LFS and Panda Corys - PH and Hardness

[woofwoofgrrl]

So the panda cory I posted about earlier this week passed on to the great fish tank in the sky. Since it's only 2 weeks since I bought it I took it back to the fish store to get store credit for it. So while they were testing my water, the woman was kinda crabby about the PH and hardness of my water. She gave me the store credit but since she was crabby about it, I'm going to tap the cumulative experience and knowledge of y'all.... Is my PH of 8.1 and ridiculous hardness (she didn't give me a value but she said stopped putting drops in after 14 because it 'should have turned green by now' according to the test kit she was using) bad for panda corys or will they adapt? Have I select an inappropriate fish for my water conditions? Should I use part tap and part distilled water for my water changes to soften my water up a bit?

Thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[redfisher1139]

No expert here, but sounds like you have perfect water for African Cichlids, and crappy water for tropicals. I would consider getting RO water for tropicals if that's what's coming out of your tap. Any good LFS should carry it, especially those that specialize in SW.

 

[Viper]

Most fish can adapt to higher or lower pH's (within reason). I wouldn't consider 8.1 to be out of the range for tropicals, although it might be pretty close. Special care must be taken though when introducing tropicals to that high of a pH because they are not used to it. Put them in a bucket with the water that they came with and slowly add water from your tank to the bucket. And by slowly, I mean let it drip into the bucket for upwards of an hour to two hours. I've done this with airline tubing as this makes creating a slow flow rate rather easy.

It is when fish are exposed to rapid swings in pH that the problems really occur. If done properly, fish can be pretty adaptable little things

 

[mfdrookie516]

How far are you from your LFS? If you're relatively close, I'd almost bet their tap water comes from the same source, therefore giving them the same readings as yours... unless you have something in your tank buffering the water.

 

[woofwoofgrrl]

When I bought the fish I acclimated them buy using a drip line into their baggie for at least 4 hours.

Is the combination of high PH and high hardness something that is worse than a high PH or a high hardness on it's own (although I'm not quite sure that could actually happen chemically...)?

The Fish store is about 10 miles from my house. They are technically on a different aquifer, but I'm sure the water is hard there too, all the water around here is. Although I don't know how they process their water, they may have an RO or softening system.....