# Needlefish/PH problem



## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

I have a needle fish and I Noticed lookin at it today it was in bad shape. I would hardly move and its body was all curved something didnt look right. I checked the Ph and it was 6.0 OR LOWER do you all think that is the prob?


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

quite possibly, when you say its body was curved, sounds like hes hungry to me!


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## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

well there are two feeders in the tank and he has yet eat either one.


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## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

I did a 50% water change and up'd the ph wish me luck.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

How did you "up" the PH?


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## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

I added PH increaser


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## turtlehead (Jan 28, 2005)

.............. no............


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## bluemerlin (Jan 29, 2005)

Needles

Where do you live, or more specifically, how hard is your water? Trying to change Ph with commercial products is generally not recommended because rapid changes in Ph can harm your fish. Also, the toxicity of ammonia and nitrites can increase with changes of Ph.

If you ever did chemistry at school you may remember that Ph is very difficult to change in hard water. The hardness of the water acts as a buffer against changes in Ph, so you need to chuck in alot of alkali to raise the Ph and when you finally break the barrier the Ph may shift dramatically.

In other words, LFS's may be willling to sell you Ph changers at extortionate prices but in hard water you will see no benefit. I fell into this trap when I started keeping fish.

My advice is leave the Ph alone and let the tank settle to its natural Ph, particularly in a hard water area. Bearing in mind you'll be doing water changes every week you will never get the Ph to where you think you want it without investing in chemicals with every water change. The logic I came to in the end is if the fish I am buying are OK in the LFS then they'll be OK in my tank too.

As for needlefish, I know little about them, but I do know they should be fed on live food, so the suggestion that it is hungry may be accurate. Do you feed it on live food?


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## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

Yes I feed it feeder fish. the Ph was normal and all of a sudden i checked it the other day and it had dropped very low. but now its normal I just dont know what happend


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

You may have gone too long between water changes. 


RC


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## Needles (Feb 3, 2005)

Yea thats what I think it was.


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