PH and Dying Glofish

So long kinda longish story so please bare with me. Last month I got a 10 gallon tank and cycled the tank. I slowly added in 6 glofish danios. Well after a few days one died, a few days later another died. I was doing some research and saw that keeping them in such a small tank was cruel since they are such active fish. So next thing I know I am at the store buying a 20g. I brought over as much substrate as I could including the filter and as much water as I could. Within a few days I lost another glofish and then another. I tested the water and the PH was 8.8+. When I bought the new aquarium I bought some new decorations so I promptly took them out thinking it could have been them? However, I suspected it was my water. I put some tap water in a bucket and tested it with a reading of 7.4, great. I then tested the water after 24 hours and it was at a 8.4. My tank water however the next night had lowered a bit to 8.2. At this point I am not sure what to do. I'm scared to change the water if that is that problem. However, I have also read fish like glofish can adjust to ph. I am not going to use chemicals to mess with the ph. We have well water which I am told is very hard. I read that driftwood and peat moss helps naturally lower the ph? I had a betta months ago too that mysterious got sick and died out of no where. As of last night my Ammonia level is at 0ppm, my Nitrites are at 0ppm, and my Nitrates are at 20ppm. I'm just getting really discouraged that I can not keep a fish alive no matter what I do.

 

Hello hanz0. Welcome to fishlore. I'm sorry your having issues. Your tank sounds cycled,so no problems there.when it comes to PH your right fish can easily adapt to high PH. What is not good is fluctuating PH. Is your well water chlorinated? That will quickly kill your fish. If your not sure best treat with prime. Or some other water conditioner the removes chlorine. As fare as PH changes, test the water twice a day for a week to monitor any changes in PH. We can go from there.

 

I do use a water conditioner, just in case it's not. I also doubled checked to see if the conditioner had anything about PH changing on it, which is does not. I will certainly be testing it daily. Thanks!

 

I have well water too. Not chlorinated, so I don't use water conditioner either. My PH is also between 8.2-8.4.

 

Would you recommend storing the water for 24 hours before doing a water change? I know it's a pain and takes up room but that way it is not fluctuating like crazy once I put it in the tank.

 

Yea that's the way I did it back in the day. It will also remove the chlorine if any.

 

Awesome, I will have to try that. I feel awful that the poor fish start with a PH of 7.4 and then over 24 hours go up to a 8.4. No wonder they are dying. I always just assumed my well water was okay.

 

Yea Neons are very sensitive. That's probably why I don't keep them. That kind of a PH jump can defiantly cause shock.
Edit: sorry I was thinking of another thread about Neons.

 

I recently had somewhat similar issues with a batch of Glofish tetras. I moved them from a 20 gallon that had a pH of 7.4 to a 46g with a pH of 7.8. I unfortunately didn't think to check that or the hardness BEFORE the move because they were both my tanks and I didn't think the water would differ that much between them. The GH and KH were not wildly off between the tanks, but the water in their old tank was softer along with the lower pH. About 5 hours after the move (which was about a half hour acclimation until the water was about 75% new tank water - too fast in retrospect), one by one they started acting as though they were suffocating and three of them died within 5 minutes. I was able to get the other 3 into their old tank, but by 2 hours later they were on their sides at the bottom of the tank, moving only their gills, and they all passed away during the night. Considering they are generally considered a hardy fish, there was definitely something about the shift in hardness, shift in pH, or combination of both that they did not handle well.

You may want to take samples of your tap water on a fairly regular basis for a while to see if the pH of it changes with the time of day or if the weather has any effect. One person who was helping me figure out what happened to my fish mentioned that his water is very different during the spring rains than it is during the winter, for example. One worker at my LFS has mentioned that he pulls his water change water at the same time of day each time because the pH is different then than it is in the morning or the evening.

If it's rising above 8 by just being in your tank without water changes, that would point to something different, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what that would be.

 

That is really interesting, thanks for sharing. It's hard to believe that water can change that much and that quickly. When I first tested my tap water months ago I tested it right away, I didn't know about the 24hr wait period. I couldn't believe it went up that much in 1 day. I'm hoping when I do water changes just letting the water sit out and stabilize first will help. I will also pull it at the same time of day, just in case!

It was interesting when I pulled out all the decor that the ph dropped. Everything that is in there was bought from Pet Smart, I am assuming it was all aquarium safe. I don't know what else could have caused the drop since I didn't put anything in the tank or change the water.

 

I heard crushed coral helps with PH, just forgot if it raises or lowers it.

 

coral raises ph. Driftwood lowers ph

 

coral raises ph. Driftwood lowers ph

Thank you for the info...I wasn't sure the effect it had.