PH and dead fish

**Kadina** · 02-24-2012, 01:48 AM

On Sunday afternoon I added 6 bronze corys and 6 giant danios to my 3 year old aquarium after a 3 hour drip acclimation. The tank is cycled and has been home to corys and cardinals for a long time. The new bronze corys are doing fine, but Monday the first danio died, Tuesday the second, today the third danio died and the remaining 3 are struggling.

I've been testing the water daily since I expected a mini cycle from adding the fish. Ammonia has been at zero until today when it read .25. Nitrites have been zero every day and nitrates are holding around 15. Today, with the rise in ammonia I did a 50% water change. Through all of this my ph has been at 6, or maybe lower. I am using the API freshwater master kit and the color is a very pale yellow. I have well water and I know the That Fish Place has city water where the ph is considerably higher. Could the difference be killing the danios?

**pjaldave** · 02-24-2012, 03:21 AM

How big is the tank we're talking about here? Plus what are the other inhabitants of the tank?

It shouldn't be the pH swing from being bought online because you acclimated them. Though 3 hours, IMO, is a bit too long for acclimation.

Plus, the pH level shouldn't really matter if you acclimated, but are you sure your pH is at least stable? You might wanna check the kH of your tank water. Lower kH means more possibility to have pH swings, the higher the kH, the better it is.

**homemadepopcorn** · 02-24-2012, 03:48 AM

Unless there is a difference of say... 1.5-2 pH units I doubt it would really harm the fish... plus it doesnt explain why the other fish are struggling...

A change in pH would have immediate effects on the health of your fish.

It could be that the pH of your water doesnt suit the fish you've bought or maybe the temp is off, but both of these suggestions are highly unlikely...

**openbook** · 02-24-2012, 04:01 AM

I think it might be the ammonia that is causing the fish to die. ph 6 should be okay, well water should be fairly hard.

**pjaldave** · 02-24-2012, 04:25 AM

hard water (gH) and high alkalinity (kH) is not the same thing. hardness is when there is a lot of minerals in the water you are using. alkalinity is how your water will hold the pH stable, the higher it is, the more stable your pH is.

Plus, .1 difference in pH is actually to the 10 (exponential 10), that's what i read anyways. so you might say 7.9 to 7.5 isn't too much, well that is about 40 degrees of change right there.

**Kadina** · 02-24-2012, 04:40 AM

pjaldave: The tank is 37g and the inhabitants are cardinal tetras, corys and a lone Pelvicachromis taeniatus cichlid. I dug out my KH test kit and the water turned yellow with the first drop. It was never blue. I'm not sure if that means my KH is 0 or 1, but either way, it is low. That said, every time I have tested my ph it has been the same, although I've never tested it first thing in the morning after the lights have been off. I've always been advised not to add chemicals to modify your water, instead find fish that can adapt to what you have. Does that hold true for a low KH as well?

homemadepopcorn: THe only fish that are struggling are the danios, everything else is fine.

openbook: Two of the fish died before the ammonia went up at all, so I don't think that is the root cause, although I am sure it isn't helping matters now.

**openbook** · 02-24-2012, 05:05 AM

Paul my mistake, the gh kh chemistry thing is a bit complicated. I don't think the poster stated there were any swings in ph but was concerned the ph of the store was higher than hers.

Most likely a fish store uses ro water and buffers the ph to 7.

Kadina even an undetectable ammount of ammonia in the water can cause damage to fish. Sorry your new fish didn't make it, hopefully the other danios recover.

**homemadepopcorn** · 02-24-2012, 05:13 AM

Heres another thought... how long were the Danios at the pet store? Stress from shipping and handling can have affects from 3-4 days after the fish arrived at the fish store. It could be that some of your fish had been there longer thus surpassing that threshold, and the fish who didnt make it had only been there a day or two.

**pjaldave** · 02-24-2012, 05:22 PM

I am not really sure about fixing kH, but i still do not recommend adding any chemicals, instead look for a "natural" way of buffing it like putting crushed corals or something. (not sure if corals would work for kH though) And yes, you have a really low kH, but if your pH readings are always the same then we can remove that from the list of what's killing your fish.

to hp: i think she ordered it online at thefishplace.com

**Kadina** · 02-24-2012, 10:57 PM

I am local to That Fish Place, so while I did buy them there I did not order them online or have them shipped. Another danio died today and I still have no idea what its going on. Perhaps the fish were just unhealthy to start. I have had mixed results with fish purchased from there.