How do I bring down my fish tanks pH?

We have a new 5gal tank and the pH level is high. We added four Neon Tetras and a GloFish Danio. The Danio died, we tried again as the store said that high pH won't matter and it died too. So we have decided we have to bring down the pH level.





We transfered out 1 gallon of water and put in one gallon of reverse osmosis water but that didn't drop the pH level much. We'd do two or three gallons but are afraid that the Neon Tetras will die due to the sudden change in pH or the stress.





Do I have to worry about the Tetras? Or should I leave them be as the stress or the drastic change in pH may kill them?How do I bring down my fish tanks pH?
Fish won't die from high pH, they will only die from large pH swings. If your pH is in the 7.5 range then you will have no problem.



STOP TRYING TO GET THE pH DOWN.



Ask yourself the following questions.



1)Is my tank cycled?

2)Is the biological filter established?



After these are done then your fish will stop dying. What you have is new tank syndrome.



As a general note adding RO water won't bring the pH down but it will make it easier to change it. KH or carbonate hardness is the figure that will tell you how difficult is to bring down your pH. To be successfull you will need to bring it down to around 6-4dKH so as to be able to successfully use a pH buffer or solution.



As an advice pH is not very important to most common community tropical fish. Low pH fish like neons will thrive to pH up to 8 if the water is clear of ammonia and nitrites. The problem with high pH is that it makes less ammonia concentration more toxic to your tanks inhabitants.How do I bring down my fish tanks pH?
go to petsmart. they have a bottle of liquid that will do that for you. they also have a bunch of stuff that you'll probably need for fish. oh and don't buy those little sucker fish unless you have a big tank, they can get REAL big.
first of all did you add any kinda of start up formula?...like Start Rite?...then maybe some Stress Coat formula would help....if all fails go to Wall-mart and get a PH kit that should fix the problem....
what is the pH? do you know what it represents?



what is the temperature? ammonia?



have you checked the fish specs to see if they can live in that pH?



unless you have acid or lye for tapwater you should be fine as long as you add conditioner like AquaSafe



neon tetras are fragile anyway, and all RO water will do them no harm at all HOWEVER it should be introduced to a conditioned system, if you don't know what conditioning is you should learn about it, that lack of knowledge is the apparent source of your current problems
The problem isn't necessarily the PH level.



I had the same problem in my 10 gal aquarium. I lost 3 fish in a row.

They were neons. As soon as the first one died I had a feeling that the other 2 would as well. When I replaced them I also bought another kind of fish (platy i think). It soon died. I did not replace that one. And everything is healthy and fine. I Think the problem was to many fish for the space. They say a rule of Thumb is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water. My experience is that is a Little to many. I would leave it the way it is and if a tetra dies 3 is probably the most you can have in that size tank. Also make sure to use a chemical water treatment when changing out

the water.



If your tetra population goes below 3 the rest WILL die
What is your pH level exactly?

I doubt pH had anything to do with it and more to do with stocking levels. If you put four tetras and one danio in at once the biological filter will not be able to cope with the level of ammonia and hence it creates a spike in ammonia; which is toxic to fish.

The reason I doubt pH had any major role in this is because danios would be the most likely to withstand high levels of pH as opposed pH sensitive neon tetras. Also consider the fact that danios feel better in a shoal and any amount of stress from being alone and inside a new tank could have been the determining factor in it檚 death. It is also worth mentioning any container you used for storing your tested water in may have already had a high pH level if the soap/dish detergent residue wasn檛 completely washed off.

There are a lot of variables but I doubt pH played any major role but if you want to reduce your pH level then get your water tested again and test for the level of alkalinity. Alkalinity plays a major role in stabilizing your pH and will retard any attempts to reduce your pH level. Some pH reducer chemicals work but I personally find aquatic peat moss to be the most effective.
Don't use chemicals, and don't mess with the ph. A stable ph is much better for the fish then a fluctuating one. Just causes problems/stresses the fish. Most fish can adjust to any ph, with the exception of sensitive fish like discus. And, just so you're aware, neons are not very hearty fish, they'll most likely die on you fairly soon. As pretty as they are, I won't buy anymore of them.