I have 2 fancy goldfish, 1 goldfish, and 1 clown fish loach. i tested my ph and it was so high!?

Question

I was wondering if anyone knows what to do to make the ph come back up to a normal level. i know the type of fish i have produce a lot of waste which probably causes this problem. but what can i do to make my ph not so high. i believe my ph is about 7.9 or even 8. if you have any advice on how to fix this problem i have this would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Answer 1

Fish waste should lower the pH, not raise it.

Are any of your fish currently experiencing problems? If not, why bother to change it at all? You'll only make it fluctuate every time you do a water change, and this is more stressful for your fish than leaving it alone.

Where I lived previously, I kept tropical fish in tapwater that was a pH of 8.3, and it was never a problem for my fish.

Answer 2

Clown Loaches get about a foot long and need to be kept in groups. Also, they are tropical fish that need warm water. Fancy Goldfish get about a foot long and require coldwater, for this reason, these two types of fish cannot be housed together. Regular Goldfish get about 2 feet long and are coldwater. For these fish, you would need 125+ gallons right now, and that is before you fill out the Clown Loaches school. Separate the Goldfish into one 75 gallon tank and move the Clown Loach into a 125 gallon tank (and add some other Clown Loaches). Or, probably the better option, give back all the fish and get fish you can afford to keep. Right now, pH is the last of your worries.

Nosoop4u

Answer 3

According to Robyn, the most knowledgable goldfish person I've ever run across on the web, goldfish can tolerate up to 8.0pH. I wouldn't mess with it.

Robyn's Goldfish page
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/gfish.htm


Now, as to your clown loach, not only does he need a neutral pH, but he isn't a coldwater fish. He has no business being in a coldwater tank, which is definately what you should be keeping your goldfish in. Goldfish need water 50 - 75 degrees. Clown loaches need 76 - 84 degrees. These 2 fish are environmentally incompatible. I recommend putting the loach in a different, warmer tank and see how your pH does there for him, or returning him to the store that told you these 2 fish could live in a tank together.

Actually, imo, goldfish shouldn't even be in tanks, but should be reserved for ponds unless you have a really BIG tank.

Here's another article on goldfish.
http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/104/


As to how to lower pH, peat moss helps, and so does driftwood.

Don't use pH down!!

PH is stabilized by your KH (carbonate hardness) level, and it will only bounce back up to where the KH places it. Fish (like your loach) would be better off adjusting to a high pH than having it bounce on them. The CHANGE is harder on them than the level being outside their parameters.

Peat moss and driftwood change the KH and also soften the water.

Here is a very good, tho highly involved, article on understanding pH, KH, GH and dH. It is involved, but this is something every aquarist should educate himself on. It took me tons of google searching to find this info when I needed it. Take advantage of having the link given to you!

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/june2002/chem.htm

Driftwood - http://www.petfish.net/kb/entry/194/

I don't have anything handy on peat moss. I thought I did, but can't find anything. I strongly suggest you research on it before trying it!

Best of luck and wisdom with your fish.

Answer 4

Fancy Clown Fish

Answer 5

Make sure you change the water regularly, and make sure that the water you use does not have a really high pH. But I would also recommend that you go to your local fish store where they sell a product that lowers the pH level in fish tanks. It comes in a little bottle and is not very expensive at all. That is the easiest way I find to keep the pH of my tank neutral. Good luck!

Answer 6

Hi, I would leave it well alone-a pH of 8.0 is fine, mine is exactly that. Many of the over-the-counter additives which artificially raise or lower pH are quite slow to react at first & you may well find after a time that adding these give you a huge pH imbalance which is almost impossible to stabilize.

Answer 7

increase the water changes, and increase the gallons.

try adding peat moss, and water conditioners like ph down.

On a side note, you must have one big tank, somewhere over 100 gallons for the clown loach and the goldfish, they really dont mix well as the temp differences and the water quality.

Remember that while clown loaches have a slow growth rate, they will get very large, 12 + inches. Goldfish will range from fancies at 12 inches to commons at 24 inches.

So your looking at a big tank, and with goldfish a canister filter.

Answer 8

iof u got a gravel vac i would do a quick 25 percent water change and gravel vac and and then check it out to c wut happends