Gah! PH crash?! 😱

[Darth Mollusk]

I've got a 20 L planted tank that's been doing great for a few months now, so I've stopped testing as frequently. 

Then, I noticed my two mystery snails slowing down a bit. I sort of figured they were getting up there in age, but checked ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate just in case. All fine. 

Silly me didn't check the PH for two days , thinking my hard well water wasn't the issue...PH went from about 7.4 to as low as 6.8 (Hard to tell on the strips). 🤦‍♂️

After I finished panicking, I did a 50% water change and now it's back up closer to what I'd expect. These strips are post change. I didn't think to take a photo in the panic stage. Because panic stage. 

New here means new tank, as opposed to old tank which had the crash. (Aquarium co-op test strips). On the API kit, my water is in that awkward stage straddling regular and high ph range.

I have no idea what to make of this hardness reading. 😅 But it's always been like that. 

What would do this? Decaying plants, maybe? I have a baby snail Snursery in there and feed them zucchini--could that be it?

Should I add a buffer? I've got wonder shell in there, but I don't know if that actually does anything. 

In the tank, I have a breeder box of teeny seed sized snails, two panda corys, three albino corys, two adult mysteries, six Harlequin Rasbora, three neon tetras, bamboo shrimp, and a few ghost shrimp. Fish seem to be okay so far I can see. It's the snails who look stressed. 

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I've never experienced this before. 🐌

[Katherine]

On 6/30/2022 at 2:50 PM, DarthMollusk said:

I have no idea what to make of this hardness reading. 😅 But it's always been like that. 

Cory said on a live stream once that it means it's higher than 300 ppm, but you can't really say how much higher.

[Darth Mollusk]

On 6/30/2022 at 5:30 PM, Katherine said:

Cory said on a live stream once that it means it's higher than 300 ppm, but you can't really say how much higher.

That was my assumption--good to have it confirmed, thanks!

[Patrick_G]

Someone more experienced please correct me but I believe a 0.6 ph swing might be natural due to plant respiration. 
@DarthMollusk, do you test at the same time each day?  

[Darth Mollusk]

@Patrick_G Huh! Interesting!

PH isn't something I've been in the habit of testing frequently, to be honest. I usually use the liquid API kit, but just happened to use the strips today. But when I have tested it, I haven't seen it that low. And given the snails are looking less than stellar, I'm worried. 

This was from a test in the early afternoon. I will try testing a couple different times over the next week and see what shifts turn up, if any. Thanks!

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by DarthMollusk

[Cinnebuns]

Whether it's a natural swing or not, your mystery snails would benefit from increasing that. 7.0 is the bare minimum for snails but ideally you would want 7.6 or higher. You may be fine since it's likely only occasionally dipping to 6.8 but if it were me I wouldn't like to take the chance. Lower PH can eat away at their shells and eventually kill them. I would suggest crushed coral.

Edit: I reread the post and don't think it's as big of a deal to increase it if you are usually at 7.4. If you do figure out it naturally swings to 6.8 though you may want to consider it. 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Cinnebuns

[Darth Mollusk]

On 6/30/2022 at 7:07 PM, Cinnebuns said:

Whether it's a natural swing or not, your mystery snails would benefit from increasing that. 7.0 is the bare minimum for snails but ideally you would want 7.6 or higher. You may be fine since it's likely only occasionally dipping to 6.8 but if it were me I wouldn't like to take the chance. Lower PH can eat away at their shells and eventually kill them. I would suggest crushed coral.

That's exactly the worry. It's possible their recent lethargy is just a coincidence, but I don't want to take that risk. I'm raising snail babies in there, too and want them all healthy and happy. I think I'll try some crushed coral and see how it goes (it'll take a while to show up, so that'll give me time to test more). Thanks!

[Patrick_G]

On 6/30/2022 at 3:40 PM, DarthMollusk said:

@Patrick_G Huh! Interesting!

PH isn't something I've been in the habit of testing frequently, to be honest. I usually use the liquid API kit, but just happened to use the strips today. But when I have tested it, I haven't seen it that low. And given the snails are looking less than stellar, I'm worried. 

This was from a test in the early afternoon. I will try testing a couple different times over the next week and see what shifts turn up, if any. Thanks!

 

I think you’re doing the right thing with the crushed coral. Give those little ones the best chance possible. 

[Melkor]

What substrate and hardscape is in the tank? How densely planted, and do you have more fast growing plants or slow?

[Darth Mollusk]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:37 PM, Melkor said:

What substrate and hardscape is in the tank? How densely planted, and do you have more fast growing plants or slow?

Gravel with river rocks, and a smallish piece of drift wood (Maybe five inches high, shaped like a little tree stump. It was boiled for about four hours total and soaked until the water was clear). Three amazon swords, three little cryptocoryne undulata, one anubias, and java moss on the roof of the hobbit house decor. The swords have been growing quite a bit.

[Darth Mollusk]

I've added about a lb of crushed coral, some on the substrate, some in the HOB 

[Mmiller2001]

I would avoid crushed coral and wondshell. Both are raising the calcium in the water and raising GH and KH simultaneously. With a planted tank, using potassium carbonate makes more sense and synergizes with fertilizer dosing. 

Using K2CO3 can be calculated to an exact dose to raise KH to an exact number while also adding K (potassium) to the tank.

That said, my 5.1pH doesn't daze my bladder snails 😳.

[Melkor]

I had similar ph drops, 7.2-7.4, dropping down to 6.6, months ago. I was baffled, and eventually got a kh and gh test kit. My tap water both immediately from the faucet, and sitting out were both the same, gh 5dkh, kh 6dkh. ACO test strips show gh out of the tap like, 150, kh 40. Anywho my tank water was like 0 kh, and higher gh because I was using wonder shells at the time. After some research I removed the wonder shells. I also read that plants can pull carbonates if they aren't getting enough nutrients. So I started slowly upping my fertilizer over the next month or two, and am now double what I was originally dosing, with happier plants, and no crazy algae. My ph is now back to its stable 7.2 for some time now.

I asked about hardscape because wood can lower ph(you don't have a ton, so its almost certainly not the issue I'd imagine). And the gravel and stones look inert, so that probably isn't affecting anything. I'd suggest at least consider getting a dedicated gh/kh liquid test kit, and test your tap and tank water. Perhaps if its a kh problem like I had, you can try bumping up fertilizer slowly, maybe root tabs (if you aren't already for the sword).

[Darth Mollusk]

@Melkor huh! That is very helpful, thank you! I'll try upping the root tabs for the swords and see what changes. Not something I'd even considered!

I do want to make sure I've got enough calcium in the water for the mystery snails. 

@Mmiller2001 Thanks for the information! I don't know about bladder snails. But I want to make sure that  ph is at least 7.4 with calcium in the water while the mystery snail babies are developing their first swirls. 

Thank you again 🐌