the best way to stabalize ph

mtronearl

mtronearl

New Member
I am having trouble stabalizing ph. i don't know what it is. also, is api saltwater test kit a good test kit? i am wonering if this might be my reason the ph isn;t stable but i have no idea. i have added ph up by api as well. i have also used kent pro buffer dkh but have been told buffers are harder to use. why is this?
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by mtronearl
http:///forum/post/2489046
I am having trouble stabalizing ph. i don't know what it is. also, is api saltwater test kit a good test kit? i am wonering if this might be my reason the ph isn;t stable but i have no idea. i have added ph up by api as well. i have also used kent pro buffer dkh but have been told buffers are harder to use. why is this?
API kits are fine. I use that one myself. How old is your system? What are your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, sg, dkh, and temp? What do you have in the tank for water movement? Do you have any live stock in the tank? Are you testing your ph at the same time every day?
 
mtronearl

mtronearl

New Member
my system has been setup since christmas, i have recently had a scopas tang, emporer angel (juv.), a snowflake eel, also quite young, a coral beauty and a jewel damsel. i just recently put them in a quarantine tank to cure ich, and just recently fin rot as well, they got both at the same time and now the jewel damsel is dead, and i am losing fish fast, i don't know, i think i am just going to treat the fish with copper and this stuff called ampicillin, and then let my display tank run for three weeks to kill the ich indefinetley.i think i tried to start my tank to early. i don't know i'm just trying to save the fish i have, i didn't have time to let my quarantine tank cycle so i just used a hang on that was on my display tank and put it in my qt tank as well as some gravel from my dt. is this ok to do both cu and ampicillin at the same time?? my nitrates and ammonia are 0 my nitrates are always high and my ph is usually at 8.0. i just recently did a 30% water change now that my fish are inj the qt tank being treated. my sg according to a cheap plastic hydrometer, is 1.022. i don't have a test for dkh right at the moment. any suggestions would be helpful. for water movement i have a jbj 600 i believe and some other turbo fan thing i think is what it's called. i alse have a protein skimmer and a jebo 686 canister filter. once again any suggestions would be helpful.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by mtronearl
http:///forum/post/2492611
my system has been setup since christmas, i have recently had a scopas tang, emporer angel (juv.), a snowflake eel, also quite young, a coral beauty and a jewel damsel. i just recently put them in a quarantine tank to cure ich, and just recently fin rot as well, they got both at the same time and now the jewel damsel is dead, and i am losing fish fast, i don't know, i think i am just going to treat the fish with copper and this stuff called ampicillin, and then let my display tank run for three weeks to kill the ich indefinetley.i think i tried to start my tank to early. i don't know i'm just trying to save the fish i have, i didn't have time to let my quarantine tank cycle so i just used a hang on that was on my display tank and put it in my qt tank as well as some gravel from my dt. is this ok to do both cu and ampicillin at the same time?? my nitrates and ammonia are 0 my nitrates are always high and my ph is usually at 8.0. i just recently did a 30% water change now that my fish are inj the qt tank being treated. my sg according to a cheap plastic hydrometer, is 1.022. i don't have a test for dkh right at the moment. any suggestions would be helpful. for water movement i have a jbj 600 i believe and some other turbo fan thing i think is what it's called. i alse have a protein skimmer and a jebo 686 canister filter. once again any suggestions would be helpful.
Are you certain that the fish have fin rot? Can you post a picture of it? What does it look like? Are the fins tattered or do you see them streaked with blood and/or redness or sores? Ampicillin is a bacterial treatment. I would not mix it with the copper. If your quarantine tank is not cycled then you will have a hard time treating the fish with copper. You will have to be on top of water changes which will make it very difficult to maintain a therapeutic copper level. Can you buy a refractometer? Hyposalinity and copper treatment take roughly the same amount of time. Copper treatment can be done, but you have three copper sensitive fish. You will have to be extremely meticulous about the copper level in the tank, this will be even more difficult with the water changes that you will have to do to keep the tank from cycling. I recommend that you perform hyposalinity on the fish. Please take a look at Beth's Common Treatment FAQ, located at the top of the disease and treatment forum, for instructions.
On to the PH issue. What sized tank is this? A 600 power head is not very strong. I use one on my 15 gallon quarantine tank. If there is not adequate water movement in the tank the ph will drop. That along with the instability of the tank, because of the quickly added bio load, are factors. It will stabilize without the fish in there.
 
mtronearl

mtronearl

New Member
i am pretty sure it's fin rot. at first, i thought that the fish were just scratching because of the ich. it looked like they were scratching the outer layer of skin off, however, it got progressivley worse, and my emporer angel just passed last night. his fins did'nt show anything but his skin looked bad, no red though, it just looked like he lost the first layer of his skin.
 
flricordia

flricordia

Active Member
I have always had good results with using kalkwasser in my top-off water. Works for me and I haven't had to add anything else. I do water changes about every 2 weeks to month depending on how the corals are looking.
I do have a large refugium with chaeto I run 24/7 though.
 
sepulatian

sepulatian

Moderator
Originally Posted by mtronearl
http:///forum/post/2494028
i am pretty sure it's fin rot. at first, i thought that the fish were just scratching because of the ich. it looked like they were scratching the outer layer of skin off, however, it got progressivley worse, and my emporer angel just passed last night. his fins did'nt show anything but his skin looked bad, no red though, it just looked like he lost the first layer of his skin.
The skin looked bad because the fish were trying to shake off the parasites. You do not need to treat for a bacterial infection. Get rid of the parasites. You can treat a secondary infection later if they get one. Do you have a refractometer?
 
mtronearl

mtronearl

New Member
no i don't have a refractometer, but my friend might beable to let me use his, however i have another question. does ich attach to live rocks, since my fish had ich, it looks like i have little white spots all ove rmy live rocks
 
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