whacked water parameter: mystery....

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equidae9854

Candiru
MFK Member
Nov 14, 2006
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A friend of mine set up a 75 gal aquarium, cycled it with rasboras, which are starting to die off slowly.

1. Took 10 gals of water from fully established 29 gal tank and used the biowheels from the filter on the 29 for the 75 gal. Also used "Cycle"
2. Ammonia spiked to 0.25, and then back down to 0.00
3. Added rasboras slowly: 17 over three weeks
4. One rasbora was dead to begin with, before it made it home to the tank. Two days later, one more died. Slowly thereafter, 13 have died over three weeks.
5. Have kept retesting the water. NH4=0.00, NO4: 0.00, NO3: 0.00, and pH: 8.0 :nilly::eek::screwy::WHOA:
HOWEVER... the pH comes out of the tap as 7.2...

What is causing the pH to skyrocket???

Have regular polished gravel, a few polished river stones (from Petsmart) about a 5-gal bucket full of driftwood, and plastic plants.

The LFS that tested her water was stumped as to what is causing this drastic rise in pH, most likely the primary contributor to the fish deaths.

In addition, the 2-year old 29 gal tank's stats were:
NH4: 0.0
NO3: 0.0
NO4: 0.0
pH: 8.0

However, all the fish are doing fine, and have been fine for the past two years. They actually grow like crazy. Most likely, these guys are fine because they have acclimated to the high pH over a period of 2 years. The rasboras are probably dying off because they're not used to the high pH, and the drastic change from the 7.0 at the pet store to her 8.0 was probably the contributing factor to their demise. However, she has also recently added 4 glass catfish and 6 panda cories to the fully established 29 gal (ph 8.0 water) and they have been fine thus far. So, she's apprehensive about adding the rest of the fish in the 29 gal to the 75 gal. Did the dying off of the rasboras have nothing to do with the pH (just a bad, ill batch)? Or is it that they were just more sensitive to the pH and began showing the symptoms of it before the glass cats and corys have? Should the pH be fixed or not tampered with, if the fish in the 29 gal have already acclimated to the pH 8.0? If it should be lowered, what could be the root cause, and how can it be effectively treated??
 
Hmm

This is what I think,

1. PH is off for these fish. The PH from the tap is in a range that the fish cant handle, and it needs to be lowered or raised. It is probably not in the range that these fish need to survive.

2. Perhaps the PH isnt a big issue, but the fish are acclimated to a drastic PH swing. Their LFS PH is way off from the PH in the tank. Thus, PH shock. You would need to drip acclimate them.


3. Could of been a bad batch of fish


4. Could be contaminated water. Maybe the tank was clean with soap or a chemical of some kind prior to set up.


5. Check the rocks/stones in the tank, some raise and lower PH. Find out what kind of rocks/stones they are and rule out if they are contributing to changes in PH.
 
On a side note, her sister set up a 5 gal with 3 neon tetras and all three neons are doing fine and well. And we all know that neons are one of the most sensitive fish out there...

I don't think it's anything in the tank that's affecting the pH, since the 5 gal, 20 long, 29 gal, and 75 gal tanks within their house are all at pH 8.0... So, it's obviously something within their water system. What would cause the pH to come out of the tap at 7.2 and then raise to 8.0 over time.

In addition, so far, it's only been the newly acquired rasboras that have been having an issue.

And here are the detailed specs of each tank...

2.5 gal: 3 neons acquired 6 months ago
20 long: tons of guppies that just keep breeding, established a year ago
29 gal: established for 2 years with clown loaches and angelfish. cory cats and glass cats added three weeks ago
75 gal: cycled for three weeks with rasboras, slowly dying off...

most of the fish were bought from LFS.

water parameters in all four tanks are the same:
ammonia: 0.0
nitrates: 0.0
nitrites: 0.0
ph: 8.0

On a side note, the 75 gal tank itself has not been contaminated, since I owned the tank before her, and I had it set up for a year before she took it. I've never had any problems with the tank itself...
 
water often changes ph from the tap to the tank when the water is aerated and sit for a day the ph will rise or lower depending on whats in the water that why alot of people age there water over night then add to tank
 
Well it could be a bad batch of Rasboras. Or maybe water contamination, do you know how the tank was cleaned prior to set up? PH raise might be something in the tank, the stones or something else. These are the only explanations I can think of. But since theres other fish surviving with the elevated PH, it may just be a bad batch of rasboaras.
 
I just recently was informed that the stones/gravel that Walmart sells has been linked to pH swings, all of there aquarium gravel (substrate) was supposidly yanked off there shelves, maybe you wern't so lucky. It had something to do with the coating on there products which played havok on the pH of the water. The most effective way to lower your pH would be to use part RO water mixed with your tap water. Mix them both in a holding tank, test the pH regularly.
 
Wow, thanks for the heads up about Walmart gravel, rowedder. I'll hafta ask her that one. Although I'm pretty sure that she never trusted Walmart to begin with, and I believe she does most of her fish shopping at Petsmart. Now, in terms of pH rising from the tap to tank, how come my water comes out at pH 7.0 from the tap and stays there in the tank? I've got town water, she's got well water, and she adds water softener to her water tank.

Also, when I gave her the tank, I simply drained out the water, scooped the old gravel out, and rinsed it out with hose water outside (which is what I use to fill my tanks with on a regular basis). I've always had really good luck with this tank, so i highly doubt that it was the tank.

I was thinking that it was a bad batch of Rasboras, but she said she's bought them at several different Petsmarts, at different times, over three weeks. Is there some sort of parasite or illness that could be spreading amongst the rasboras? there are no visible signs of illness. I guess it makes it so hard because she only has rasboras in the tank so far, so we aren't able to determine if it's a problem with the rasboras or the water. But, she also doesn't want to spend more money on fish, if they're going to keep dying off. She's already spent around $100 on her rasboras...

what's a good, cheap fish to cycle/test the tank with, without fear of contaminating the tank with more illness (like feeder comets, rosy reds, and guppies often do)?
 
your getting your water from a different source than her so just because the ph starts the same the gh kh can be different so the ph changes and the cheapest best way to cycle a tank without contamination is a fishless cycle with ammonia
 
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