Red Tail Chelseus Upside Down...

[ddavila06]

got a call from my sister " is you fishok?" "your large one looks funny", more than funny!!! is upside down.... i had this one for about 2 years, since i moved, moved different tanks, survived unch of diseases and craps going on on my tanks...it just did well since always and all of the sudden this
i checked my ammonia and ph and the ph is waaay off, i always had issues with low ph, fish seemed happy so i kept it that way, now it testes blue! 7.8 or so...same as thesink water...other that that i do not know, standard stuff, the temperature has been at 81~i did awater change saturday afternoon and added some of that thing, somethig -aldahide that is supposed to be the same as flourish exel, also added some potasium which i never used before. help! thanks

[ddavila06]

.hes a red tail

[ddavila06]

the fish finally died last night the ph won't go down!!! i think it died of ph shock, any suggestions where i can get some peat moss to add to the fiters maybe? supposely that helps right?

[eleontie]

Home depot. I have some if you want . but it is probably easier to just go to your nearest gardening store.

Eugen

[dSerk]

Merrifield Garden Center has "Organic Sphagnum Peat Moss" sold in cubic foot parcels. Lots more than you need, but it's cheap.

[Cristy Keister]

Have you been trying to lower the pH? It's not usually a good idea to try to lower the pH of your aquarium water. The pH change is going to stress your fish a lot more than having the pH a little higher. Besides, 7.8 is not too high. Just keep it stable and your fish will be ok with it.

Also, why are you keeping the temp so high? That can also stress a fish that doesn't like the water that warm.

[chris_todd]

Damian, sorry to hear you lost your fish. Cristy is right about the pH and temperature - just keep the pH stable and the fish will be fine, but unless you're keeping fish that need a high temp, I'd slowly bring down your tank temperature to around 76 +- 2* (over a few days, for example).

You mention that your tank pH had always been acidic, but now it was 7.8, the same as your tap water - how were you managing that? Were you treating the water previously? If so, have you changed anything about your water changing routine? Are you filters all working properly?

Also, you mention you did a water change - did you remember to dechlorinate the tap water? That alone could easily explain fish death (though not necessarily the pH change).

How much glutaraldehyde and Flourish Potassium did you add?

[ddavila06]

Chris, yes my ph has always been very low, before i used to try raise it all the time adding ph up but then one day i gave up because the fish seemed fine. now when i saw the chelseus upside down i tested the water for the basics, ph and ammonia, and i was shoked to see how high the ph was. i haven't done that in like a year so i don't know why it changed, or if it just happened, i know stuppid me! as far as the temprature, i don't know why i kept it so high i already lowered it to 78 and will probably leave it there. as far as the peat moss goes i want the ph to stay low because is more natural to some of the fish like the angels for example. the glutaraldehyde and Flourish Potassium i used i didn't do that much, it said for the potassium a capfull for every 20 gls i think, and i did close to the sam e with the other one since i have such a large tank i though it should be same. my first time with both though, before i only used iron. thanks guys for the responses, no other fish looks sick or anything