How do pH changes affect fish? How does chlorine harm fish?

[kcb203]

I know that stability is more important than absolute level. What I'm curious about is the biological mechanism in which the fish are harmed by either excessively low pH, high pH, or rapid swings. For example, I know that high ammonia injures the gills, while high nitrite damages the hemoglobin. How do pH changes make fish sick?

Similarly, what does chlorine or chloramine do to the fish biologically?

[Sean Buehrle]

Chlorine destroys the gills. And as a result they die from lack of oxygen.

There's no turning back after a certain point.

I'm not sure about ph shock.

I've heard or read that 1 point of ph is like either 10 or 100 times more acidic or alkaline.

And if you take into consideration what I think is called osmosis then combine the two.

So take a fish which it's body takes in and dispelled water as salinity goes up and down then drop the ph.

The fish's body sucks in water that is either 10-100 times more acidic and it can't handle it.

Some fish are more forgiving, some are not.

At any rate I think that salinity has a lot to do with it, not just the ph.

Someone else can probably give you a more accurate reason.

[lipadj46]

google mustard gas to get an extreme view of what chlorine can do to tissue

sent from my ti-85 during chemistry class

[jimg]

I would like to know too how ph effects them, many different ideas but never found a straight answer

[Wes]

This may help. http://mchportal.com/fishkeeping-mainmenu-60/water-the-environment-mainmenu-77/65-ph-kh-gh-carbon-dioxide-injection-water-chemistry.html

[jimg]

This may help. http://mchportal.com/fishkeeping-mainmenu-60/water-the-environment-mainmenu-77/65-ph-kh-gh-carbon-dioxide-injection-water-chemistry.html what I get he's saying is the outer of the cell get effected with ph while the inner part of the cell is effected by gh. So he is basically saying the ph has the same effects on the fish's osmoregulation as gh?

[Wes]

It seems like a quick ph change can kill the cell by trying to dilute or concentrate the H= ions.
A sudden change in gh,the cell tries to equalize the osmotic pressure to save itself. In his example absorbing a lethal amount of salts.