What are symptoms of Ph shock?

Question

I want to know all of them, cuz I added Ph to the water yesterday and one of my freshwater fish (a shark) died. He was blue and red....poor thing! :( I need to know if he was just stunned or not, although other fish were picking at him like cannibals.

How is Ph related to Ammonia?

Answer 1

Either the pH change or ammonia poisoning could have been the problem here, it really depends on several factors. The main point to come away with is you should never alter the pH of a tank directly. You always alter other water and then do a water change after it has time to adjust and "bounce" into it's final pH value.

All that assuming you even need to alter the pH at all. As long as the pH is within the range of 5.5 - 8.5 or so you shouldn't have to alter it through chemical methods if at all.

Many thanks to: http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_adjusting_pH.php
for one of the answers below that was illegally copied from that site.

MM

Answer 2

If he died soon after adding the ph product, it most likely was the culprit of him dying. I usually don't recommend adjusting ph in a tank. Most fish now are tank bred, and can handle most any ph. A stable ph is better for fish then what that fluctuates. When ph changes suddenly-even small amounts, it stresses the fish, and can kill a lot of them. Plus, with those ph up/down chemicals, they don't work. If you don't use a buffer in the water, the ph changes again very quickly. Don't use them anymore.

Answer 3

Ph is a secondary culprit, it doesn't kill fish outright instantly unless it is at the farthest extremes. Freshwaer fish die all the time when Ph buffer is added to raise Ph. This happens most of the time because there is sometimes Ammonia present as well. When Ph is low, below 7.0, ammonia is not toxic, it converts to NH4 or Ammonium. Once you buffer the Ph up to a "suitible" level, the ammonium converts back to it's lethal cousin Ammonia (NH3). So the fish don't die from "Ph shock" but by ammonia poisoning.

If your losing fish, do a 50% water change immediately. Then test for Ammonia and Nitrite as well as Ph and go from there.

Answer 4

You shouldn't have messed with the ph. That's why the fish died. Leave it alone. Other than regular water changes you should not attempt to raise or lower your ph. Fish cannot handle swings in temperature or ph. Before you put something in the water next time know exactly what your doing and do some homework before you kill more of your fish. Adding anything to water should be very carefully examined.

Answer 5

PH shock can be as simple as the fish simply stops moving and dies, or jitters around the tank making quirky movements and dies, doesnot eat hides.

My first question is why are you trying to change the PH? More than likely it was the addition of the ph product that caused the fish's death. When adjusting or attempting to adjust the ph of your tank, it has to be done slowly and over time not all at once. Most fish can live in a variety of ph levels from 5-8. The happy medium neutral at 7.

Perhaps you should figure out why your ph is too low or too high.

This is going to sound dumb but what kind of gravel do you have? Believe it or not certain types of gravel will keep your ph from increasing or increase it too much.

The property of water to resist changes in pH is known as buffering capacity. You can determine the capacity of your buffering system by measuring total hardness. A reading of 4-6 dH or higher is usually adequate to keep the buffering system in place and maintain a stable pH. A reading under 4 dH means there isn't enough of a buffering system and the pH is likely to drop. For higher pH levels, you will probably want to aim for 6-12 dH. Many hobbyists choose to measure only Carbonate Hardness (KH), which is a measure of the calcium carbonates in your water. This test is also effective in maintaining a proper buffer system. When testing for Carbonate Hardness, a reading of 75-100 mg/L is adequate for most aquariums, while a reading of 100-200 mg/L would be desired for higher pH levels. For the purpose of freshwater aquariums, measuring either total hardness or carbonate hardness is necessary, but measuring both independently would not be needed.

You need to know that anywhere in your aquarium where detritus (a fancy term for dirt) accumulates is a source of Phosphate production. As detritus accumulates in your gravel bed and on your filter pads, the Phosphate levels in your aquarium rise. Free Phosphate ions may bond with calcareous buffering material, precipitating calcium from your aquarium, and reducing your aquariums ability to keep pH stable. This is why it is so very important to clean your filter pads regularly and vacuum the aquarium gravel with each water change. In addition, your tap water contains buffering ions. Doing regular partial water changes will help to replenish the buffers which have been lost. This is important in all aquariums, because fish respiration and organic wastes alone will cause a gradual drop in the ability of your aquarium to buffer against pH swings.

Now the question becomes what to do if the fish you want to keep have very special pH requirements. If your fish prefer a pH level which is reasonably close to the pH your aquarium water is naturally buffered to, then I do not recommend you make any changes at all. Unless you are keeping an extremely specialized fish your fish will be fine. On the other hand, if your fish have pH requirements which are far from the values in your tank, then you have work to do.

Let us consider methods of raising the pH of your tap water. There are many additives on the market today which claim to raise your pH. Most of the liquid products on the market today are a 50/50 success at best when used alone only to find the ph will soon return to the normal level of 6. You also need to use a product to increase the buffering ability of your aquarium. To maintain a stable pH in the upper levels of the pH scale for fishkeeping, I would recommend using a buffering substrate such as crushed coral. You can add crushed coral to your existing aquarium. You can place larger amounts of shells or chrushed coral beneath the substraight in the tank. I personally place the crushed coral in a mesh bag and place the bag in my filter. You will want about 1 kg of crushed coral per 40 liters of water to buffer the water to hold a pH around 7.6. This method does not allow for the use of large quantities of crushed coral, but can be effective if you only need to make small adjustments to your aquariums buffering ability. This is why ocean items such as shells and ocean sand should not be used in a fresh water aquarium. It does raise the PH level.

Be assured that attempting to control pH is the most frustrating experience for a fish hobbyist. I would guess that 50% of the problems encountered in new aquariums are a result of the aquarist attempting to change the pH level. Few fish keepers actually need to adjust their pH. For the majority of aquarists your tap water pH will be adequate. The dangers of adjusting the pH incorrectly far outweigh any benefit you may receive by moving your pH a few points on the scale.

Remember, when it comes to adjusting your pH, less is more! Stability is most important. Routine maintenance is the key to keeping your pH stable and your fish healthy!

Also, do not use baking soda in your tank. Over doing the ph plus adding additional salt is not going to do your tank any good. It will also revert back to 6 when the carbon filters pull the Soda out.
Hope this helps