dbrown918

I have 2 endler's and one of them was acting weird for a couple days, then yesterday all the sudden he had a white fungus looking growth on his left gill...he then died last night. He was constantly being harassed by a large danio that I have since removed and I was wondering if this could have caused it. This morning I woke up and the ghost shrimp were half-way done eating him already. All the other fish in the tank are perfectly healthy and colorful, so I don't know what to make of it. I have been having trouble keeping the pH above 6.6 because we have VERY soft tap water where I live, i'm talking below 6 pH. Everytime I do a water change it just messes up the pH again. I already ordered 2 fungus treatment/bacterial treatment meds. The other endler is doing just fine though. Any advice would be appreciated as i'm new to endler's so I don't know how sensitive to pH they are.

agabr123

i'm very sorry to hear that it may have been stress related, a combination of being picked on as well as the shifts in pH. what are you using to keep your pH above 6.6?

dbrown918

I'm just using what came with my API pH test kit, it's called pH up. It doesn't do a very good job though...I do have some driftwood and rocks I found around my house in there though (I boiled all of it for at least 15 minutes). Do you think that could be another reason I can't stabilize it? The pH is pretty low right now, below 6.4...

MaddieLynn

Driftwood lowers the pH. If you want the pH higher, you should probably remove it.

agabr123

i'd definitely remove the driftwood. you don't want to use chemicals for the pH because it will make your pH unstable (as you've found out). an unstable pH is more harmful and stressful on your fish than one that might be a bit too low but at least is steady. removing the driftwood will help keep your pH up, and if it's still too low you can raise it naturally with crushed coral or limestone substrate.