serious PH problem.

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Owain4

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 9, 2011
1,171
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amongst the trees
Randomly i got back from work today and my tank was cloudy so i tested it...
the ammonia level was 8ppm!!!!!! i test it twice a week and this is the first time this has happened. Im totally convinced its because my ph level crashed.
my tanks ph level is 5. i've added ammo lock to get rid of it and doing another water change soon.

my dads tank down stairs is also cloudy, i tested it and his ph is 5 too.. sudden change from the usual 6.5 it was before..... his ammonia was perfect 0 but he only feeds his fish twice a week (he has big goldfish and koi)
what can i do to increase the ph level back and get the bacteria back working?!?!?
 
It sounds like it could be old tank syndrome, but the fact that your dad's tank has the same pH makes it sound like your water source changed pH. Measure your tap water's (or wherever your water come from) parameters. It's strange that your ammonia shot up while your dad's tank didn't.

What is your tank maintenance schedule, stocking, and filtration, and how long has the tank been running? I would add extra ammo lock while doing water changes, because if the pH increases with the water change with an ammonia level that high, that could be catastrophic.
 
my tank is a 55gallon column tank (running for about 3months), i've got about 12 plants in it, drift wood etc. i have 4 4" yellow perch and one small sidestripe rasbora. i do a 30% water change twice a week, with stresscoat and conditioner. i have a fluval 304 with biomax and clearmax, and a aquaclear 70 with sponge and biomax.

my dad's tank is a 75gallon(running for 7 months) with 3 old gold fish and two koi. he barely feeds them cause the water is very cold maybe twice a week. he changed the water a week ago but has fed them twice since....

i've added some crushed coral substrate to my aquaclear and some to his filter aswell..
his fish seem to be fine but my yellow perch are gasping very hard....
should i do a water change or not???? im worried about the PH increase killing the fish.... what else should i do...???

the PH level out of the tap is 6.5
 
Have you measured the tap water parameters since your last water change? I don't know how you would get a drop in pH doing 2 30% water changes per week unless the tap water pH dropped. You should pick up a kh and dh test kit to figure out those parameters as well.

You can do water changes as long as you use the ammo lock.

Also, just FYI in the future once this is all worked out, you don't need to use both stress coat and a water conditioner when doing water changes. Stress coat is a water conditioner in addition to a slime coat replacement.
 
a day before i did the water change the city took the flouride out of the water which im not sure if that has any effect. and lately it has gone from -20 to +8 every day so there is alot of spring melt so maybe that effected the city water???
could i maybe have taken too much water out???, how much should i change now???

i measured the perimeters a day after i did the change they were like usual. the PH last checked was 6.5 which was constant every time i checked.
 
i work for a private bottled water company so i can get the water hardness records of the city from them ill check tomorrow. i think its in the 200 range but i need to double check. i do actually add water one bucket at a time haha so ill have to try that. i've added enough ammo lock should i do like a 25% water change??
 
Water changes should be fine as long as you ammo lock the hell out of the water. As far as getting your bacteria back up and running, I would monitor the water parameters (pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) over the next couple of days to see if any of your bacterial colony is still there and recouping. If ammonia continues to be a problem indicating complete loss of your bacterial colony, I would go purchase some SeaChem Stability and follow the directions to get back up to speed quickly.

In the mean time, monitor your fish and water parameters. Do regular water changes to get pH normalized and to keep ammonia at 0. Use ammo lock, prime, or whatever you have available to bind ammonia and nitrite.

The only thing that makes sense is that whatever changes your city made to the water is the source of this. Although this sucks, you are lucky your pH dropped so low. Otherwise you would have a bunch of dead fish. I'd be interested to see if others in your town are having the same problem. Maybe check with your LFS?
 
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