it’s the api freshwater master kit?

Unlikely. They aren’t all that accurate anyway

I also have driftwood in the tank which I thought should also bring down the ph. Please help I don’t want to kill my fish.

Driftwood will only lower the ph in water with low carbonate hardness. PH changes will be seen much more easily in soft water with low carbonate hardness. Contrary to popular belief, it is pretty pointless measuring or worrying about PH. I’m sure there are many tanks with glass catfish that have a high PH.

Perhaps the tap water is the issue? Chlorine?

Maybe it is struggling to acclimate to your TDS?

Ammonia?

Low oxygen availability?

Can you add some aeration to see if the fish improves? If you don’t have aeration already it’s a simple test.

 

[rlederer]

Marimo balls are green plants; peat moss is dead fibrous material that forms when mosses and other living material decompose in peat bogs.

 

[Gallonmilk]

Why are you trying to bring it down?



Are you sure the PH is causing the issue?



Unlikely. They aren’t all that accurate anyway




Driftwood will only lower the ph in water with low carbonate hardness. PH changes will be seen much more easily in soft water with low carbonate hardness. Contrary to popular belief, it is pretty pointless measuring or worrying about PH. I’m sure there are many tanks with glass catfish that have a high PH.

Perhaps the tap water is the issue? Chlorine?

Maybe it is struggling to acclimate to your TDS?

Ammonia?

Low oxygen availability?

Can you add some aeration to see if the fish improves? If you don’t have aeration already it’s a simple test.

Okay here’s what I’ve gotten so far I believe the dead fish is on me for changing the water to suddenly with the ph down. my tap water is the same ph as my tank and after reading I am also coming to the conclusion that the ph isn’t to worry about. My ammonia is at a steady 0 and my oxygen is good. I also have aeration on each side of the tank. I will continue to monitor but I think the problem was I was causing fluctuation in the water. I might get something to test chlorine. I think I just panicked because I was told it was a problem to have high ph I’m still trying to figure everything out...

 

[Caliban07]

Okay here’s what I’ve gotten so far I believe the dead fish is on me for changing the water to suddenly with the ph down. my tap water is the same ph as my tank and after reading I am also coming to the conclusion that the ph isn’t to worry about. My ammonia is at a steady 0 and my oxygen is good. I also have aeration on each side of the tank. I will continue to monitor but I think the problem was I was causing fluctuation in the water. I might get something to test chlorine. I think I just panicked because I was told it was a problem to have high ph I’m still trying to figure everything out...

Thats good. I haven’t had much success using tap water for water changes. That isn’t to say that my tap is 100% the reason why I would often have random fish deaths but since I switched to rain water I haven’t had any issues for around 2 years.

Often times after doing a large water change with tap water some fish/snails would suffer and water 8/10 would go cloudy. This was usually at the time (but not always) after uprooting plants in a soil substrate tank which may have released ammonia causing a mini cycle etc. I never truly got to the bottom of whether or not the tap water was the main cause of cloudy water because I also stopped uprooting plants around the same time.

What I do know is that these two changes resulted in no more livestock issues so I continue to work this way. Using rain water and never disturbing the substrate.

I digress, but sometimes it’s good to figure things out logically and share stories.

It sounds like you are on your way to solving the issue.

Good luck.

 

[Gallonmilk]

Thank you caliban07 I guess this is a live and learn process. You’ve been really helpful.

 

[Caliban07]

Thank you caliban07 I guess this is a live and learn process. You’ve been really helpful.

It really is. You have all the same tools as everyone else at your disposal for testing things and you know your system better than anyone.