Ph Lower

So this weekend I bout some neon tetras from my LFS but they all died within 24 hrs. Once in my tank they started to swim at weird angles. The tank is a 20 gallon with 1 dg and 2 platies. Parameters are 0-0-0 8.4 which I know is high but my other tanks have been running for months at this ph.

But anyways I went back to get my money back and they did there water test and I was told I needed to lower my ph before they could do anything so I get apI ph down and added 20 drops for my 20 gallon (which is half of what bottle said) because I didn’t want to lower it to fast.

Do I need to add more drops to lower the ph more. I’m planning to get drift wood soon and live plants as soon as possible. Any thoughts on this topic could use some pointers. This is one category that I need to learn more about.

 

Messing with ph stabilizers is usually unnecessary, and often times is more dangerous than beneficial. Most fish are able to adapt to many different levels in ph, so you really shouldn’t need to mess with it, but if you feel like you should, I would do it naturally. Some peat moss in the filter can lower ph, as can pieces of driftwood.

Also, if all of your parameters are 0, your fish tank is not cycled and that could be causing the issues you experienced. You should have some levels of nitrate.

 

Look up drip acclimation. You probably shocked them if you just dumped them in.
If you want, you can mix some distilled water with each water change for a lower pH.
You can also get a RO buddy system and mix it with tap to get a lower pH water.

 

Just cut the water with RO.

A 80/20 RO to tap mix should be enough.

You can buy RO at grocery stores.

 

If you really want to try to lower it, I'd to the tap/RO mix method. Although, as long as the PH is stable, you really don't have to worry about it. Neon Tetras are notorious for dropping dead for no reason.