PH @ 9.0 ! + bonus question

[wonkey182]

Hi guys, *PEACE!*

So i noticed some of my mollies ( of which was a mistake to buy as i hate them ) have got what looks like Ich.

I did a water test and noticed my PH is 9.0 !!! and i have no idea why its ended up that high tbh.

I think the reason the mollies are effected is that they are the least hardy in the tank ( other fish are danio and a young plec)

Ive seen ways to reduce PH with poweders and stuff but i want to really aviod using anything like that. my Tap water is about 6.5 - 7.0 so its strange that my PH is soo high.

Ive had tanks before but this is the largest one ive had yet ( roughly 290L ).

Obviously i ned to treat the ICH but how else other then water changes can i get the PH under control ?

ok time for the bonus question

can Danios live with Chiclids ?

Cheers

Dan

 

[KcMopar]

You can add drift wood but, sometimes is tints the water a little. A few 20% every other day is the best way in my opinion. also before you add medicine jack the temp up to 80-84 or so before you do water changes. This temp will help kill the ich and doing vacuuming and water changes will get the parasites that fall to the bottom and help stabilize the PH at the same time. If the temp thing does not work in a couple weeks you may need to treat with meds. This method has worked more me every time, its best to try none medication methods first.

 

[KcMopar]

OH, I forgot the last question, Danios would be cichlid food, Not a good idea to put community fish with cichlids.

 

[Thyra]

Just curious - why do you hate the mollies? I realize they seem to be prone to Ich, but they also seem to recover fairly easy with no side effects.

 

[KcMopar]

If you keep mollies you need to have the temp 80-82 to keep the ich episodes down and you must vacuum and water change weekly. Also note that you need to have good water surface movement at this temp for good gas exchange.

 

[wonkey182]

Cheers for the advice guys,

Ill try the temp solution first however one mollie seems to be already Badley effected by the ich as he can barley swim at all it seems.

Whats odd is how fast it seems to effect them, the most recent casualty only showed signs of it about two days ago and now he can barley swim and even sometimes just rotates in one direction like he has lost the use of a fin.

I have also noticed I have Fry whcih look like mollies soo looks like ill have to get used to them, I also am aware about if I do any meds its only half dose.

Shame about the Chiclids but nevermind id probs prefer to get more danios instead.

fish count at the moment is :- 5 Danios, 3 Mollies, 1 plec and 2 little fry.

 

[Sageofstupidity]

If you keep mollies you need to have the temp 80-82 to keep the ich episodes down and you must vacuum and water change weekly. Also note that you need to have good water surface movement at this temp for good gas exchange.

I kept mollies, guppies and glofish at about 79 degrees for a month or so before lowering the temperature to 74 degrees. After I lowered the temperature they all seemed happier and more active, no ich outbreaks at all yet and I do not vacuum my substrate like I should and my topfin30 filter did not produced a lot of irritation, still no problems with my fish but some swim bladder problem and a case of fin rot, both guppies.

Ich does not make your fish swim funny, at least to my knowledge. That sounds more like a swim bladder problem to me. The only problem I had with mollies is that my nephew dumped 3 oz of fish food into a 10 gallon with 3 mollies and some fry, all died after I switched them to a new tank. Guess I am just lucky so far.

 

[Orion]

Have you checked the pH of your tap water after it's been sitting out over night with a bubble stone in it? It's easiest to do this in a bucket. The pH often rises after the water has gassed off for about 24 hours.

That could explain why the pH is so different straight from your tap and your tank. If it is or not, small more frequent water changes will help keep the water stable no matter what the chemistry is like someone already suggested. And yeah, 9.0 is up there on the scale, however if your not going to breed anything it's not worth fussing over in trying to lower it down if that's what it naturally wants to be at from your water source.

 

[OrangeCones]

I did a water test and noticed my PH is 9.0 !!! and i have no idea why its ended up that high tbh.

What do you use for gravel and what kind of decorations are in the tank?

 

[Aquatic.Sylph]

I'm quite a newbie, but from what I've read, Mollies are brackish fish and need a little salt? My first reaction would be to check what kind of sand you have (coral in there??) and take the decorations out. I had a decoration, that I bought from a pet store, specifically for fish, that did very bad things to my water! So, you never know.

 

[wonkey182]

Hmmm the gravel/sandy texture that is in the is somthing ive never seen before ( i never put it in the tank it was inherited ) I was thinking i was going to change it anyway to larger gravel/stones as it looks more natural.

For scenary i have three rocks and some bog wood.

I think the gravel may well be the problem its not even something ive considred but it makes perfect sense that its probobly contributing to the high PH.

The mollie seems to be back to normal and swimming ok however he still has the ICH but thats somthing im going to monitor for a few weeks and then last resort is adding treatment.

Cheers guys the gravel theory is totaly a head slapping moment lol

 

[KcMopar]

I would look at your water from your tap as mentioned before by orion. High PH can come from soft water, without water hardness to stabilize the pH it can spike if you have soft water. Do the 24 hour test he suggested and see what happens before you assume your substrate is doing this which is not very likely. Gather some data before making huge changes to your tank that could effect a recycling of your tank. Also make sure you have test equipment that is not out of date (old) as this can cause bogus readings.