HELP!! Need to lower PH in aquarium!?

Question

We have had three fish die in the last 24 hours! The Ph level in our 36 gal. aquarium is WAY too high! It's too late now to go to the pet store to buy a product for lowering the Ph, but I don't want to wait until morning. Is there anything we can do to accomplish this?

Any household remedies?

Thank you.

Answer 1

you problem is not ph I can garentee that right now and the ph is not the cause of your fishes deaths if you contact me with the following information I will help you all I can

1 how long has the tank been set up

2 what kind of fish were they and how long had you had them

3 is your tank water clear or cloudy

4 what were the fish doing just before they died

5 how do you clean your tank do you wash the gravel

6 have you tested for ammonia ,nitrite,nitrate if so what were the readings

you can contact me thur my profile

Answer 2

I won't be so outlandish to say PH can't cause the deaths you've seen.  It very well could have.  Could have and likely though aren't the same words.

Ok, first things first to figure this out.  When you say way too high, I'd like to know what is the PH reading before trying to jump into that aspect.  Also, what kind of tester are you using?  If this is a test strip, that's already a big problem as they are extremly inaccurate.

Ok secondly, once we know what the PH is exactly, your way of solving a PH issue, is usually done prior to fish being in the water simply because PH swings can very much cause stress, shock and death.  However, for that to occur, it'd have to be a massive and fast shift, and short of you adding something in, that's not going to happen too often.

You do however tackle a PH issue, by adjusting your hardness in order to do it properly and reduce stress on your fish.  I'd like to know your PH reading, and if you have a hardness tester, what that is before safely saying PH caused this issue.

Answer 3

Yes you can mess with the pH using cooking ingredients, almost certain you will kill your fish though.

I wouldn't assume the pH is the problem, unless it's suddenly changed. In that case you need to work out why, something in the tank (limestone?) or a change in your tap water.

Generally a stable pH is the best thing, a fluctuating pH will kill fish though.

But something is obviously wrong with your tank, I just suspect it's something other than a pH problem. More likely to be an ammonia / nitrite issue. A high pH does make ammonia more toxic, but the pH isn't the main problem.

As an emergency measure you could do some partial water changes, it wont make things any worse, and if you have an ammonia issue, at least you are diluting it.

Get some full water tests done asap so you know the right action to take.

Ian

Answer 4

try co2 injection into your tank this will lower it and help live plants