BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Ph Burned My Beta! What To Do?

I was offered great advise upon my first post, so I vowed to only come here for my fish issues...

Recenty, I received a new 1 Gal. Tank for Martin, my pretty purple/blue Beta. This tank included a light! WOW! Well, since this tank lid has been on properly, as opposed to the old lid that sat caddy-corner, everything spiked especially the Ph!!!! Oddl, when I changed the water in my other 25 Gal. tank, that spiked too!

So I ran to the pet store & they gave me the liquid Ph test kit, rather than the unreadable test strips, and some Buffer. Well, the buffer was great in getting my Ph from 8 to 7 but 24 hours later it was back to 8! Meantime, I lost fish in my 25 Gal. tank & my Beta (in the 1 Gal.) has been burned. He's got a burn spot on his side &, on the same side, his little fin is tucked into his body! I cried as I also knew he wasn't eating per norm but was still surfacing for gulps of air.

Here's what I did: I took a 2 cup container and filled it with existing tank h2o & tested the Ph. It was @ 8 so instead of adding that rediculous buffer, I added (by individual granual) until I achieved the correct Ph. I replaced the 2 cups to Martin's tank & repeated the processes... I tested with a strip and wasn't comfortable @ all with nitrites (or was it nitrates) so I put Martin in a 2 cup container with conditioner & beta fix (according to directions) & Dumped the 1 Gal. Tank! After replacing the water I watched Martin, who's always @ my desk @ home, and he started to show a wee bit of activity - compared to the last few days. I knew the cup would make it easier for him to aquire air but he still didn't feast. But, at least, his little fin is away from his body. He's trying to be active but I know he needs to rest. I pray he recovers because he so important to me. I'll assume these problems were for these reasons: 1) I marked on my calander when I changed his water but I do that in advance & just check it off upon completion. I don't recall performing this change. 2) Because his new tank is now covered with the light resting above, I think this caused a lack of "ckean air" circulation and aided in the spikes.

Do you think I did the right things thus far and does anyone think I'll recover him?

Another question: My city water (in the country LOL) has a decent Ph. Meaning around the 6.8-7 mark. I make sure I add the conditioner & the temps are perfact. Yet, I lost fish every time I changed the water with a spike to 8+ Ph. There's an odd thing I can't explain!

I'll tell you after this frustration & tears, I bought a few feeder fish because replacing my faves costs too much after this continuously happening...

I thank you again for all your help on my former post! I pray for some quick advise for Martin & my 25 Gal. tank.

TTFN

Hollie

Hi!
I totally sympathize with you, but unfortunately, I can't give you any advice really because I'm very new to this. But I do share your concerns. The pH in my 5 gal. tank was hovering around 8, but my betta, Simon, seemed very happy regardless. I added some Ph decreaser and the pH levels went down, only to rise up to about 8.5 within 24 hours. We added some more decreaser, but I don't want Simon to get burned either!!!! So I hope that anyone giving you advice Hollie, will help me out too - I'm regretting adding any decreaser at all after your story. However, I have a new tank with new rocks which I'm told will also contribute to high levels.
Good luck and I hope Martin recovers!

When you add pH decreaser or increaser, you are essentially adding either strong acid or base to the water, so I've heard it's best to avoid that. There are natural ways to combat pH I know, but I'm not sure what they are. Sometimes I think adding things like real plants or driftwood or sandstone can help, and they also make your tank look nice <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Although I am not sure that those will make your pH go down, they might increase it, so try a google search to see what you can turn up. Clean water is usually the best thing for a fish, so just keep providing them with water that is clean and that could help. You say your city water has a good pH, but when you change it, the pH spikes? Could it be something you're adding to the water? Try making up a batch of water as you would when you were going to change the water, but don't add the fish. See if you get a pH spike in that water. This could help you determine the source. Maybe something in the tank is causing it, and if that were the case, you probably wouldn't see a huge spike when you made up your fresh change water.

Hope I helped a little, and I hope your fish pull through for you!

I thank you both for your comments. Unfortunately, it was too late for Martin regardless of all my efforts to do a "bath". I did all I could that evening to comfort him & went to bed. The next morning he was gone.
I cleaned out his tank with hot water & rinsed everything with aquarium salt (per directed by my local fish experts) and added fresh water, let it sit for over a week (testing faithfully) and then purchased St. Martin II. This time around I decided to monitor his ph every other day to discover it's at "8" every other day! MERCY! The tank is @ 76 degrees, he's eating every time (about every 2-3 days as I was instructed) and seems well. But it's the constant monitoring that's a hastle.
The ph from my tap water is slightly elevated to begin with so this isn't helping from the start. I have to add ph(-) regardless. I let my 5 gallon pail sit for a week every time. I give Martin II about 1/4 change for his tank and the rest goes to my other 25 gal. tank. (that's another nightmare lately)
All was well until spring came and all the level changes started. Now, neither tank is remotely exposed to sunlight because they're located in my basement family room and the only light is on the other side of the basement. Temperatures remain constant - it's just this issue of ph! Amonia is barely reading at all in both tanks. I was tild to put a tiny pinch of aquarium salt to each water change and, of course, stress coat/chlorine decreaser. And that's all I do to the fresh water...
I had a beta at my office (across town) and never bothered testing the water and that fish lived for some years. We're all probably making the "fussing" misteak for new tank owners and doing more harm than good.
My mother uses the same water source as I do and her fish are always fine. She changes a lot fo water each week and never fusses. She doesn't even bother to adjust the water temperature prior to replacements!
My large tank has had fish in it for at least 3 months. I, finally, have that to where the ph is at 7 every time I check it! I did add another filter as suggested. I have a whipser filter & was informed they aren't so great anymore so it was suggested that I get another that has a bio wheel. Now, if you do this, remember to turn down the flow of the filters because I think with 2 running, it fatigues the fish & I seemed to have a great loss in numbers. We'll see if this theory holds true. I guess fish get tired too! (Haha)
I will tell you that with 2 filters my tank cleaned up quick as heck when I ruffed up the botton of the tank during a vac session! Within 1 hour it was sparkly!
Now if only I can stablize the beta tank before I'm heart-broken... They say not to use bottled water but with the way things are going, it might not be a bad idea...
I'll appreciate anything you may suggest.

Thanks again!

I'm thinking there is something in your tank that is effecting your PH. What type of gravel/substrate do you have in there...what do you have for decorations...plants...??

Try filling an empty tank with water, doing everything to it that you do for regular tank changes...conditioner and such..but without the PH adjuster. Check and see if the PH spikes. If it doesn't then you can pretty much be sure it's something in your fish tank that is causeing the trouble.