Big problem
Hi Matt, As I stated earlier in response to your answer, to the question of whether you added anything new to your tank that would raise the pH, Jave Moss (or any plant) is not a concern for raising pH, so this was not your problem.
If, on the otherhand, you feel that the addition of Java Moss may have infected your tank with Ich — even though that was not the question that was asked of you — know that Ich is ever-present in most aquarium water, residing in a latent state. Healthy fish are never prone to infections by Ich, which only have the opportunity to infect fish in a weakened state. In your case, this weakened state of your fish was brought on by the extreme stress they were subjected to when their pH was suddenly reduced from 7.6 to 6.0 and then on top of that, bounced right back up again. Their plight was in trying to adjust to an extreme drop in pH and then just as suddenly try to re- adjust to a high Ph while in the process of adjusting to the drop.
To answer a question that may be going through your mind right now, Ich does not reside in well water. Ich is introduced with any fish you add to your tank, since its almost always in aquarium water, and comes along for the ride not necessarily on any fish but with their water (even if you discard their original bag water). By their nature, fish are immersed in fish and are still wet when you transfer them to your tank.
This is not to say that plants should not be disinfected before placing them in your tank — they should. — but transferring plants to your tank that came from a fish-inhabited environment is not the root cause of your fish getting Ich; they were stressed. I would not stress your fish more by now using a different water source. There is nothing wrong with your water, and additional water changes at this point (unless needed because of elevated ammonia or nitrite levels that we don’t know about) will not aid in curing them of Ich. Ray
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
