Jan

How important is the pH. I have never tested my PH before. I had two Ottos that died and the LFS checked my water and said that they could not believe how high my PH levels were (I did not get an exact number as they said it was off their charts). I went to another store that told me not to fool around with the PH as this is harder on the fish. She got readings of around 8+

What is the right thing to do here as I have 6 fish in my tank right now and I don't want to harm them by this.

Gunnie

A stable ph is much more important than trying to raise or lower a ph to be at the levels recommended in profiles. However, if you have wild caught fish, the ph is more of an issue. Otos are usually wild caught, and like a lower ph level, but I would think that if the ph was a problem, then it would probably kill the fish rather quickly, like in hours. If they are dying weeks later, I would think it was something else causing the problem. I could be wrong on this........

Jan

The Ottos were dead within two days, would they have shown any signs of stress?..... hmmmm I hear you when you say about a stable PH. I guess this means that I should not get anymore Ottos as I know that we have pretty hard water but a drastic drop then could hurt my other fish. The lfs also said that if I added salt this would lower the PH but I have also been told by another lfs that salt is not good for freshwater fish....

It gets so confusing as to what is right for the fish.

Butterfly

Most fish will acclimate to just about any ph as long as its stable. Your otos would have died much sooner it that were the problem. If you get more ask the store where you buy them what their ph is. If it is more than .2 difference then take more time to acclimate them. I would not add any salt.
Otos are really hard to get started eating and frequently starve because they don't recognize food as food. also they are treated so badly in shipping that they are half starved when they get to the lfs.
Carol

Jan

I have never had an algae eater before but I have an awful lot of algae and as soon as I put them into the tank they were feasting! At least I thought so they seemed so happy but I woke up in the morning and they were both floating no prior warning of any sort.

I did not see any problems with my RTBS either as he swam by them all the time without even acknowleding them.

I wish the lfs had autopsies as I wish I knew what happened to them! Actually the lfs said that my water may be too clean she showed me what her water looks like and mine is pretty much crystal clear but hers is not. Could this be a problem I am keeping the tank too clean? She had asked me if my tank was cycled and I assumed it was given that nitirtes were pretty much 0 nitrates around 5 and ammonia 0. This is becoming waaaaaay more difficult than I ever thought it would!

Butterfly

No you cannot keep your tank too clean.
Carol

Jan

See now you ruined my whole evening If you had said that yes I was keeping it too clean then my problems would be solved!

newbie101

lol hehehehe