How vulnerable are Dwarf Gourami's to high PH levels

[chval]

In January I set up a 55 gallon tank equipped with a Penguin 350, heater & light. In it I have 2 - black skirt tetras, 3 - phantom tetras, 6 - guppies, 2 - cory cats, 1 - pleco & 2 - chinese algae (I think).

Here's my problem. On June 11th I brought home two Powder Blue Dwarf Gourami's. I bought them in a town 125 miles away from home. They packaged each fish separate since I had a two hour drive home. Once I got home, I floated the bags to equalize the temperatures and then I opened the bags and started adding some of my tank water to each bag. One fish died within 3 hours and the other within 24. I had done a partial water change two days prior to this and when the first fish started acting weird I checked my water parameters (just in case) and my ammonia was not zero but may have been closer to 5(or whatever the next color was) so I decided to do another partial change. Whenever I do a water change, I add stress coat & stress zyme. I had decided that these fish had become stressed on the two- hour ride home or else it had to do with my water PH.

My LFS uses the exact same water source that I do and they do not adjust for PH. So I decided to check them out and lo and behold they had the same gourami's so last Monday (18th) I brought home two more. They seemed to be fine. One kind of hid a lot of the time but the other was swimming around and eating fine. Well, yesterday I pulled out the one that hid and this morning I pulled out the other one. Now I'm ready to pull out my hair!

So at noon today I test the parameters on my tank and these are the readings: (API Freshwater Master Test Kit)

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 8.2

I know that there are ways to adjust the water PH but is there a form of neutralizerthat you can add as I am doing a water change with my Python system.

Do you think the PH is the problem?

Sure could use some good advice.

Thanks,

Connie H

[rollie]

a ph of 8.2 is too high for any of them fish. most tetras like a ph of 6.2 to 6.8 or there about. cichlids would like your ph.
i am not sure off hand what dwarf gourami like, but it way to high for them.

[rollie]

ps. what is your ph levels as it come from the tap??

[RobbieG]

If the store has the same PH as you do (same water source) there should be no problems as far as that goes.

I would be very concerned with the ammonia - i would never expect to see an ammonia reading of 5 in a cycled tank. You may have had a fish die or a waste buildup in a hidey hole or something.

I would check the tank real well and monitor it for a bit to be sure that it is stable before

[Lady Hobbs]

Is your pH that high coming right from the tap? That's good pH for cichlids (some) but many community fish may have a hard time in it. What kind of substract are you using? Check your pH right from the tap and see what you get?

[rollie]

if her ammonia levels was 5, then all of her fish would die, so i do not think that is the problem

[Lady Hobbs]

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 8.2

She wrote this.

OK. Read again and I see she wrote ammonia had been up one level. One level on my tester is .25 not 5. That's at the top of the scale.

[rollie]

dwarf gourami like a ph of 6.5 to 7.5 .

this is what gina sandford say in her fish book. she had wrote alot of books on fish.

[kimmers318]

Yes, the Ph is high for gourami, but most fish can and do adjust to the water itself, and trying to lower the ph will cause you more headaches in the long run as you usually end up with your ph swinging around like crazy.
If you saw an ammonia reading on a 6 month old tank there is a problem there. You need to correct that problem before you go any further. Your stocking levels seem to be okay, other than the possibility that the plecos are huge....how big are they? Plecos are waste machines and will contribute heavily to the bioload.
Were any of these fish just recently added to your tank just before the gourami? Although adding a few fish to a large tank should not adversely affect your cycle, it is possible.
Water changes will get rid of/dilute the ammonia levels at the time, but if you saw ammonia, for some reason there is not enough ammonia eating bacteria in your tank. Taking it out with water changes will help for the time being, but you still need to build your bacterial levels up so you don't see ammonia readings.
I agree with Hobbs.....on my test kit a reading of 5 is wayyyyy high! .25 is the first reading above zero....is it possible you were actually seeing .50?
And I wonder about a zero nitrate reading.....that is seldom seen outside of a brand new tank that has not cycled yet. Did you do a major cleaning of all of your tank decor and such when you did water changes? Alot of your bacteria could have been destroyed like that, but with your filter having 2 biowheels (am I correct?) it should be able to catch right up without you seeing any traceable amounts of ammonia.
A high ph will not kill a fish immediately unless you throw it in and shock it, you will notice the effects over time if it is an issue.

[rollie]

yes, the hight ph can take time to kill fish, but if you shock it, it will die fast.
it is possible the ph went up over time and the other fish slowly got used to it. this is why i would like to know what her ph is straight from the tap.