High Ph

I haven't tested my water in a bit because I've been performing regular water changes and my fish have been healthy and happy. I have a 150 gallon tank and I recently added 3 angel fish (1 being about 3 inches) to my stock. When I got home last night the big angel was dead and the other two were missing. I tested the water and the parameters seemed ok, but the PH spiked to 8.4 from about 7.8. Ammonia was 0ppm, nitrites 0ppm, nitrates 10ppm. My concern is with the PH being in that range I don't want it to start effecting my clown loaches. Any suggestions?

 

there r many things that can throw off ph...change of substrate..decorations..new filter..source of ur water. To lower ur ph u can add driftwood..peat moss (i recommend soaking it for 48 hours prior to adding...put in a filter bag in ur filter...it may still discolor water)...almond leaves (may also release tannins) or RO water.

I wonder if adding the new fish caused an ammonia spike which then threw off ur ph. Im just surprised it didnt lower it considering acids are produced when nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrates.

I would test the ph of my tap water so u have a reference point.

 

Thank you, I will do that when I get home.

 

So, last night I went home and tested the tap water and the ph was 7.4, I retested my tank just for the heck of it and it was also 7.4. The only thing I can figure out is that the terracotta pots I put in there Saturday must have caused the spike our it was just a bad test on my part. Thanks for your help.

 

no problem!