Hi all,
I've been a consumer of Aquarium Co-Op content for a couple years now but I am new to fishkeeping.
I have a 7 gal Nano-tank heavily planted, soil substrate with a gravel cap. With this tank I tried following the Walstad tank method. No CO2, no filtration, no fertilizers. (I was heavily inspired by Foo the Flowerhorn if anyone is familiar).
My tank is 49 days old now.
I have 2 adult RCS and 18-20 adolescent RCS that were hatched in the tank. I also have a bunch of pond snails in the tank.
I test the tank every 1-3 days for PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate and occasionally test KH and GH all with API test kits. I use RODI water so my KH and GH are somewhat low... but I've been seeing a few adolescent shrimp molts what seems like every day.
I recently added 6 Chili Rasboras which I used single dose of the Aquarium Co-op recommended quarantine med-trio on for a week before adding.
After 4-5 days I noticed some white spots on some of the Chilis which I believe could be Ich, so I decided to start actively treating the tank with IchX (since I read RCS can carry the parasite I decided to treat the whole tank). I added the Ziss airstone from the Aquarium Co-op store to increase oxygen in the water as recommended.
I noticed shortly after medication, the shrimp started swimming around a lot (stressed?) Particularly the adult RCS don't normally move around a lot but they were zooming around the tank along with many of the younger shrimp. (Circling around the tank border)
I tested the water and it's a PH of 7.4-7.6 when my tank is normally around 6.8-7.0!
Everything else fell within normal levels from previous tests (All parameters posted below)
I feel like the IchX caused a PH swing and is stressing out the RCS. It's been a few hours and they seem to be a bit calmer... but if I am treating IchX everyday for a little bit with recommended water changes I am worried the stress could be bad for the RCS. Can I add Catappa Leaf/water to keep the pH closer to its regular levels? I just got a wondershell which I ordered... will using that help keep my KH buffer and GH up to healthy levels or increase the PH even more?
Water Parameters:
Temperature = 78-79 degrees F
PH = Normally 6.8-7.0 (7.4-7.6 after IchX)
KH = 4 drops (~60-70 ppm?)
GH = 3 drops (50 ppm)
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 0 ppm