Do certain lava rocks raise the ph level of fish tanks?
My two fish are acting crazy. They’re swimming everywhere and breathing frantically, but everything in my tank is at an okay level. Currently, I’m cycling my tank and the ammonia level is at .25, but I use ammo lock every other day and change 10% of the water every two days. If I don’t, the ammonia level will sore. On top of this, My third fish has white foam in his mouth and laying at the bottom. I already put tetracycline, but I don’t think it’s working. I don’t know what’s wrong. That’s why I think it has to do with the ph level. On my test kit, it’s rated the lowest at 6.0, which is significant drop from 6.8 yesterday. However, I fear that it’s even lower, but not showing up because of the lack of range. I went to Petco and the workers were useless as they said some things that were totally untrue and couldn’t believe they were “fish experts.” One of the workers said that lava rocks can raise and level out the ph. She even pointed out that every tank in the store used lava rocks for this reason. Is this true? What should I do? Also, what are the fish behavioral symptoms that my ph is really low?
Update: I put the foaming fish in a hospital tank, and it’s actually doing better. What is it about my tank?
Wow. Thanks for the great advice. (I always wanted to cycle it without fish, but my girlfriend was impatient.) The healthy fish in my tank died while the sick one who was moved to a hospital tank lived. Jesus Christ. What is going on? I thought the ammonia was neutralized with ammo lock and the low ph. I have very soft water. Is this causing constant fluctuations in ph level that caused them to die?
Also, I don’t want the sick fish in the hospital tank to go back to the main one until I do a fish-less cycle. The hospital tank doesn’t have a filter. I put a bubbler in to stir the water. How should I care for filter-less fish bowl?
1. What is your pH?
2. Your fish are probably ill because of the ammonia reading, not because of the pH.
In the olden days several decades ago, it was a generally approved method to use fish to cycle new fish tanks. Nowadays, however, we understand how cycling works and realize that fish are not necessary to establish a cycle. Nitrosomonas and nitrospira bacteria convert toxic ammonia into less toxic nitrate, and this is called the “nitrogen cycle”. The bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate merely need an ammonia source to grow in population. They do not necessarily need fish to be present. Because fish often get sick and die when they are forced to live in an aquarium with a measurable ammonia reading, it is considered cruel to cycle your tank with fish, especially since the cycling process does not go any faster if you have fish. Simply adding fish flakes to the tank every day will cycle the tank, and no fish need to be injured by the ammonia during the cycle process. So … My point is that you should not have fish in your tank while it is still cycling. That is why they are sick; it is because there is ammonia in the water.
Here is more information on fish-less cycling: http://www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_51/fishless-cycling-article.htm
Your fish will most likely be healthy again when your tank finishes cycling. This will happen when the ammonia and nitrite go down to and remain at 0 ppm.
Ammonia is in a constant state of flux between ammonia (NH3) and ammonium (NH4+). Ammonia is highly toxic to fish, while ammonium is harmless. At a lower pH, ammonia (NH3) picks up the free hydrogen ions that constitute acidity, making it ammonium (NH4+). That means at a low pH, ammonia is much less toxic. Because of your low pH, as well as the AmmoLock and your careful monitoring, the fish aren’t suffering from poor water quality. That means something else is the cause.
Lava rock is volcanic, as the name suggests, and volcanic matter is generally quite inert. Lava rock should have no effect on your pH. However, there is also Texas holey rock ( http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/tx_holey_rock.php ), which appears similar to lava rock (and is sometimes sold as such), but is not actually volcanic– it is, instead, limestone (meaning it’s sedimentary). Limestone is calcareous, and as it dissolves in water, buffers the pH upwards by releasing calcium and carbonates. That was just a fun digression, really… your pH dropped, so it’s not due to rocks (which will never lower your pH).
Dosing the cycling tank with tetracycline was actually very counterproductive. The whole purpose of the cycle is to esablish nitrifying bacteria in the filter and substrate. However, broad spectrum antibiotics, like tetracycline, in addition to treating many bacterial infections, also destroy the biofilter. You’ll likely be starting back at square one with the cycle. With this setback in mind, you may want to take the opportunity to take the fish back and do a fishless cycle as the above user suggested. If not, continue to treat the “foaming fish” in the hospital tank, using tetracycline– it sounds like a case of columnaris (often called mouth fungus, despite the fact that it is a bacterial infection), which the tetracycline should clear up in a few days.
To answer the actual question of what is causing your fish to act this way, I have a guess. The symptoms you described are conducive with toxicity of some kind. As we ruled out ammonia in my first paragraph, there can’t be nitrite or nitrate in any serious quantity (as the first step in the cycle involves Nitrosomonas colonizing the tank, then breaking down ammonia, which hasn’t happened yet). That leaves some foreign, introduced toxin. I would strongly recommend doing a 50% water change and adding fresh activated carbon to your filter (to remove any remaining toxin). Avoid spraying any perfumes or other aerosols near the tank, and be very careful of what you use to clean in and around the aquarium, as many cleaning agents are highly toxic to aquatic life.
EDIT: Soft water will certainly allow the pH to fly about, seemingly at random, and that could very well be what’s stressing and killing the fish. While you’re doing your fishless cycle, I’d recommend replacing your substrate with crushed coral or aragonite, as these will buffer the pH to a stable level. For the hospital tank, keep the air stone running, and do water changes daily. It will be a pain, but the fish will quickly poison itself otherwise (there’s a point at which AmmoLock and acidity cease to neutralize all ammonia).