# Help!!!!



## Tonya&Mike (May 14, 2013)

Our tank is still cycling, its been about a month. The levels of everything were fine the last few days. I got home from work, tested my water and here are my values :

pH: 6.0
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0

We have been loosing fish the last few days. We have a 20 gal Marineland tank overstocked (yes, i know, i know) we have 2 Marineland 150 biowheel penguin filters going, a bunch of live plants

Fish: 3 emerald green cory cats, 1 zebra daino, 1 red eye tetra (all from a previous tank and are doing great)

Down to 6 guppies left, a dozen have died, 2 neon tetras, 4 head and tail light tetras, 1 lyretail guppy

We did a 50% water change last week with RO water. The pH is so high!!! What do we do!!!!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

6.0 is LOW not high!Stop with the RO as none of the fish you have require pH that low.What is your tap pH? And 1 month in your tank seems only days old by your readings.Have you considered moving filter material from tank that housed the fish you had to help this along.


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## DeJay126 (Apr 22, 2013)

I was just thinking the same thing, the old media (if still intact and preserved) should be used in the new tank (IMO).


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## Tonya&Mike (May 14, 2013)

I meant high as in high acidity. Well heres the thing. My dad stopped taking care of the 10 gal tank i had for 3 yrs. the filters stopped for a month and never told me as i do not live there. I picked up the tank to go to my house and it was the most disgusting thing youve ever seen. We bought a new 10 gal and threw the old one out, everything, it stunk, and was all black and gunk. That new tank was fine for a week, but someone, not naming names, wanted more and more fish so the tank was over stocked and going downhill. So a week later we got a 20 gal tank and have stuck with it since and we are at the point we are now, from talking to our fish guy he said we finished the first part of the cycle, we had water checked and it was perfect but found out that it was bc the tank was between cycles, we think we were just finishing the nitrite cycle part and then this all happened, so we did a 30% water change now so idk what to do from here, we are pretty much beginners here.


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## nate2005 (Apr 24, 2013)

when is ph is that low your cycle can stall because the beneficial bacteria can't grow well with a ph that low. 

Do you have your own test kit? If not, I would suggest buying one because you will want to test daily for awhile til things are under control.

Please don't buy anymore fish( at least for awhile)

What are the parameters of your tap water?

In the mean time, don't do anything drastic. the drastic changes like changing 50% of your water with straight RO can make things worse for the fish.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

This post by dalfed is one of the most useful bits of info on nitrogen cycle.It confirms nates info on low pH and bacteria http://www.aquariumforum.com/f66/nitrogen-cycle-43369.html.
I would stop using RO as it may be the cause of your ph issues.Test your tap and post for us.Don't get any more fish yet(like nate said).


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