cant get the ph right ....help me

[shorty]

a month ago i started a new 13 galon tank with three juvenile angelfish and asome corydoras catfish.....my tap water ph is 7.6

I used a ph buffer to take the Ph level down to 6.5 and it said it would keep it there but within 48 hours it was back up again.

i have lost four angelfish sine i started the tank up and the nitrite and amonia levels arent to bad. I do a 1/4 water change every week. the fish i have in there at the moment look helthy but i dont think that they will do too well in there and be destined to a fate like all the otheres!!!!!!!!

can you advise me on what to do?

 

[fishboy]

Do not use chemicals to lower Ph! It would probabl be easier if you just leave it the way it is. Do the angels still seem to do fine with a higher ph? What do you mean by "the ammonia and nitrite levels aren't to bad" are they at zero or what? Eithet they are dying becuase the ph swing of adding the buffer or because you have ammonia/ and nitrite.

Good luck,
Daniel

 

[wayne]

Just leave the pH as is - 7.6 is nothing to worry about , but bouncing it around with chemicals will cause you problems. If you really want to do this determine the Gh/Kh of your water and reduce it by mixing it with RO till it's at a low level, then try to reduce the pH.
Ammonia and nitrite should be zero - nothing higher is acceptable. Anything higher after cycling indicates problems

 

[shorty]

the amonia level is at 0.05 and the nitrite level is at about 1. The filter is new so i figured that it was jst because it isnt established properly yet. The fish that are n there at the moment are doing fine but so were the others before they started dying. the catfish have been fine from the start though. How do i bring the amonia and nitrite levels down then?I have been using stress zyme once a week after a partial water change.... i thought that this would help.

 

[wayne]

Well I'm a bit surprised ammonia is stil up a bit, but basically you're waiting for your cycle to start. Got any live plants? Do you have a good lfs nearby - go and get a piece of java moss or java fern - they're bullet proof plants that will have bacteria on them. Else, keep up with the water changes to make sure you don't hit damaging/fatal levels of these things. Do what commmon sense suggests

 

[shorty]

ok thanks. I syphoned the gravel today which is something i havent tried before. I had great difficulty doing it and now the water looks worse than it started with. Will this settle or is this a bad sign??

 

[SoulFish]

id work on your fish mix too, 3 angelfish will outgrow a 13 in no time