sudden pH drop and cloudy eyes

[ganesan]

Is there any way to reverse the danger to discus,chinese algae eaters if the pH of water falls suddenly from say 6.5 to about 5.3 and the algae eater and one discus has a cloudy eye.I did change the water rapidly and fish were alright but for one discus and an algae eater.I had added about 4 ml of pH down phosporic acid to about 380 litres of tank water containg about 50% r.o water.

[Madaboutdiscus]

Why were you adding ph down?

-Victoria

[Elliots]

Change water extra often, maybe 2-3X daily,and in maybe 20% amounts to slowly raise the pH. Why would you want pH below 6.5? The most important criteria about pH with Discus is constant pH, not the pH value. Why are you using phosphoric acid? How big is your tank?

[ganesan]

The pH of my tank water was about 6.8 and I had read that ideally they prefer about 5.5 to 5.8 pH.

[ganesan]

The pH of my tank water was about 6.8 and I had read that ideally they prefer about 5.5 to 5.8 pH.Size of my tank is 5 feet long by 2 feet high by 2 feet width

[John_Nicholson]

Quit messing with your ph. 6.8 is fine. All you are going to do is kill your fish. Just change the water. Keep it clean and between 82 and 86 degrees.

-john

[Elliots]

ganesan, you have the same size tank I do. I do not know where you read the pH they like is 5.5-5.8. When was that information published and by who? I remember reading 25 years ago when I first had Discus that they needed a temp of 90 and they eat live foods. You needed some luck to get them to eat anything else. Obviously neither of those are true. What Discus need is constant pH. The number is not so important unless you are breeding them, then I am not sure if you need a specific pH range.

[BODYDUB]

Quit messing with your ph. 6.8 is fine. All you are going to do is kill your fish. Just change the water. Keep it clean and between 82 and 86 degrees.

-john
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