PH Crash

[Tessa]

Need help! My 58 gal bb tank ph has crashed. The water patameters are as follows.

PH 5.5
no3 20 ppm
ammonia is off the charts
Nitrite .2

Tap water is 8.0

The tank has been set up with discus for 4 weeks. This past week the ph crashed. LFS told me to do about 5 gal. water change every four days, till the ph hit 6.5. They said that I don;'t want my ammonia to drop to fast or I could loose my discus. Should I be doing larger water changes or do the 5 gal every four days.

I know better than to do a cycle with fish in the tank, but was told by an experience discus keeper that I wouldn't run into any problem.

[Graham]

''They said that I don;'t want my ammonia to drop to fast or I could loose my discus.''

They don't have clue what they're talking about. You want the ammonia/NH3 gone. Do a 40% water change...this will still keep the pH down in the 7.0 range which will keep the ammonia as ammonium. NH4/ammonium is non toxic to the fish. Then do about 20% per day montoring the pH as you do these water changes, making sure the pH stays low. As long as it stays in the 7.0>7.4 range it won't hurt the fish

Doing 5 gallon every 4 days...hell would freeze over before it had any effect and high levels of ammonia can hurt the nitrifiers.

Obviously things are starting to work as you've got NO2 and NO2...was the NO2 ever any higher and it's decreased?

For the moment cut back the food to almost nothing...they won't starve.

Cycling a tank with fish in it never a good thing...ask this expert for established filter media

[Tessa]

The no2 was higher and then it deceased. I will start doing water changes today. Dumb questiion: as I'm doing these water changes will my tank go into another small cycle? How long should I continue to do the water changes?


I will keep you posted on my water parameters.

Thanks for the help

[Graham]

Hi Tessa. The bacteria that do the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are attached to the surfaces of the tank. Doing water changes will have no affect on them.

G

[Tropical Haven]

How long should I continue to do the water changes?
Thanks for the help


Until your tank is fully cycled or until you can get a hold of a fully cycled filter.

[Tessa]

As of this morning my water parameters are as follows.

PH 6.5
no3 5.0
ammonia .2
no2 .2

Temp 86

Last night I added gravel and a filter from my cichlid tank and have been doing 30 % water changes very day.

[Graham]

Looks just fine. Continue with what you're doing and continue to monitor the NH3 and the pH