PH Shock - My fish are dying

[in_the_zone]

I had to do some tank rearranging today. Fortunately, all 11 of my clowns are just fine as I did not move them. I decided, however to put my cichilds over with them in the big tank. That meant I had to move my little cardinals, rummy noses, 2 zebra loaches, and 2 kubotias. I had an established tank with the cichilds, so I drained it and put 1/3 of the tank water over from the big tank. I normally age my water for these guys, but I completely did not even think to it for this big move since there was some other stuff I had to move around too including tanks and fish. I had buckets of fish all over the place in my living room and kitchen. I had cords tangled and hoods everywhere! I got halfway through and I ran out of hot water so that put a krimp in things. I had to boil pans and mix water in a bin before I dumped in in the tanks. All in all, it was fairly successful.

A half an hour after all was said and done, one of the rummy noses was stuck on the filter.*@#$

The water was very clear instead of brown from the tanins. The Ph is probably only .2-.4 difference but that apparently was enough. The tetras aren't schooling and look pretty bad. The smaller botias are quiet and look like they are in a daze. In a last ditch effort I chemically dropped the Ph .2 and put in some Amazon extract I had sitting around that I normally don't use.

I'm so sad! I've had these dithers for a good year and they are more than just dithers to me. Damn, I'm so mad at myself for not aging water and not taking more from the big tank. I so need a hug and some jingles for my fishies.

 

[in_the_zone]

Lost 2 Rummy noses. The loaches have perked up and are doing the dance up and down the corner. Tetras are better, but I guess I'll have to wait until morning to find out the final outcome. Guess who's not getting any sleep tonight? I had nightmares when my CL's had ick and I'd have to do 3am checks out of paranoia.

 

[messerchmidt]

maybe some ph balancing tablets from walmart could help? not sure if they might make it worse, but could help...

you could also do a water change

 

[Hmong_Xiong]

huh never heard of that before much be a big change of the ph ?

 

[messerchmidt]

the table will help set it back to a ph of 7 (neutral)

something like tank buddies ph stabilizer

http://www.junglelabs.com/pages/details.asp?item=NL005

 

[Lupin]

What are your KH and GH?

 

[in_the_zone]

Well I ended up with 4/9 Rummy Noses and 3/5 Cardinals. Loaches are good. It took about 4 days for the remaining tetras to perk up.

I've decided to add 1 yo-yo, 1 Histronica, a pair of Dwarf Cichlids (probably Blue Rams), some Black Phantoms, and replenish the Cardinal school. I'm rather excited to get this tank pretty.

And yes, fish like Discus, the more sensitive Tetras, and Loaches are very sensitive to Ph fluctuations. Kh and Gh help to stabilize your Ph levels if I remember correctly. Water out of my tap is about 7.4 but settles down to 7.0 after being in my trash bin + powerhead over night. After it settles in the tank with the tanins it drops another .2.

 

[paradunga]

I think your fishes had some osmotic regulation problems.
Salts and minerals concentration diference between the tanks.

 

[in_the_zone]

I dunno, it was the same tap water and same temperature. Just not aged and no driftwood.

 

[ewurm]

I would avoid chemical adjustment of pH. The pH swing you stated is probably too small to cause much problem. Sounds more like stress from the move. Have you tested for harmful nitrogenous waste?