Dreaded skin fungus, very hard to beat and you have to catch it very early on.
The move , not the pH, caused the stress.
pH moved without any real issue for fish if it's solely due to CO2 content.
We change water, 50-80% and have 1 full unit shifts during a weekly water change over many years without any ill effect on fish due to pH. I'd run the temp warmer and try what you can to kill the skin fungus.
They do better than larger discus with high CO2, which is about 40-45ppm for their limit.
I had them in my 180.
I did some replanting and uprooted way too much one day, pulled lots of muck up, they got the skin fungus 2 days later and never recovered.
They where already eating very aggressively, very frisky, not the least bit shy, pigs really, and healthy. One small mistake did them in.
Other folks have done similar things and lost them the same way, even in good health and acclimated etc. Too much disturbances to the planted tanks and they go south fast.
Some Loricariidae are pretty CO2 sensitive, much more so than discus and Altums. Getting them to feed correctly and disease free is tough as well.
Altums where pretty easy if you can not mess things up too much in the tank and are careful when moving them. Keep them warmer, fed often, watch for any signs of body fungus etc.
Hope you can save the remaining fish.
Regards,
Tom Barr
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