How important is Ph when moving fish from tank to tank?

Hello everyone!
After weeks of frustrations with Ick, loosing the cycle then re-cycling the 40 gallon tank and a major tank flood into my basement,  I have FINALLY gotten every thing/one fully cycled, Ich free and dry in the basement. Thanks for all the help from fishlore and all of the amazing members! So now the water parameters and temp have  been good and stable. I'm ready to move my Old girl sword tail and the two neons I have left (I lost the other 5 neons in all this mess) back into the 40 gallon "home tank". I want to do this right so I don't kill anyone or stress them out so much that the whole thing starts over again.

I have both tank temps the same (82F) Nitrate= 0, Ammonia= 0 but the Ph in the 40 gallon is 7.2 and in the 5 gallon hospital tank the Ph is 7.6. Will that difference be a problem for the swordtail and neons when I move them? I have a large pyrex measuring cup in the hospital tank ready to receive the fish and my plan was to move it into the home tank and gradually add that water into the cup then release the fish. Is that OK to do? if so, how much of the home tank water should be pored into the cup and over what time period? If not, what is the best method to make this move??
Thanks to all for your help.

 

It won't take too long to get the fish used to that small change in pH, but any change can be stressful. If your temp is the same then in a bucket put a mix of around 75% their current water to 25% of the home tank. Give them about 5 minutes to get used to that and then add 1 cup of the home tank to the mix and let that sit for another 5 minutes (if you have to dump a little water to make room that's ok). Then 1 cup and let sit for 5 min, etc. for about 30 minutes. That should equalize the pH enough to make the change not really noticeable for your fish. Good Luck!

 

That is interesting will this take even if the fish have to go from an acidic tank to a base tank. like from 6.5 to 7.5. are there fish worse off than others?
mojo

 

Yes, you will just need to do this for a longer period of time (say about a hour of adding 1 cup of water every 5 minutes). This is the same way I get fish used to my tank water when I bring them home in the plastic bag from the pet store. I just float the bag for 20 minutes to get the temp the same and then start the 1 cup of water adding for the next 30-40 minutes. Of course with the pet store water I don't add it to the tank (I dump my fish into the fish net while pouring the bag out into a bucket just in case I miss).

Yes it also depends on the type of fish too. For most fish this will work without a problem, but certain really picky fish will require a little slower transition process. Before buying any fish be sure to look it up on the internet and see what type of water it generally likes and if others mention having any problems.

 

Thanks! That's very helpful. What sized bucket are we talking about? I currently have a 4 cup Pyrex cup measure ready to receive them and do the water transfur.Will that work?

 

Thank you very much even on fish lore there is still much to read.
mojo

 

Thanks! That's very helpful. What sized bucket are we talking about? I currently have a 4 cup Pyrex cup measure ready to receive them and do the water transfur.Will that work?

You might also have a cooler or rubbermaid container that would work for the acclimation process that Luniyn has suggested. Really, just anything big enough to put them in and then add water from the other tank until you end up with water that is more like the new tank than the old.

 

Thanks for all your help! The transition was smooth and everyone seems happy for now!

 

great to hear. any problems would have probably happened by now so sounds like all is good.