How can I avoid PH shock

[ladyram]

I will receive tomorrow 4 ocean green discus that have been living in a PH of 6.6 but my water is 8.2

¿¿What can I do in order to transfer them to my QT safely??

Thanks in advance

[Carol_Roberts]

You could buy RO water to fill your tank one time. Add the discus and then do daily water changes of 25%. In just a few days they will be swimming in your water.

[ladyram]

Really?? :o Where is it possible to buy 30 gallons of RO water?? I never saw water in the Local pet stores!!!

Sounds great

[April]

i think...but im not sure......that the drinking water places is ro water. someone correct me if im wrong.
perhaps you could use some of that and a bit of your water... it can be a bit higher than 6.6. you could go up to about 7 . then gradually increase with water changes.

[Carol_Roberts]

Check Walmart, camping stores or even the grocery store. (don't buy mineral water, lol) I'd buy a gallon - bring it home, pour some in a cup, let it set out on the counter all night and then check pH. 6.6 - 7.4 should be fine.

Does the pH of your tap water go up or down after it has set on the counter overnight?

[ladyram]

My water is stubborn and stays without any change!!!! :( I age my water 24 to 48 hours and the PH is always the same 8.2, I have to measure with a High ph level test.

Thanks God an RO unit is on the way thanks to Randall ;D

But anyway those little fellas will be here tomorrow and I will prepare the welcome home!!!!!

[Ryan]

If you can get your water down into the 7s just for now, I think all will work out fine. I had some discus come in once and the bag water tested around 6.4 - 6.6. I scooped them up in my hands and plopped them right into my tank, which ranged 7.6 - 7.8, with no prior acclimation. Healthy discus are tough fish. Mine did lay on the bottom for a short time, but were up within an hour, and eating like piglets the next day.

As Carol said, you only have to lower your pH once, then just let it gradually increase with each water change. The main concern I suppose is how big of an adjustment they go through. So if you can bump your tank water down just a little, they should do okay.

Ryan

[Steve_Warner]

Hi all,
On the subject of where to get R/O water, my neighborhood water dispenser(like the ones outside of the grocery stores) puts out water which conducts at 30uS, which is pretty darn good for a self-standing machine dispenser. Ladyram, take a gallon jug to one of these and fill up a gallon for a quarter and test it on a meter. You can buy 5 gal jugs like a sparkletts bottle at Walmart for about $10 bucks each in a pinch. HTH


Steve

[ladyram]

Wowwwwwwww!!!! you people are the best!!!!!

Thanks a lot and will follow your advices, hope to post pics of my new babies very soon!!!!

Thanks a lot!!!

[ronrca]

You can also use this method:

One of the most importants things you can do for your fish when you first receive them is properly acclimate them. There are various methods around however I have found 1 particular method that works very well.

Supplies need:
- A container: 5G pail or similar! Size does not really matter except if you get lots of discus in one order you may need more or larger containers
- Airline hose
- Airline valve

When first receiving your discus, most , if not all are shipped in plastic bags containing X number of discus! Gently place the discus and water into the container from the bag. Connect the airline hose to the valve. Place one end of the airline hose in the tank that the discus are going to be calling home (other end will be connected to the valve). The other hose place into the container (Basicly, its a siphon setup). By siphoning the tank water into the container, you will slowly acclimate the discus to your tank parameters. The valves will enable you to adjust the flow rate. In the beginning, set the flow rate to only a drip until you roughly doubled the volume in the container. Then you can slowly increase the flow rate. Depending on the difference of water parameters, it will determine the lenght of acclimation. I would recommend nothing under 2 hours just to be cautious. I never use the plunk method even if water parameters are close. You may also want to add a heater once the container is half full. Once the container is full or you have added 5-10x the volume of water, net and place in your tank. If the container is full and you still need to add more water, just remove the water from the container via siphon or little container.

So far, this method has proven bullet proof and I prefer it over the float/add water/dump method.

[Carol_Roberts]

Ammonia in the shipping bags will fry the fins if you start dripping in water with a pH of 8.2.

You could put them in a 5 gallon bucket with 3 gallons of purchased pH neutral water and drip in your pH 8.2 water. Don't add bag water to bucket. Bag water goes down the drain.

[ladyram]

I bought 20 gallons of drinking water and guess what???? I tested the ph there and it is amazingly high, I tested first with the ph level test and gave a very dark blue, then I tested again but this time for high ph level and could not be read!!! the last color in this test a purple that shows a PH of 8.8 but it looked even darker, so my guess is that drinking water must have a PH of 9!!!!

[jeep]

Drinking water is not always the same as RO water.

Maybe we should have suggested distilled water instead. Distilled water should be neutral ph but will drop quickly since it has no buffers in it.

I think the drip method would be best in your situation. Like others have said, a higher ph is not as bad on them as a lower ph. :)

Brian

[ladyram]

I remember you from yesterday Brian, believe me that you made me feel better saying that a high ph is not as bad as a low ph

Thanks

[ronrca]

Ammonia in the shipping bags will fry the fins if you start dripping in water with a pH of 8.2. Carol is right! Ammonia in water with ph of under 7.0 is actually ammonium, a less harmless form of ammonia. If you do the drip method, be sure to use a lot of Prime or other ammonia detox otherwise your fish will be dis-ease and more likely to be diseased! ;)

Im also a little hesitate on lowering the ph in your tank. Only because then you have to raise it up again slowly! I just wouldnt be bothered with the work of lowering/raising ph. Ime, its a pain in the behind for me! ;)