Post by tjstretchalot on May 31, 2014 12:48:43 GMT -5
So I have a small (20 gallon) aquarium for 2 goldfish, which I know is too small for them which is why they will be moved to a pond when possible. However, right now I just need to work on basic water maintenance, as I have never really had fish before. We got these 2 goldfish from a siblings school, who suggested they would only live "1-3 weeks" and could survive in a bowl. That idea was quickly fixed for the internet, and I upgraded my bearded dragons terrarium to 40 gallons as I had needed too anyway as he's grown recently. So while the goldfish will either move to the 40 gallon when the beardie gets another upgrade or the pond, I still need a way to keep them alive in the meantime.
When I first added the aquarium, I only followed very basic procedure, 20 pounds of aquarium gravel, a small fake decoration, an appropriately sized light, a 100 watt heater, and an aqueon 100 GPH filter. At that time, the only thing I was adding to the water was 1/2 mL API Stress Coat per gallon and 1 drop Tap Water Conditioner per gallon. I cycled water once a week for 2 weeks.
Since then I've added wonder shells and a 7 watt uv sterilizer because the fish were showing signs of illness, and I wasn't really sure what to do. I still have only gotten advice from internet searches, and one thing that came up was salt dips. These, surprisingly, worked and what I learned was an ich infection seems to have passed. (the 1gallon bowl had a heater, medicated wonder shell, 2 teaspoons salt. 8 dips over 2 days, each dip lasting 2 minutes, each dip had >2 hours between them). I doubt that it's really gone because that seems too easy based on the internet, but the more pressing problem is:
The fish returned to normally swimming about, except one fish started getting black burn marks around the edges. This had actually been noticed prior to the dips, but had gotten more severe. After much googling, I checked pH and ammonia. Ammonia came back completely empty, but the pH was beyond the scope of a basic pH test (>7.6). After getting a high-range pH test, it seems to be around 8.4(!!!). This seemed ridiculous to me, and I tested some Betta Water which I had lying around for an unrelated failed experiment on a Betta in a 5gallon (I had gotten him around the same time as moving the goldfish; he died in 1 day probably due to the pH in the water). It came back a 6.0-6.4 which was strange but suggested that the pH test wasn't broken. The tapwater was exactly the same as the tank water, 8.4. This was quite surprising, as by this point I was using (incorrectly, I've recently changed):
API Quick Start (1mL / gallon)
API Stress Coat (.5mL / gallon)
Seachem Stability (.5mL / gallon)
API Tap Water Condition (1 drop / gallon)
Seachem Neutral Regulator (1 teaspoon per 10 gallons; only 2 teaspoons were added in total)
These were only added to the replacement water. I'm still confused as to why this had absolutely no effect on the pH, because if anything the pH should be way too low for the fish, not still so high! After some testing with tapwater, it would take around 6-12 drops/gallon of pH Down to the water to make any significant effect. I'm doing daily / every 2 days water changes in an effort to make sure anything i've stopped using is no longer in the water. 5 gallons each time.
So what is going on? I'm now no longer using Seachem Neutral Regulator, the rest remains the same. 8.4 pH unless extreme measures are taken to change it. I've strongly considered both RO (too expensive for just this moment but will in the near future if thats the suggested method) and Pillow Moss (this would make the KH / GH too low for goldfish is my understanding, but I'm also willing to try if thats the suggested method).
I live in greater Seattle, if that helps.
When I first added the aquarium, I only followed very basic procedure, 20 pounds of aquarium gravel, a small fake decoration, an appropriately sized light, a 100 watt heater, and an aqueon 100 GPH filter. At that time, the only thing I was adding to the water was 1/2 mL API Stress Coat per gallon and 1 drop Tap Water Conditioner per gallon. I cycled water once a week for 2 weeks.
Since then I've added wonder shells and a 7 watt uv sterilizer because the fish were showing signs of illness, and I wasn't really sure what to do. I still have only gotten advice from internet searches, and one thing that came up was salt dips. These, surprisingly, worked and what I learned was an ich infection seems to have passed. (the 1gallon bowl had a heater, medicated wonder shell, 2 teaspoons salt. 8 dips over 2 days, each dip lasting 2 minutes, each dip had >2 hours between them). I doubt that it's really gone because that seems too easy based on the internet, but the more pressing problem is:
The fish returned to normally swimming about, except one fish started getting black burn marks around the edges. This had actually been noticed prior to the dips, but had gotten more severe. After much googling, I checked pH and ammonia. Ammonia came back completely empty, but the pH was beyond the scope of a basic pH test (>7.6). After getting a high-range pH test, it seems to be around 8.4(!!!). This seemed ridiculous to me, and I tested some Betta Water which I had lying around for an unrelated failed experiment on a Betta in a 5gallon (I had gotten him around the same time as moving the goldfish; he died in 1 day probably due to the pH in the water). It came back a 6.0-6.4 which was strange but suggested that the pH test wasn't broken. The tapwater was exactly the same as the tank water, 8.4. This was quite surprising, as by this point I was using (incorrectly, I've recently changed):
API Quick Start (1mL / gallon)
API Stress Coat (.5mL / gallon)
Seachem Stability (.5mL / gallon)
API Tap Water Condition (1 drop / gallon)
Seachem Neutral Regulator (1 teaspoon per 10 gallons; only 2 teaspoons were added in total)
These were only added to the replacement water. I'm still confused as to why this had absolutely no effect on the pH, because if anything the pH should be way too low for the fish, not still so high! After some testing with tapwater, it would take around 6-12 drops/gallon of pH Down to the water to make any significant effect. I'm doing daily / every 2 days water changes in an effort to make sure anything i've stopped using is no longer in the water. 5 gallons each time.
So what is going on? I'm now no longer using Seachem Neutral Regulator, the rest remains the same. 8.4 pH unless extreme measures are taken to change it. I've strongly considered both RO (too expensive for just this moment but will in the near future if thats the suggested method) and Pillow Moss (this would make the KH / GH too low for goldfish is my understanding, but I'm also willing to try if thats the suggested method).
I live in greater Seattle, if that helps.
