Ph always drops

[Newyorkrangers88]

Hi everyone . For some reason my PH always drops astronomically in short periods of time . I have a pair of tri apistos got them last week and we’re doing amazing up to this morning . After work I saw there developing a white fungus type thing growing on their bodies, I checked the PH and it had dropped to around 5. It was at 7 last week…. Ammonia nitrite and nitrate is 0 so I don’t understand what’s causing this to happen . PLEASE HELP!!

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

I’m a recent college grad who keeps wasting money on these fish that constantly die , my water and everything is always perfect I even take the water to multiple fish stores to get tested snd it comes back perfect and then PH always crashes , while all other levels stay at 0

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

My PH constantly drops and I don’t no why , the fish were perfect before work I get back there growing a white fungus or something on them . And the weirdest **** is that my nitrate nitrite and ammonia Is all 0. And the tank cycled for over a month , don’t understand as to why this happens , could the driftwood be effecting my ph to the point it was at 7 last week and at around 5?

 

[MacZ]

How about some info, eh?

What substrate do you have?
What is your GH/KH? (The latter is especially important!)
What are ther parameters from the tap?
Can you post a picture of the tank?

Please, as you say yourself you're a student: Study! Read up on the relationship of pH, KH and CO2, the nitrogen cycle and some general basics of how to change pH up and down and the mechanisms behind that.

And get a testkit yourself. Stores tend to just say "All good" after testing only for Ammonia and Nitrite, which is right now not your concern. When you want to keep fish like Apistogramma do not rely on a minimally trained minimum wage employee at a fishstore who likely doesn't even know what to do with the results to do your water testing.

The numbers for NH3/4, NO2 and NO3 at zero tell me the tank is not cycled, btw.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Do you have plants? If you don't try keeping a planted tank, it makes maintaining water quality much simpler.

I'm away from home at the moment, but I'll post some links in a couple of days.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but I have to agree with @MacZ , it sounds like you have multiple issues.

Cheers Darrel

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

GH was about 80 and KH about 40. I’ve been studying !! Just everything I do is always counter productive in some way . I was thinking my driftwood is maybe dropping the PH substantially but again I am not sure what is causing it , and my tank had cycled for about 1.5 months

 

[MacZ]

Possibly you are too proactive. The KH level is too high for the pH to be significantly affected by driftwood or leaf litter.

Also one still open question: What substrate do you use?

New questions:
What is your waterchange schedule?
Do you inject CO2?
How densely is the tank planted? Is it planted at all?
Do you use peat?

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

10-15% water change weekly , no CO2 injection . Have Anubias nana and Java fern , no pest , and a couple fake plants and caves as well as the drift wood . I put a little baking soda mixed with water in last night and today the fungus seems to have came down . The fish were never acting weird though . Idk just very strange I’ve been trying everything . I also work in the car business and work long hours 5 days a week so only have 2 days to really focus on the tank

 

[MacZ]

Please don't take this the wrong way: You might want to take a hiatus from the aquarium hobby and especially from Apistogramma until you have more time for this. I already see more problems than I can address in a forum post.

But my comments in short:

10-15% water change weekly

50% is advised

Have Anubias nana and Java fern

Slow growing, easy plants, but no big help with water quality.

I put a little baking soda mixed with water in last night and today the fungus seems to have came down .

What fungus? Also, don't just add baking soda! Did you at least calculate how much you would need or did you eyeball it? This way you can extinguish a whole tank.

Idk just very strange I’ve been trying everything .

The less you do, instead of just trying to permanently "fix" things that wouldn't really need fixing is often times the better way in the hobby.

I honestly don't know how to help anymore, sorry. You leave out information and I cannot ask for every little bit. I don't even know how the tank looks in overview, only some pictures of the fish, that make me think the tank is absolutely not suitable for them.

I hope somebody else finds the patience and is able to help you. I am not as of lately. Sincerely sorry.

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

No problem again I work 60-70 hours a week I don’t have pictures of the tank now . It’s 10 gallon tank I put 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and that was it , dissolved it in water first and poured it in the tank

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

And yeah I think if these don’t work out I’ll be getting a betta and calling it a day . Taking care of these fish is like a second job

 

[Mike Wise]

GH was about 80 and KH about 40.

I'm afraid these numbers mean nothing without knowing in which units they belong (ppm TDS; °DH; µS/cm). Some would indicate moderately soft water and others indicate 'liquid cement'.

My guess is that your fish do not have fungus, but are excreting excess body slime as a protective coating. I have seen this on my fish when the pH drops below their comfort level. When this happens I cut feeding in half and increase water changes by a factor of 2.

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

Ppm the reading was from the api 5 in 1 test strips

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

I'm afraid these numbers mean nothing without knowing in which units they belong (ppm TDS; °DH; µS/cm). Some would indicate moderately soft water and others indicate 'liquid cement'.

My guess is that your fish do not have fungus, but are excreting excess body slime as a protective coating. I have seen this on my fish when the pH drops below their comfort level. When this happens I cut feeding in half and increase water changes by a factor of 2.

Thank you so much for the advice , and dealing with all my questions lol . I really appreciate your patience

 

[MacZ]

I'm afraid these numbers mean nothing without knowing in which units they belong (ppm TDS; °DH; µS/cm). Some would indicate moderately soft water and others indicate 'liquid cement'.

Mike, I am shocked! If it's explicitly GH and KH and the numbers are over 20 it can almost only be ppm (mg/l).

It’s 10 gallon tank I put 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and that was it , dissolved it in water first and poured it in the tank

I have no words. Any fish that could have swam into the stream of that solution could have died.

And yeah I think if these don’t work out I’ll be getting a betta and calling it a day . Taking care of these fish is like a second job

Bettas are nowerdays even more finnicky than Apistos. And even less forgiving when it comes to mistakes.

Good luck, then.

 

[Newyorkrangers88]

Really ?? When I was like 12 I had a betta in a .5 gallon tank and maybe cleaned the tank once every 3 months ( yes I know this is all wrong now) and it lived for over 4 years , never had any type of issue or sickness , didn’t have a heater filter or anything

 

[MacZ]

Really ?? When I was like 12 I had a betta in a .5 gallon tank and maybe cleaned the tank once every 3 months ( yes I know this is all wrong now) and it lived for over 4 years , never had any type of issue or sickness , didn’t have a heater filter or anything

Today often the best way to make a new betta necessary within a few weeks.

 

[yukondog]

I may have missed it, but have you tested your tap water, if so what were the readings?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

It’s 10 gallon tank I put 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and that was it , dissolved it in water first and poured it in the tank

Stop adding the Baking Soda (Na2CO3 and/or NaHCO3).

Have a look through <"UKAPS:Super ......"> and the linked threads and the links in the linked threads. When you've got time have a look at @Mike Wise and @MacZ's posts on this forum.

They will honestly tell you more about the requirements for keeping fish (and particularly fish like Apistogramma spp.) than a thousand hours trawling the WWW or talking to LFS etc.

I don't have anything to sell, no "magic bullets", but I want people to be successful fish-keepers and <"Oxygen, plants and time"> helps massively with that.

cheers Darrel

 

[Bigtuna88]

GH was about 80 and KH about 40. I’ve been studying !! Just everything I do is always counter productive in some way . I was thinking my driftwood is maybe dropping the PH substantially but again I am not sure what is causing it , and my tank had cycled for about 1.5 months

That was my immediate thought. I learned the hard way before with wood that was doing exactly that. Kept adding ph up daily and still couldn’t figure it out so I took everything out of the tank and introduced things one at a time. Once I added my driftwood-boom. Mystery solved. Only my experience hope it helps.