Is it the water?
- Thread starter john C
- Start date
Something is driving your PH down. If it is always that then I don't see why all the sudden it is bothering them now. My tap is 8+ and I have gone two weeks without a water change just to see the effects and my tank was still 8+. And I know I am overstocked with 6 rays and 3 armatus.
Just out of curiousity, I know you said you added an established FX5. How often do you clean the other two? I rinse my Bio in trays once a year and foam filters 3-4 times a year.
Just out of curiousity, I know you said you added an established FX5. How often do you clean the other two? I rinse my Bio in trays once a year and foam filters 3-4 times a year.
It sounds like it might also be "old tank syndrome".
When your pH drops below around 6.0 your nitrifying bacteria stop doing their job so well, causing ammonia levels to rise. However, in a low pH ammonia (NH3) largely exists in the ionized form, ammonium (NH4+), which is not toxic to fish. However, a water change can quickly raise the pH, driving a lot of the ammonium back to un-ionized (added the dash so you don't read it as union-ized) ammonia. So if you didn't check your ammonia levels until the next day then it's possible that your ammonia spike had already passed, but had stressed your fish out and burned their gills.
I have the same thing with my discus tank. It's planted and the pH drops from about 7.6 (tap water) to about 6 in a month if I don't add a little baking soda from time to time. I could also do more water changes, but my chemistry is otherwise pristine. The tank is densely planted and sparsely stocked.
When your pH drops below around 6.0 your nitrifying bacteria stop doing their job so well, causing ammonia levels to rise. However, in a low pH ammonia (NH3) largely exists in the ionized form, ammonium (NH4+), which is not toxic to fish. However, a water change can quickly raise the pH, driving a lot of the ammonium back to un-ionized (added the dash so you don't read it as union-ized) ammonia. So if you didn't check your ammonia levels until the next day then it's possible that your ammonia spike had already passed, but had stressed your fish out and burned their gills.
I have the same thing with my discus tank. It's planted and the pH drops from about 7.6 (tap water) to about 6 in a month if I don't add a little baking soda from time to time. I could also do more water changes, but my chemistry is otherwise pristine. The tank is densely planted and sparsely stocked.
