PH Problem fish are Stressin any help would be great.

[Snuffy]

Hello All
I have a question. I did a water change last night and the PH went up a little from 6.4 to 7.0, this is a normal occurrence when I do a water change. This morning I checked the PH and it had dropped from 7.0 to 6.1 which to me was a little to fast. I get home from work today and the tank just looked funny to me, it had a slight blue tint like a light haze to the water and as soon as I check my fish.....a few of them had a cloudy white slime on them. When I checked the PH it was down to 5.0. I once went to a talk that Discus Hans held and he said that a sudden raise in PH is ok but a sudden drop could kill all your fish so I am guessing that this is what stressed the fish and caused the fish to have this cloudiness because yesterday all where 100%. My Question is should I do a water change and if so how much of one? My water out of the tape is 7.6 but I treat my water in my storage barrels with Discus Buffer from seachem and usually bring the PH down to around 6.4 . Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Ardan]

Hi,
Why are you adding the chemicals to adjust ph?

I would use plain tap water at ph 7.6.

I think the chemicals are not stabalizing your water and the ph is bouncing all over the place. Not good. This is hurting the fish.


What is your kh? This is the carbonate hardness that keeps the ph stable.
Is the ph from the tap without chemicals stable?

hth
Ardan

[Cosmo]

Throw the Discus Buffer in the trash.. that's the best place for it (Discus buffer is made from sulfates :angry:).

Discus do fine in 5.0ph, they even tolerate 4.0 pretty well so it's probably not just the ph that's stressing them. It's the ph bouncing that's stressing them and that's likely caused by the D.B.

Throw it away... you'll thank me someday :D

[poconogal]

Eric, as a former Staten Islander (New Dorp), I know NYC water is usually very good for fishkeeping, Discus and Angels included. If your PH is 7.6 out of the tap why are you treating it to lower PH? 7.6 is fine for Discus. Many keep them at 8.0 and higher. Mine are kept at 7.8 in spring and summer and up to 8.2 in fall and winter, as my water's PH rises and falls with the seasons since its a private well. I also have spawning pairs. All you should need is dechlorinator and if NYC is using chloramines (they didn't when I still lived there 10 years ago), whatever you use should take care of that too. Stability is much more important than having a PH of 6.4. As Jim (Cosmo) said, throw the Discus Buffer away and use your tap water.

[Tropical Haven]

Leave your PH alone at 7.6 and just treat for chlorine and chloramine. Your discus will love you then because you won't have the PH fluctuation which will eventually kill them.

[Snuffy]

Thanks Everyone
I will toss the Buffer...As far as the kh, i am not sure what it is I don't have that test I will have to purchase that test kit.The reason I was using the buffer was to get the PH below 7.0 because I was told If I had a spike in ammonia the fish would not have an ill effect from the ammonia if the ph was below 7.0. I have a very full tank of full grown discus and I am always worried that the ammonia might get to high and kill my fish. I have a 150 gallon tank that I change the water 2 to 3 times a week, I usually change about 120 gallons every water change and they seem to enjoy it. I lost 2 cory cats tonight but I did a water change and all seem well. I filled my water containers again just in case when I get up in the morning I need to do another water change.
Thanks Guys & Gals for all the great advice.
:D

[poconogal]

Eric, if you have a good bio filter you shouldn't have any ammonia spikes that could cause harm to your Discus, so I wouldn't worry about it.

[Don Trinko]

Trying to Control the ph is dificult with most tap water. It usualy results in PH swings. There are chemicals in the fish catologs to control amonia, clorine ect. For amonnia your biofilter would normaly control it. Ussualy a spike of ammonia or nitrites is caused by increasing your bioload (more fish)or damaging the bio filter (washing in tap water). I keep some of these chemicals around to control the various spikes that sometimes occur. Don T.