How can i lower my pH level from 9 to 6-7? URGENT?

Question

My fish are gasping for air on the top of the water because the pH level is too high for my fish....any ideas? i used 'Stress Zhyme' which they told be breaks toxic down in waters and maybe reduce pH level, and i used some oxygen tablets...any ideas? URGENT
thanks

Answer 1

Before messing around with your water and making things worse, this is what you do.

First, fill a container with tap water. Then run an airstone in this container (or anything that will agitate the surface) for a few hours to aerate it. now take a PH test. Once aerated, you can get a true PH reading of your tap water as is and respond appropriately. Once oxygenated the ph will often rise, so water straight out of the tap could appear lower then it really is.

Now, if your tap water is in the typical range of most tap water (low 7's to low 8's) you must have something in the tank causing it to rise. Are you using any salts or additives besides conditioner? Is there any coral, crushed coral, lime rock, or shells that might be bringing it up? Are you sure the ph tests are not old and are working properly? (they do have shelf life). If you find anything at all in the tank, remove it and begin doing water changes. Take a water sample to the fish store and have it tested, just to make sure. Ask them for an accurate number, not just 'high' or 'low' or 'ok'.

If your tap water is actually up that high, then no additive will work. Any bottled cure like "ph down" will be a temporary fix and in the end the ph will just become unstable and start bouncing up and down - the elements in the chemical will never win the fight against the elements in the water causing the problem in the first place. You can try using peat moss or driftwood, but it won't work if it's this high to start.

The only reliable method is to use distilled or Reverse osmosis water and mix this with your tap water until you reach your desired results. You don't want to use just R/O or distilled because it lacks buffers, which leads to an unstable tank.

Also, if your water is this high there is no need to bring it down too much. Any fish available can handle water up to the low 8's. My tap water has consistently been at about 8.2 for years and years and has never posed a problem. Fish are highly adaptable, and those ph levels you see in profiles are an estimation of their natural habitat, not what they need to survive.

And last, make sure you've diagnosed the problem properly. Gasping at the surface is not a typical sign of PH problems, but of oxygen issues. High ph is more of a long term thing, and the higher the ph the more toxic things like ammonia become (at 9 ammonia is much, much, much more toxic then at 7 or even 8), so in effect fish end up dying from toxins and not a high ph directly. make sure you've got good water flow and aeration in the tank and that it is not overstocked.

Answer 2

I have to agree with Ghapy on this - don't do anything until you determine the cause of the high pH, and you might want to run another test (or have your pet store test a sample of the water and your tap water for you). I've kept fish in a pH around 8.3 and the fish are more adaptable than you'd think.

The gasping at the top MIGHT be a sign of too little oxygen (or too high of a water temperature) but this is usually a sign of ammonia or nitrite in the water, especially if this is a new tank or you've used an antibiotic recently. The antibiotic destroys the bacteria that convert the ammonia and nitrite, which are toxic to your fish, to nitrate. In a new tank, you just haven't had time for the bacteria to build up in the first place. Rather than just checking the pH, check the ammonia and nitrite levels, and if either is above 0.5, do a 50% water change ASAP, but add the new water SLOWLY! Making any change is stressful to fish, and if a combination of ammonia, nitrite, and pH are different, you don't want this to happen too fast!

Also, be sure that your water conditioner is compatible with the chemicals used by your water supplier - some use chlorine, others use chloramine. If you use the one for chlorine and they add chloramine, you're also releasing toxic ammonia and chlorine into your tank. If in doubt, use the conditioner and dose (since some treat both) for chloramine, then call your water company Monday and find out which is used.

ADDITION: If your pH really is that high, adding driftwood to the tank, or a cloth or mesh bag of peatmoss to your filter will help to slowly lower it. But as Ghapy mentioned, make sure you don't have anything in the tank causing the pH to increase - remove any coral or seashells, and check some of the gravel and any rocks by taking them out and dripping a little vinegar on them - if the fizz, take them out of the tank, as these will be what's causing the pH to go up (although it'd be unusual. to have them increase the pH above 7.8). It your water source has the same pH, doing water changes as others suggest won't bring it down. So check your tap water (if that's what you use) as well.

Answer 3

9 ph is huge. This is extreamly high and most fish can't live in this. You have 2 choices because your water is probably exceedingly hard.
1 - Get an RO unit which will clog more often than stated on the package due to the high amount of hardness and check to see where your water comes in after going through the RO unit and adjust from there. My opinion is that the best way to adjust ph after taking the hardness out is to get Canadian peat moss and filter through this. Yes it turns the water a tea color though if you want to have really soft water fish it's great. If you are just looking to get near neutral to keep anything alive then this certainly isn't necessary.
2 - You have excellent water for Tanganykan cichlids. Get a large tank for some Frontosa or Tropheus or make a community aquarium for some lellupi or cyprochromis, brichardi, etc. Shell dwellers are great for small tanks and a lot of fun to watch. There are some great Tanganykans that would love this water and it's a lot easier to get fish that fit your water parameters than it is to always change your water around. There may even be some livebearers from Central America that like water in these parameters though I don't know enough about live bearers to know what the actual water parameters of the various species are in nature just that a lot of them like hard water.
I would like at this water as a blessing for now and go through all of the fish that fit this high ph parameters and then in the future when or if you get bored of these fish move on then.

Answer 4

water changes and fast! Do a 50% water change today - with dechlorinated tap water. Then do another one tomorrow. And then continue with 10% water changes daily until your pH is back to 7. Do not use "pH down" or any chemical like that -

Test your tap water's pH - it should be about 7, if it isn't, then use bottled spring water or RO water.

Did your tank just suddenly pop a 9? or has it steadily been climbing? You need to find out what caused your high pH so that you can fix it.

What you don't want to do is shock your fish by making a too abrupt change in pH.

Answer 5

Stop adding chemicals and do a large water change. Don't even put in oxygen tablets. All those chemicals combined with a sudden drop in pH can kill fish. 9 is a fine pH for most tropical fish. What species do you have?

Answer 6

go to your nearest pet store and get ph down. if your petstore is closed clean your tank, but not all the way only 30 percent max. hope your fish survive good luck

Answer 7

Do a 25 % water change asap, and if it is still high after that add some phdown. You can find it at the local fish store, most places carry it.

Answer 8

get lower ph from the fish store itsmade esspecially for that and y is it 9

Answer 9

you need to add asid to lower ph