ghost knife slow death ph problem

[tletle]

Help. Slowly over last two weeks my fish have been dying. Some of my faint danioes died. My gobies. I had my Ph tested its TOO high... The stuff to get it down not working. I have small tank setup and put ghost knife in. I learned that the crushed coral is the killer. I think. My ghost knife is about 2 years old. I don't want to lose him. He swims around some then he lays on side. Its a 45 gallon with external filter and air bubbler. Some of the fish that died of stomach bloat.

Help please

 

[Doratus]

I'm no expert but what I would do is get a large bucket or some other empty tank and fill it up with treated tap water, the same stuff you would add in a water change. I would put the fish in there for the time being, adding a submersible filter like a fluval. Of course make sure the water is the same temperature as the water in the existing tank as to not further increase stress. I would then do a complete water change. If you think the crushed coral really is the problem I would of course replace it at this time.

You have to think about other factors though as well. Do you have sufficient filtration? Is the temperature right? Have you ever tested for Nitrates or Nitrites? In my amateur opinion you need to basically start over from scratch and hope the fish lives through the cycling process. Although depending on what exactly is the cause of the pH imbalance you may be able to keep your filtration media and whatnot so that there is already good bacteria ready to go.

Sorry to hear about your troubles and sorry I couldn't be of more help. I just joined this forum myself but I'm sure someone else will chime in.

 

[lauraf]

tletle - do not worry about your pH. Your fish are likely suffering because you are fiddling with the pH level, which is causing them stress, or you have high ammonia, nitrites or nitrates. Do you own liquid test kits so that you can post your current water readings? If you are relying on your local fish store to test the water for you, please 1) ask them to write down the exact readings for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate; 2) watch to see if they are using liquid tests or dipping strips in the water (strip tests are really unreliable!) and most importantly 3) buy your own liquid test kits anyway.
Also, what do you mean by 'small tank setup' when you are referring to a 45gallon tank? And have you actually owned the knife fish for 2 years? I am rather confused by your post.

 

[prsturm]

There are a couple of possibilities here without knowing more of your water parameters. If your pH has been inching up slowly, your fishes should be able to acclimate to the higher pH within a reasonable range and avoid osmotic shock. What is the exact value of the pH?

Secondly, if they are suffering from bloat, this could be a protozoan infection, and the pH might be a distraction. If the deaths have started over a gradual period of time, and is slowly picking off your fish, this would tend to support the protozoan or bacterial hypothesis, as general water conditions would tend to kill off your fish much faster and more all at once.

At any rate, crushed coral for a freshwater aquarium is really dicey, and only good if you have a naturally low pH in your source water. Did you add crushed coral to manage a low pH factor, or because someone sold it to you as a better alternative?

I would guess you are dealing with infection. If it was a pH thing, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, since jacking down the pH quickly would be just as dangerous and damaging. I can't tell you what to do, but you have two options to start troubleshooting and eliminating possible causes through the process of elimination.

 

[Doratus]

The more I think about my previous post the more I feel like I may have given you bad advice. Don't go taking your fish out of your tank and putting them into buckets unless its absolutely critical. Basically just listen to the other people.