[Red_phantom_otto]

My brother has a 75g tank set up with 4 red phantoms, 4 black phantoms, 8 ottos, some ghost shrimp, and about 20 white clouds.

His PH will be up around 6.8 or 7.0 when he does a water change but then at the end of the week it will be very low like 6.4 or lower. He decided it was his gravel and we were going to change it last night. When we took the logs out of his tank, it smelled like it was rotting. He called a fish place and asked if that could be the reason and they said yes.


Is this the most likely cause?

 

[mistergreen]

yes, driftwood/bogwood lowers ph.

 

[Hoppy]

A pH of 6.0 is not low. It is well within the normal range of pH's that almost all fish live with routinely. If you are fertilizing the plants, using a GH booster, when the GH is too low, providing the plants with CO2 or Excel, the pH shouldn't become a concern at all, even with bogwood in the tank.

 

[mrbelvedere]

My pH is around 4.5-5.

Nothing ill is happening. Some folks grow their plants in even more acidic conditions. Some folks will grow their crypts in pH 3.5.

 

[fresh_lynny]

mine is around 5.5 no big deal...better plant growth IMO

 

[RachPreach]

yeah i have a ph of 6.8 out of the tap but most of my tanks are about 6.3 to 6.4. That wouldnt cause any fish to die or anything would it?