pH jumps sky-high in a blink of an eye! Advice Please..

[manofmilk77]

If you don't know my fishs' story please refer to recent
posts...

Last night's parameters... Ammonia, 0. Nitrite, 0.
Nitrate, 0. Temp 73. pH 7.8. (both tanks)

Two Black Moor in one 29 gallon tank.

Oranda and Veiled Ryukin in another 29 gallon tank.

No meds currently.

Recently had two shots of Baytril.

Currently being fed MediGold (antibiotic) food.

Seem to be recuperating from Columnaris (fin rot & internal)

Tanks' only about 1 week old. Filtration on each is 170
GPH biowheel.

Salt is a little less than 1 tbs per 5 gallons (aquarium
salt)

Ok, HERE IS THE SITUATION>>>

Woke up this morning and the parameters were same as last
night (see above) except there was about .20 ppm ammonia in
the water. pH was still 7.8.

Had bought some plastic plants a couple days before, ripped
off the little gravel holding cup things on the bottom, and
attached suction cups with '''''Aquarium Sealant'''' on
which the tube said 100% pure silicone rubber. Directions
said to leave for 48 hours before putting in water. We did
so, and after checking this morning's parameters like said
above, we installed the plants into each tank. No more
than several hours later, I started a routine partial water
change on the first tank. I tested the pH once more on
both tanks and was STARTLED!! a little under 9.0..........
What the heck?????? And this is before I put any of the
new water in. 1.2 pH change in under 4 hours?!? I
proceeded to complete a 50% water change on both tanks
which made them 7.8 again. It's been fine since (about 10
hours so far)

My QUESTIONS:

1) What could this half day pH ROLLER COSTER do to my
goldfish assuming it doesn't happen again??? What signs do
I look for if they do or are suffering from some kind of pH
shock? (upon reading on PureGold.com, I realized that the
pH shouldn't change more than .2 every 12 hours, but this
was after this afternoon's incident)

2) What could have caused this? The plants? (just plastic
from LFS) I soaked them in hot water.. The Aquarium
Sealant?? (isn't this stuff made for the insides of
aquariums?) NOTHING else was changed or added to the water
between when it read 7.8 at about 12 noon till it read 9.0
at about 3 pm.

3) How can I prevent this from happening again? I
understand that buffers help stabilize pH, but that would
require changing the pH somewhat.

Any advice, knowledge, or suggestions would be appreciated..

Thanks in advance,
David

* Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping. Smart is Beautiful

[manofmilk77]

Me again. I thought this is important too, and I forgot to
state it. My tanks are bottomless only with a haldfull of
smooth glass stuff inside, so rule out gravel problems.

Thanks,

[Rod Farlee]

When one aberrent pH reading is obtained with no likely cause,
one suspects the test is bad. If the alkalinity (KH) is low, it
doesn't take much to contaminate a pH test and get a false result.
Fingerprints on the test strip, or mixing the tube by covering it
with a finger rather than the cap, or not rinsing it thoroughly after
last using it for another test, can all cause a false reading.

[manofmilk77]

Nope, the test is brand new and I double, triple, and
quadruple checked it. No contamination. Thanks though.

[dr....@megapathdsl.net]

Since it is a new tank I would suspect ammonia and your water isnt buffered
very well. Normally, silicone that isnt competely cured drives the pH down
due to acetic acid as the curing agent.
only thing to do is experiment. take a gallon of tank water, check the pH,
put a dab of that silicone into it and check the pH every hour til you fall
asleep. what is your hardness, alkalinity and carbonate?
Short term, you may not see any effect. ponds often flucuate. it is more
serious if the pH goes quite acidic, or if the increase in pH is due to
alkalinity increase.
When I had soft water, I added dolomitic lime to my water and aged it
overnight, used that for my fish. first find out what the hardness is,
tho, before deciding what to do. Solo

manofmilk77 <manofmilk...@cs.com.invalid> wrote:
>Tanks' only about 1 week old.

except there was about .20 ppm ammonia in
>the water. pH was still 7.8.

100% pure silicone rubber. Directions
>said to leave for 48 hours before putting in water.

a little under 9.0.......... And this is before I put any of the

>new water in. 1.2 pH change in under 4 hours?!? I
>proceeded to complete a 50% water change on both tanks
>which made them 7.8 again. It's been fine since (about 10
>hours so far)

>1) What could this half day pH ROLLER COSTER do to my
>goldfish assuming it doesn't happen again??? What signs do
>I look for if they do or are suffering from some kind of pH
>shock? (upon reading on PureGold.com, I realized that the
>pH shouldn't change more than .2 every 12 hours, but this
>was after this afternoon's incident)
>
>2) What could have caused this? The plants?
>

>3) How can I prevent this from happening again? I
>understand that buffers help stabilize pH, but that would
>require changing the pH somewhat.
>
>Any advice, knowledge, or suggestions would be appreciated..
>
>Thanks in advance,

>David
>
>
>
>
>
>* Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping. Smart is Beautiful

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
dr....@megapathdsl.net in the Frozen Tundra zone 5 sorta
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
for care of goldfish go to http://puregold.aquaria.net/
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Rod Farlee]

>Nope, the test is brand new and I double, triple, and
>quadruple checked it. No contamination. Thanks though.

If the test kit was allowed to freeze in an unheated truck or
warehouse during transit, the reagents might have been ruined.
Suggest dissolving one teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of
water: If your test kit is good, it'll read pH 8.4.
- Rod

[clairem...@aol.co.uk]

On Saturday, 25 March 2000 08:00:00 UTC, manofmilk77 wrote:
> If you don't know my fishs' story please refer to recent
> posts...
>
> Last night's parameters... Ammonia, 0. Nitrite, 0.
> Nitrate, 0. Temp 73. pH 7.8. (both tanks)
>
> Two Black Moor in one 29 gallon tank.
>
> Oranda and Veiled Ryukin in another 29 gallon tank.
>
> No meds currently.
>
> Recently had two shots of Baytril.
>
> Currently being fed MediGold (antibiotic) food.
>
> Seem to be recuperating from Columnaris (fin rot & internal)
>
> Tanks' only about 1 week old. Filtration on each is 170
> GPH biowheel.
>
> Salt is a little less than 1 tbs per 5 gallons (aquarium
> salt)
>
> Ok, HERE IS THE SITUATION>>>
>
> Woke up this morning and the parameters were same as last

> night (see above) except there was about .20 ppm ammonia in

> the water. pH was still 7.8.
>

> Had bought some plastic plants a couple days before, ripped
> off the little gravel holding cup things on the bottom, and
> attached suction cups with '''''Aquarium Sealant'''' on

> which the tube said 100% pure silicone rubber. Directions

> said to leave for 48 hours before putting in water. We did
> so, and after checking this morning's parameters like said
> above, we installed the plants into each tank. No more
> than several hours later, I started a routine partial water
> change on the first tank. I tested the pH once more on
> both tanks and was STARTLED!! a little under 9.0..........

> What the heck?????? And this is before I put any of the

> new water in. 1.2 pH change in under 4 hours?!? I
> proceeded to complete a 50% water change on both tanks
> which made them 7.8 again. It's been fine since (about 10
> hours so far)
>

> My QUESTIONS:

>
> 1) What could this half day pH ROLLER COSTER do to my
> goldfish assuming it doesn't happen again??? What signs do
> I look for if they do or are suffering from some kind of pH
> shock? (upon reading on PureGold.com, I realized that the
> pH shouldn't change more than .2 every 12 hours, but this
> was after this afternoon's incident)
>

> 2) What could have caused this? The plants? (just plastic
> from LFS) I soaked them in hot water.. The Aquarium
> Sealant?? (isn't this stuff made for the insides of
> aquariums?) NOTHING else was changed or added to the water
> between when it read 7.8 at about 12 noon till it read 9.0
> at about 3 pm.
>

> 3) How can I prevent this from happening again? I
> understand that buffers help stabilize pH, but that would
> require changing the pH somewhat.
>
> Any advice, knowledge, or suggestions would be appreciated..
>
> Thanks in advance,
> David
>
>
>
>
>
> * Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping. Smart is Beautiful

hi and id just like to say...i would also like to know if fake aquarium plants can effect the ph that much...i put in lots of fake plants with a stone like base...every new fish i put in the tank after that would die within 24 hours...i think its ph shock..so just wondering...do fake plants effect ph>?

[dr-...@wi.rr.com]

Usually silicone gives up acid as it cures and drops the pH so no idea what is
causing this. Fortunately, a pH increase is not as severe a problem as a decrease.
And high pH in general will not cause the problems that pH drop does. pH increase is
usually due to ornaments that have marble or limestone in them. Calcium, magnesium
increase pH, like "quick lime". Just keep an eye on stuff. If it happens again
remove what you put in.
Ingrid

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan
on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago