Sudden pH change

[NanotankBank]

Hey guys, so I woke up this morning and did a water parameter check on my aquarium. My pH a few days ago was 7.4 and today it was 8.4 and I lost 2 fish. Any idea what could’ve caused it and how I can lower it (besides adding wood, my tank will be too crowded)

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Hmm.. did you change water recently? Sometimes the water companies make changes to water chemistry and it comes as a surprise to hobbyists.

Leaves will help to lower pH (catappa leaves, Indian almond leaves, etc)

Edited August 16, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[anitstuk]

My PH jumped around 1 week ago and it was due to me not dosing the tank with extra nutrients. Like @Chick-In-Of-TheSea said, your water company could of made some changes the water chemistry.

[NanotankBank]

Well it’s quite frustrating because it resulted in the loss of one of my corydoras and my beloved Bolivian Ram 😭🫠. 

[anitstuk]

The troubles and pains of fishkeeping

[NanotankBank]

On 8/15/2022 at 7:37 PM, anitstuk said:

The troubles and pains of fishkeeping

It’s also super frustrating when you just set it all up, waited weeks for it to settle. Then lose the centerpiece fish within a couple weeks 

[anitstuk]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:38 AM, pjust9 said:

It’s also super frustrating when you just set it all up, waited weeks for it to settle. Then lose the centerpiece fish within a couple weeks 

I had the exact same problem with my Honey Gourami... He was such a nice fish. 😞 

[NanotankBank]

On 8/15/2022 at 7:41 PM, anitstuk said:

I had the exact same problem with my Honey Gourami... He was such a nice fish. 😞 

Luckily my two honey gouramis and 5/6 Cory’s are still kicking it. Was gonna add a small school of tetras in there, but now I’m not sure what I wanna do

[anitstuk]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:43 AM, pjust9 said:

Luckily my two honey gouramis and 5/6 Cory’s are still kicking it. Was gonna add a small school of tetras in there, but now I’m not sure what I wanna do

Why are you not sure?

[NanotankBank]

On 8/15/2022 at 7:44 PM, anitstuk said:

Why are you not sure?

Cause my LFS has pretty high prices, but their fish quality is nice. Not sure if I wanna spend a lot more money if they’ll just end up dead.

what are your opinions on the pH stabilizer things. Like the 7.0 pH liquid. Does it work?

[anitstuk]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:47 AM, pjust9 said:

Cause my LFS has pretty high prices, but their fish quality is nice. Not sure if I wanna spend a lot more money if they’ll just end up dead.

what are your opinions on the pH stabilizer things. Like the 7.0 pH liquid. Does it work?

I personally have never used them but it seems that the one from 'API' will stunt your plant growth. 

[SimmonsSnailsNScales]

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh?_pos=1&_sid=f839a8e44&_ss=r

This is a link to the aquarium coop blog article about PH KH and GH. You can use crushed coral to raise the KH and this will make it much harder for sudden PH changes to occur. However, you might want to monitor your tap water for a while to see if it has a consistent PH. I normally test my tap water before I add anything to it and before adding it to an aquarium during a water change or water top off. Try to avoid all of the commercially available product that chemically alter your PH. You are better off using natural methods to maintain a stable PH in your aquarium. 

Go to the link and give it a read. If that doesn't satisfy your curiosity watch the YouTube videos that aquarium coop has done on this topic. 

I am pretty new to this myself and I luckily haven't experienced a sudden PH change but I notice all of my aquariums slowly creep down the PH scale. I thought this was due to the amount off wood in my tanks but I realized that even the tanks with no wood are also have slowly decreasing PH. I am currently combating my issue with water changes because for me, my tap water is very consistent and a water change is kind of like hitting the "PH reset button".

I hope this helps and I wish you luck in the future. If any veterans read this post please shoot me a message about your thoughts on the subject.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea what do you mean by dosing the water with nutrients? Are you talking about fertilizer?

[face]

no to make things more confusing but a 1ph change shouldn't kill stuff by its self thats not a particularly large swing for a hightech planted tank for example.

did your kh or gh change at all?

the api stuff is the same as Neutral Regulator by seachem i think which is a...interesting thing to do to an aquarium if it works the way i think it does (lime softening) it will turn your calcium and magnetism (gh) and your carbonate(kh) into little rocks that will just sink to the bottom of your aquarium it then uses acids to get the right ph and phosphate to get kh back (wich is why you shouldn't us it with plant's) im sure the stuff works but mystery liquid are scary to me if it were me i think I'd do ro and remineralizer before that stuff but honestly I'd just pick fish that like my water.

if you are going to go that route and have plants seachem acid buffer or something like it might be better its just acid so it turns your kh into co2.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:56 PM, SimmonsSnailsNScales said:

 what do you mean by dosing the water with nutrients? Are you talking about fertilizer?

I think you meant to tag @anitstuk on this one.

[anitstuk]

Yes @Chick-In-Of-TheSea is correct XD. 

On 8/16/2022 at 10:56 AM, SimmonsSnailsNScales said:

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh?_pos=1&_sid=f839a8e44&_ss=r

This is a link to the aquarium coop blog article about PH KH and GH. You can use crushed coral to raise the KH and this will make it much harder for sudden PH changes to occur. However, you might want to monitor your tap water for a while to see if it has a consistent PH. I normally test my tap water before I add anything to it and before adding it to an aquarium during a water change or water top off. Try to avoid all of the commercially available product that chemically alter your PH. You are better off using natural methods to maintain a stable PH in your aquarium. 

Go to the link and give it a read. If that doesn't satisfy your curiosity watch the YouTube videos that aquarium coop has done on this topic. 

I am pretty new to this myself and I luckily haven't experienced a sudden PH change but I notice all of my aquariums slowly creep down the PH scale. I thought this was due to the amount off wood in my tanks but I realized that even the tanks with no wood are also have slowly decreasing PH. I am currently combating my issue with water changes because for me, my tap water is very consistent and a water change is kind of like hitting the "PH reset button".

I hope this helps and I wish you luck in the future. If any veterans read this post please shoot me a message about your thoughts on the subject.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea what do you mean by dosing the water with nutrients? Are you talking about fertilizer?

I had Covid and had to isolate in my room and couldn't be in the main parts of my house where my tanks live. The PH jumped from 6.4 to 7.8 and we think that's it's due to us not dosing the tanks with nutrients. We aren't 100% positive on why the PH jumped but that is our main theory. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 8/15/2022 at 6:32 PM, pjust9 said:

My pH a few days ago was 7.4 and today it was 8.4 and I lost 2 fish

I can guarantee you that a pH change of 1 over a few days did not kill your fish. PH changes do not harm fish. My pH changes by 1.2 twice a day and within a few hours. I would look else where for a reason.

[NanotankBank]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:31 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

I can guarantee you that a pH change of 1 over a few days did not kill your fish. PH changes do not harm fish. My pH changes by 1.2 twice a day and within a few hours. I would look else where for a reason.

It was the only parameter that had changed. Had not added any new fish, and the ones added had been there for over a week and they all came from the same tank at the shop

[Mmiller2001]

On 8/16/2022 at 10:27 AM, pjust9 said:

It was the only parameter that had changed. Had not added any new fish, and the ones added had been there for over a week and they all came from the same tank at the shop

Still, pH fluctuations do not harm fish. I would suspect a bacterial infection. Maybe the reason causing the pH to change, but not the pH specifically and still my guess would be disease related.