ganges Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 Bit of a long shot, but i know some of you keep fish tanks, so maybe somebody may be able to shed some light on this. We have a very large fish pond which we keep kio in, we have had it for at least 20 plus years with no problems, however last week, we noticed the fish not looking very happy, it turns out it was a very high acidity PH reading, (according to the chart the eqivelant to battrey acid to fish), we have got this down to an exeptable level, but the question is what has caused this, never ever had this problem before, we suspect either, sabatage, (not likley), or maybe acid rain, or maybe some local farmer spraying chemicals, as the pond does have a high surface area, oohh just to add, we have a three chamber vortex filter with UV lamp fitted, any thought kind people??? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 What pH have you measured? Low oxygenation will drop the pH. Put a small fountain in there to turn the water over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganges Posted December 9, 2012 Author Share Posted December 9, 2012 What pH have you measured? Low oxygenation will drop the pH. Put a small fountain in there to turn the water over. Hi Stu,Not sure what you mean buy what ph measured, its the one that you add drops into a test tube and it will measure alkaline and acidity, we got the off the scale acidity, as for a fountain, we have the vortex filter which has two water outlet chutes, and as metioned we have never had this problem before, but have to say i wonder if another airating feature may help will give that some thought thanks for the reply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duffa Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 (edited) just done a quick search ..when did you measure the ph ..apparently its always higher in the afternoon ..try doing it again in the morning quote >> " Just for the heck of it check your pH early in the morning. You didn't say but I suspect you're checking the pH late in the afternoon/early evening. Here's what I THINK may be happening: the algae in your pond are knocking the pH around. During the daylight hours the algae consumes all the carbon dioxide it can ... this drives the pH up (I've seen ponds where the pH has hit as high as 9.5 during the afternoon). But at night - no sunlight - the algae are net producers of carbon dioxide along with whatever the fish, microbes and everybody else in the pond is doing ... this causes the pH to drop maybe as low as 7-7.5 or so, maybe even a bit lower. IF this is the case then there are several things you need to do: a.) check your alkalinity. Adjust it with baking soda until it is at least 80 mg/L or higher. b.) continue to work on getting your algae under control - more on this later. On the otherhand if your pH is very high morning AND night then you may have other issues. Let us know what your morning and evening pH readings are as well as the alkalinity. Also, are you using pH strips or are you using some other method for testing for pH? (The strips can give erroneous readings). " Edited December 9, 2012 by duffa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 That's a bit extreme. pH usually drops about 0.2-0.3 in the dark compared to the light. I'm no expert on ponds but i'd be surprised if the physics differ much between aquariums and ponds. A swing of 2-3 pH is drastic and would kill most animals. ganges - what kind of scale does your pH test kit have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganges Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 Sorry for the late reply guys, Duffa, PH test's have been taken in the morning, about 8:00am, and you are right about it reading high at night, that is the normal so i understand, there is no problem with algea, the pond is crystal clear, and have also read about baking soda, we have used the shop stuff, and have now got the ph down to 7.5 which is about right (reading taken the morning after treating), Duffa/Stu, the test kit we are using is a Tetra one, where you add a few drops of chemical, which changes colour, you then hold it against a colour chart that, off the top of my head is red down to light blue red being battrey acid and the lighter the blue the better the PH, i think it is something like Red is 9.0, and the lighter blue down to 5.5, on a sliding scale, 7.5 - 8,0, being the optimal reading. Still concerned why this has happened all of a sudden, when we have never had issues in all the time we have had the pond, bit of added info for you guys, no plants in the pond, and connected to the vortex filter, is what they call a skimmer, it draws all the surface crap of the pond, this is at the other end of the pond from the filter, not that i think that has anything to do with it, but thought i would add just in case you guys have another thought. again thanks for the replys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I'd avoid chemicals as it's only masking a problem. How long have you been testing the water? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganges Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 I'd avoid chemicals as it's only masking a problem. How long have you been testing the water? Morning Stu, hear where you are coming from, but we had to do something, the poor mights where really struggling, and we have lost one, with another struggling, have been testing for about a week, which is when we first noticed something was wrong, as said never had a problem before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Well if it's not a contamination problem, then the issue will be to do with CO2/O2 exchange as that is what controls pH... surface agitation is key Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganges Posted December 10, 2012 Author Share Posted December 10, 2012 Well if it's not a contamination problem, then the issue will be to do with CO2/O2 exchange as that is what controls pH... surface agitation is key yeap tend to agree, will keep checking daily, if it starts slipping again will try another airating option, and if that fails then agree we have a contamination issue, if that is the case may have to send a sample off to somebody like yorkshire water, to get a top notch test done, and i bet that wont be cheap, once again thanks for reply Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 This may be of interest: http://www.fishhelpline.co.uk/health/ph_crash.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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