[AquaticLife] My new tank chemistry
How did you acclimate the fish? What were the stores tank water parameters compared to your own? If there were differences, which is likely, then the bigger the difference, the longer the acclimation period should be. If the store had a pH of 7.0 and yours is in the high 7’s or low 8’s, you should probably have done a drip acclimation or at least a very slow.. several hours.. acclimation by doing small PWC’s from the stores water to yours. The symptoms you are seeing with your fish… sluggishness and then death are signs of pH shock.
Why did you only add 1/3rd of the Bio-Spira… unless you bought the large size for a small tank.
What are your tap water baseline parameters? See my blog for my article on establishing your tap water baseline parameters. I would post links but the links are long and yahoogroups breaks them anyhow so look on the right side for the article titles and/or label links.
With such a high pH, even a little ammonia can be toxic. See the charts on this page… http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/AmmoniaTox.html
I’m not sure where you are getting the idea that water will absorb CO2 while in a bucket. If you were using CO2 injection, it would, but not from the actual air which is O2 rich. Most often, surface agitation will result in the water outgasing CO2 rather than ingasing it unless there was absolutely NO CO2 in the water to start with which isn’t likely.
Sometimes, with certain water sources, the water will have a higher CO2 level and lower pH (like some wells) but most city utilities take steps to buffer up the pH of the water since a low pH causes corrosion in the pipes. This is why it’s important to know your tap water baseline and what happens to it once it’s exposed to light and air after 24 and 48 hours.
What is the pH of your distilled water? It’s not always going to be 7.0 like one would think.
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
