you really have some problems there. it really sounds like you have Had a high ph swing.also sounds like a mini cycle going on too.thats whats killing the fish.we need to stabilize your parameters.any ph change of .2 or more is going to stress your fish in a 24hour pired.so any change you make has to be SMALL.8.8 ph out of tap is high.are you sure its that high?i would do small 15-20% water changes daily and make small adjustments to your ph over a week or so.you can use proper ph 7.0.and use water conditioner prim.treat all water be for you ad.make sure all is mixed well.also if you can find bio-spira GET SOME.good luck..Ok, some new information....
No I did not break the tank down or clean it when i moved. I removed all fish and plants, placed them in a cooler with a battery operated aerator, and then put everything back when i got to the new place, same water and all. I thought this was the best step. Never really had problems before the move. The water at my old place was like ph 6.5 or so.
I just tested the water out of the tap when i got home a few min ago. This is what i found.
The pH, I had to use the high level ph tester, which on that test it read the highest result, so it may even be higher, but either way it reads 8.8 (isnt this high for tap water???)
There was 1 ppm of ammonia out of the tap!!! And there was about 10 ppm of nitrates out of the tap water.
There were no recorded Nitrites out of the tap.
Last night when i recorded those results, the ph out of the TANK was 6 or lower.
Besides the poor conditions, the ph has changed drastically!!! So now what do i do. I have changed out five gallons, but I dont want to put it back under these conditions
So first off, please tell me what to do to get my water back to normal, and then what must i do to treat this tap water every time i do a water change??? This water is coming from Kansas city municipal water supply.
Please help, fish are dying
Help with water conditions PLEASE
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are your testing materials fairly new? Do you havce a driftwood in your tank? If not, it would be a good idea to add one to help in lowering the pH. The pH reading seems high for tap water. Your city might be using chloramine insted of just chlorine. Might have to aerate your water overnight prior to water changes. How new are your water test kits?
OK
Went to local fish store, told them the problem. They said that yes, Kansas City has ext. high ph out of the tap. They sold me Wardley bullseye 7.0, which balances the ph, i guess.
They also sold me AmQuel Plus, which removes nitrate, nitrite and ammonia from the tap water, as well as all the normal tap water conditioners which remove cholorines. They said it will only remove like 1.2 ppm of ammonia, but thats almost what the ammoina out of the tap is.
The only problem i found with the amquel is that it says on the back that it will cause ammonia test kits using nessler reagents not function properly. It says to use ammonia kits using salicylate reagents. I use a liquid tester from aquarium pharm.
Does anyone have advice on any of this. PS i also purchased some aquarium salt to put in the tank too.
Went to local fish store, told them the problem. They said that yes, Kansas City has ext. high ph out of the tap. They sold me Wardley bullseye 7.0, which balances the ph, i guess.
They also sold me AmQuel Plus, which removes nitrate, nitrite and ammonia from the tap water, as well as all the normal tap water conditioners which remove cholorines. They said it will only remove like 1.2 ppm of ammonia, but thats almost what the ammoina out of the tap is.
The only problem i found with the amquel is that it says on the back that it will cause ammonia test kits using nessler reagents not function properly. It says to use ammonia kits using salicylate reagents. I use a liquid tester from aquarium pharm.
Does anyone have advice on any of this. PS i also purchased some aquarium salt to put in the tank too.
Once again the LFS strikes again....
Before I put this amquel in, i looked on the web to see if my aquarium pharm. test kit uses "nessler reagents". Of course it does. Did the local fish store tell me it didnt. Of course they did.
What the hell product can i use to remove this stuff from the tap, but not skew my results from the test kit???
Before I put this amquel in, i looked on the web to see if my aquarium pharm. test kit uses "nessler reagents". Of course it does. Did the local fish store tell me it didnt. Of course they did.
What the hell product can i use to remove this stuff from the tap, but not skew my results from the test kit???
Sea-Chem's Multi-Test Ammonia is not affected by products that remove or detoxify ammonia. I think it costs about $10 on Big Al's website.
Anything you use to remove ammonia will affect the test kit you have now.
If you can, don't use the water from your tap for water changes. That amount of ammonia is insane! Add that to the waste produced by your fish and that is what is causing your PH crash. High ammonia levels WILL cause PH drops!
If your tap PH is high chances are your KH is high also. That means it has a high buffering capacity. You can add the PH adjuster, but the PH will shot right back up. It is very difficult to make hard water soft and keep it that way with things like chemical buffers. Can you test for KH and post the number, just to be sure?
I think your best course of action would be to use water other than what comes out of your tap for water changes. Or better yet, get an RO unit. The RO unit is expensive to buy, but will be cheaper in the long run when you consider the cost of bottled water.
Anything you use to remove ammonia will affect the test kit you have now.
If you can, don't use the water from your tap for water changes. That amount of ammonia is insane! Add that to the waste produced by your fish and that is what is causing your PH crash. High ammonia levels WILL cause PH drops!
If your tap PH is high chances are your KH is high also. That means it has a high buffering capacity. You can add the PH adjuster, but the PH will shot right back up. It is very difficult to make hard water soft and keep it that way with things like chemical buffers. Can you test for KH and post the number, just to be sure?
I think your best course of action would be to use water other than what comes out of your tap for water changes. Or better yet, get an RO unit. The RO unit is expensive to buy, but will be cheaper in the long run when you consider the cost of bottled water.
Not to be a noob, but what is KH and RO, and there is no way i can afford bottled watter of that magnitude.
Kh is carbonate hardness, RO is reverse osmosis, an RO unit might be the way to go, might take longer to do water changes but it sounds like your tap water is really unsuitable for aquarium use, good luck
From the rapid acidification and ammonia spike in your tank I think that you may have had a bacterial die off in your filter. If you know someone in the area with healthy tanks bum some filter sludge to reseed your filter, if not try a product such as biospira. The fish deaths and health problems are probably due to a combination of ammonia poisoning and pH shock.
Ok if i had a bacterial die off, this means it is re-cycling again correct?
Also, i am simply not going to be able to afford any expensive units to filter the water. The guys at the LFS said thier fish are acustomed to the high ph. Is this true, can these fish be acustomed to the high ph? If that is true, then i simply need to worry about getting the ammonia and nitrates back down?
Keep that advice comin!
Also, i am simply not going to be able to afford any expensive units to filter the water. The guys at the LFS said thier fish are acustomed to the high ph. Is this true, can these fish be acustomed to the high ph? If that is true, then i simply need to worry about getting the ammonia and nitrates back down?
Keep that advice comin!
