Okay so I recently got some goldfish and they died due to ph level being too high (too alkaline)...so I've started again and followed ever thing to a tea and i now have two tanks about 38L and 48L with two fish in each. One tank keeps going quite acidic within a day of adjusting the ph back to 7, whereas the other tank keeps going alkaline..we aren't doing anything different in each tank. Help?
I do not believe your fish died to high PH. Goldfish can adapt to a wide range of PH. You should not have messed with the PH level. I am also curious. Did you use some kind of chemical "PH up" and "PH down" products to adjust your water PH? It is a big no no here. Messing with water PH in your aquarium will cause more harm than good. These products can change the PH suddenly, which is exactly what we need to avoid. Fish can be in shock or even get killed by sudden large change of PH. Stable PH is not a problem even if it is higher or lower than their ideal environment.
By the way, your fish tanks are not big enough for two goldfish each. Fancy goldfish requires minimal 20-gallon for the first one, and total 30-gallon for just two. Common goldfish requires 40-gallon for the first one, and total 55-gallon for just two. Neither of your fish tanks is big enough for the minimal requirement.
I'd also like to know what kind of aquarium filter you are using.
More fish are killed by ammonia poisoning than anything else. Sufficient biological filtration is needed for their survival.
If you have the time, please check out our article of Why did My Fish Die. It might give you some insight on the actual reasons for your fish dying.
Did you allow your tank to fishless cycle for a week or so before you added the goldfish? All aquariums need to run for a while to build up a stock of beneficial bacteria before the fish are added. This enables the tank to keep itself adjusted better to the changes that naturally occur in the water as a result of fish being added. When the fish defecate, ammonia is released into the water, changing the PH balance dramatically. The bacteria eat the 'fish poop', which keeps the ammonia levels down. The fish help keep the bacteria alive by feeding it, and the bacteria help keep the fish alive by cleansing the water. The easiest way to cycle your tank is to simply avoid completely cleaning the aquarium. In other words, don't remove ALL of the water from your previous fish. Instead, leave an inch or two of water from that fish cycle. Then you attach and activate your filter and you have begun your fishless cycle. You might hear that you need to wait an entire month or more before adding fish, but truthfully, it doesn't really take that long as the bacteria builds up quickly. Don't add any chemicals to the water to keep it clean during the cycle time, as this will prevent the growth of the bacterial bloom that you need to see happen. If the water gets a little bit cloudy that means you have too much bacteria. If you see that you need to remove a third of your aquarium water and replace it with clean water. This is the easiest method I can think of for getting the proper balance to your aquarium, but you can also start with a completely clean tank and add a little ammonia to cause the bacteria to develop in your tank. Either way, the process shouldn't take very long.
06-09-2016, 10:22 PM, (This post was last modified: 06-09-2016, 10:23 PM by Ram.)
(06-09-2016, 08:51 PM)Novelangel Wrote: Did you allow your tank to fishless cycle for a week or so before you added the goldfish? All aquariums need to run for a while to build up a stock of beneficial bacteria before the fish are added. This enables the tank to keep itself adjusted better to the changes that naturally occur in the water as a result of fish being added. When the fish defecate, ammonia is released into the water, changing the PH balance dramatically. The bacteria eat the 'fish poop', which keeps the ammonia levels down. The fish help keep the bacteria alive by feeding it, and the bacteria help keep the fish alive by cleansing the water. The easiest way to cycle your tank is to simply avoid completely cleaning the aquarium. In other words, don't remove ALL of the water from your previous fish. Instead, leave an inch or two of water from that fish cycle. Then you attach and activate your filter and you have begun your fishless cycle. You might hear that you need to wait an entire month or more before adding fish, but truthfully, it doesn't really take that long as the bacteria builds up quickly. Don't add any chemicals to the water to keep it clean during the cycle time, as this will prevent the growth of the bacterial bloom that you need to see happen. If the water gets a little bit cloudy that means you have too much bacteria. If you see that you need to remove a third of your aquarium water and replace it with clean water. This is the easiest method I can think of for getting the proper balance to your aquarium, but you can also start with a completely clean tank and add a little ammonia to cause the bacteria to develop in your tank. Either way, the process shouldn't take very long.
Fishless cycling takes more than just a week or so. Unless you use a live bacteria product such as Tetra Safestart or some other form of heavy seeding to get it jump started, it will take more than a month to complete. You also need a source of ammonia just to get it started. There is no ammonia in an empty fish tank if you do not add it.
PH balance is also not the concern here when it comes to a uncycled aquarium. It is the ammonia and nitrite, since they are both toxic to the fish. Only in a fully cycled aquarium the PH might drop when there is too much nitrate converted from ammonia and nitrite.
(06-09-2016, 10:22 PM)Ram Wrote: Fishless cycling takes more than just a week or so. Unless you use a live bacteria product such as Tetra Safestart or some other form of heavy seeding to get it jump started, it will take more than a month to complete. You also need a source of ammonia just to get it started. There is no ammonia in an empty fish tank if you do not add it.
PH balance is also not the concern here when it comes to a uncycled aquarium. It is the ammonia and nitrite, since they are both toxic to the fish. Only in a fully cycled aquarium the PH might drop when there is too much nitrate converted from ammonia and nitrite.
Precisely. Which is why I told BhreeO to leave some of the original fish water inside the tank before starting the cycle. I also mentioned starting from scratch by adding some ammonia to the water, but of course, you have to watch the mix carefully so you don't add too much. Routinely checking the PH balance and water changes can take care of that problem. Also, I want to repeat that fishless cycling CAN happen relatively quickly if you have a good starter batch of bacteria to begin with. If you start from scratch it will, naturally, take a lot longer. It all depends on your time frame. If you are the patient type who likes to spend forever checking and re-checking the chemical balances of the water, then by all means, take your time with it. But if you're like me, and you'd like to add some fish some time this century, the process can be sped along a bit through re-using some of the old water... unless the old water is filled with nasty disease causing protozoans that caused the original fish to die in the first place... in which case I'd recommend starting from scratch and letting the water cycle more slowly with the aid of a little ammonia dripped into the tank. I may get slammed for this comment, but I firmly believe that we aquarists spend way too much time purifying, cleaning, checking and gauging everything. Not a speck of algae dares set foot in a tank like that. Problem is, some fish LIKE a nibble of algae from time to time. It's a healthy little salad for them, and a nice change of pace from nuggets or flakes. If the water is too pure, even the beneficial bacteria may have trouble moving in. Fish in the wild don't get that much spoiling and they do just fine. Another way to fishless cycle, by the way, is to simply add a few snails. They will eat ordinary fish food and poop ordinary happy bacteria food.
