Oh crap.

[BlakeyBoyR]

Well I think the thread title sums it up. I went to check on my planted tank after doing a waterchange and noticed the corys looking like theyd been burned by acid, I knew exactly what it was, massive PH drop.

I checked the PH and it was as low as the kit could read, 6.0, down from around 6.5. However it could've been as long as 5.0, the kit doesnt read that low. I check out my wildcaught apistos and my carindals and they were alive albeit not looking great.

I quickly did a water change and added some alkaline buffer to raise the PH of the water. I managed to get it back up to 6.5 pretty easily. I also primed the tank majorly, hopefully this will help with stress etc.

Why did the PH drop? No idea. I added the same amount of acid buffer as I usually do, and yet the PH went nuts. I cant understand it! If I love my fish Im going to be beyond **ssed off! If I had done something stupid I'd take it on the chin, but nothing bugs me more than one accidents happen and fish die for apparently no reason.

Oh, I forgot to add, one of my HOB filters died yesterday aswell, so there went a lot of ceramic noodles worth of bacteria. This was on a different tank by the way, not the planted tank.

All in all I am not a happy chappy. These apitos are my fave fish, Im going to be quite upset if they croak

[novafishy]

sorry to hear that buddy. what kind of apistos were they? just remember not to raise pH too fast, as it is just as bad.

[BlakeyBoyR]

They are wildcaught Apistogramma borellii. And I checked the tank this morning and from what I can see I have no losses. I may have lost one cardinal tetra, I'm not sure. But my apistos are definately still alive as are my corys.

All I can say is PHEW!

I'd still like to know what the heck happened though.

[AdamR]

Seeems with fish everything happens at once. I hadnt had a sick fish at all until very recently, when they got worms, filture broke had lots die for now reason. With pH it usually drops due to something being broken down, like wood, or plants. Did you put in a new piece of wood? The other thing i found, i checked all of my houses tanks one day and found all but 2 had 7+ pH. THey were 6.5 the other day. I played with them and was gradually changing them, until two days later they were all back to 6.5 even the ones i didnt touch.

Glad to hear their ok. Adam

[Ant]

It sounds like your KH is too low thus making your ph unstable. Check your KH and let us know what it is. I used to have a tank with discus that had no KH, it was impossable to keep the ph stable. I just put 'some' shell grit in the filter and the KH raised enough to stableise the PH.

Anthony

[wormboy]

Id agree with AdelaideAnt, sound like the kH (which acts as your pH buffer) I had a similar sounding problem a while ago where my Ph would vary from 6 ish to 8ish in the space of 24 hours (Im told it was the uptake and release of CO2 by the plants during the day night cycle). Needless to say I lost the fish in that tank . A bit of kH buffer sorted it out for me, but I assume you could use a bit of shell to do the same thing.

the only thing that has me puzzled is the fact that you are using an acid buffer which should be achiving the desired result. All you can do is give it a go and keep an eye on the water chemistry . good luck

-worm-

[BlakeyBoyR]

Hmm, perhaps I should go back to adding a ratio of acid to alkaline buffer just to raise the hardness of the water and increase its buffering capability.

I know the acid buffer lowers hardness, so I'd say you're all probably right.