What does pH mean and does it kill fish?

Question

What does pH mean and does it kill fish?

Answer 1

ph is the alkalinity or acidity of your water...

for MOST tropical fish you want neutral water with a ph of 7.0

for angel fish and some tetra you want a slightly acidic water ("soft") of between 6.8 and 7.0 no lower than 6.8 though.

for cichlids you want a "hard" water (meaning mildly alkaline) in the 8.2-8.6 range ideally.

you will need a LIQUID test kit to find out your ph...

You can add nutralizers to lower the ph...

and YES...keeping fish in too high or low ph WILL kill them!

Answer 2

Most everyone has answered what pH is, but I just wanted to comment on whether or not it kills fish. I live in San Antonio, where the water is very alkaline. When I first set up my aquarium, I tried for nearly two weeks testing the water a few times a day and adding more pH down, according to the label directions. I finally gave up and called Alamo Aquatics and they said that I was actually doing more harm than good, and that I could add bottles of the chemicals and it would do no good. They also told me that any fish bought in a local pet store were already adjusted to living in acidic water, and that all they do is dechlorinate their water and their fish do just fine.

Answer 3

A measure of acidity and alkalinity of a solution that is a number on a scale on which a value of 7 represents neutrality and lower numbers indicate increasing acidity and higher numbers increasing alkalinity and on which each unit of change represents a tenfold change in acidity or alkalinity and that is the negative logarithm of the effective hydrogen-ion concentration or hydrogen-ion activity in gram equivalents per liter of the solution; also : the condition represented by a pH number

Answer 4

When you test the PH of your water, it determines how acidic or alkaline it is.(0-14) Depending on the type of fish/plants/inverts you have in your tank it can vary.. most fresh water fish do well in 7.0, while saltwater fish do best in 8.2-8.4. Weekly water changes and addition of PH products could maintain and help to keep a healthy tank.  

Answer 5

pH is a measure of how acidic your water is. Some fish require a higher pH that others, so you need to do research before you just throw fish into a tank. It can kill fish, but I feel like it would have to be reallllllyyyy off. What would probably happen is if the water wasn't the correct pH, the fish would become stressed and would be more susceptible to parasites and sickness. (which could inevitably kill them.)

Answer 6

pH refers to whether the water is acid or alkaline.  7.0 is neutral, and near that is what most freshwater fsh prefer.  Higher than 7.0 is acidic, and lower than that is base or alkaline.  Too far on either end of the scale will kill the fish, and some are more sensitive than others.  There are fish that live in water 1.5 -2 points above neutral, I'm not sure about how far below.

Answer 7

It measures what is acidic and basic. 7 is neutral and is the best. Below 7 is acidic, with anything below 6 is bad and above 7 is basic with anything above 8 is bad for your fish. Your fish can die if it the water is too extreme in either direction. The exact number really depends on what kind of fish you want because some require more strict neutrality, but many are ok between 6-8. If you use tap water you will need to treat it, but you can get purified water with reverse osmosis at the grocery store.