Need some advice

Hi all,
I have my tank set up. cycled but am having trouble getting the fish through quarentine. First was a sailfin tang, and second a yellow tang. Both died about 48 hrs into quarentine. The parameters in Q tank are temp 80, ammonia 0, nitire 0, nitrate 0. The only outlier is pH near 8.8. It seems with RO water and instant ocean, that's were the Ph ends up. Is that too high? The q tank is 20 gallons, the water comes out of my cycled tank primarily. Filtration is by hang on filter rated at 30 g and an air stone. The fish initially eat, then start rapid breathing then stop eating then die. I treated the second fish with copper at .25 ppm after his breathing picked up with no improvement. If the pH is the problem, how to bring it down at touch?- Paul

 

Hi!
Sorry to hear about the loss of two beautiful fish! I can understand your concern and quick response to this issue. What do you have for filtration on the quarantine tank?
PH is high, probably as a result of elevated dissolved oxygen in the water. You may also have issues with your alkalinity as well becuase of the high pH.
PH can be brought down by adding a small amount of vinegar to your water which will bring up the carbon dioxide level in your tank and reduce the pH as well. Adding seltzer water to the aquarium will increase dissolved carbon dioxide as will baking soda!

 

I used pure caronated water (sodium free) which is plain old seltzer water. I dropped my 20G pH from 8.6 back down to 8.3 with 3/4 cup of the carbonated water.
Are you slowly acclimating your fish into the QT? If you are just tossing them in, that shock will cause death.

 

No,I'm oing a slow acclimation. First temp then water exchange into the bag. None into the tank. Filtration is by woven filter material p[laced in the sump for a week before opening quarentine. I'm headed to the LFS to double check my tests. Thanks!- Paul