valen

My fish (2 platys in a 10 gal) have been very unhappy the past week or so. Kinda hanging out near the top or bottom of the tank and not eating too much. I have zero amonia and nitrite and between 5 - 10 nitrate.

Tank has been established for almost a year.

The pH is 6.4 and water temp is 77.1F. The guy at the LFS recommended hanging a nylon bag of crushed coral in the filter compartment. I did that this morning.

How fast should I expect the ph to rise ? Hours , days or weeks ? I don't want it to go too high too fast but I don't want to test every hour if it is going to take days.

Also would ph of 6.4 explain the Platy's behaviour ?

capekate

Hello Valen
tho many fish acclimate to different PH levels, I have always gone by the rule of keeping fish that are only compatible with my Ph level of my water. My PH is is about 6.0-6.4. I have kept platy's before and found that they did not last long in my low PH. Mine also hung around the top of the tank in corners without moving around much and my water tests were good for an established tank as well.
So in my opinion, yes, I do believe that the PH level can affect your fish.
You are correct in keeping the crushed coral inside your filter for the best results. I believe, but am not certain that it will rise slowly but I would be doing a PH test at least once a day til the numbers stay level.
Hopefully someone with more experience with this will come on board and give you a hand with this question.