PH levels

[Emerson]

Quick question: I had to switch from our tap water to bottled after the pet store owner said our tap water looked bad. Honestly, I didn't test it for PH because, when I bought Horatio, the pet store owner said that he uses tap water and all of the water around here (small, rural community) has about the same PH.

I have been gradually changing out the tank water with the bottled spring water, and emailed the company to see what their PH is. I just heard back this morning, and they said it is right around 7.8. Is that too high??

They have some kind of kit at the pet store that automatically gives water a PH of 7.0. Do you think I should invest in that, or just leave well enough alone? I don't want to add too much stuff to the tank (5 gallon) unless I have to.

Thoughts?

[jedicat]

7.8 isn't really ideal, but it's in the acceptable range (6.0-8.0). if he's used to it, and doesn't show any adverse side-effects (blood in bubblenest, stress line visible constantly, excess mucus, ragged fins, etc.) it's probably better to keep him at that pH than to stress him out by changing it.

you could probably get a home pH kit for less than $10, so you can keep an eye on those levels. some even come with little bottles of pH adjusters. mine did, but i've never had to use them.

it seems pretty strange that bottled water would be so alkaline...i use poland spring, and every time i've tested it, it's been a perfect 7.0.

[Rachel - old]

I would never use pH adjustment drops myself. It seems too risky. If you do it wrong, you can burn their fins, etc.

Do you have a pH test kit yourself that you could test your water with? My local tap water has a very high pH, but the lps where I purchased my guys uses the very same water, so my guys were used to it and it wasn't a problem. Did Horatio have any problems in your tap water? If not, I would recommend just sticking with that.

What exactly did the pet storeowner say about your water? Just that it "looked bad." It sounds as though you're getting contradicting advice. I've learned the hard way to just do things myself.

I would test your tap water for pH and ammonia yourself and see what results you get.

[Betta MVP]

It's better for him to have a constant ph that is a little high, than to have a lower ph that bounces around. As long as you aren't having problems, I wouldn't mess with it.

[Emerson]

Thanks! I tend to agree that I should just leave it alone. I think sometimes you can tamper with things too much, and that causes stress too (for fish and fish mom!). I tend to be such a worry wort about such things, I'd be afraid of doing it incorrectly.

The reason I stopped using tap water, is that our tap water already has elevated ammonia in it (the pet shop owner showed me the test results), and he told me that when I'm going partial water changes, I'm just putting ammonia right back into the tank. I kept getting slightly elevated ammonia readings until I started using the bottled water. Now it is at 0. (The tap water tastes really bad, too; I won't drink it without a filter, and even then it has a funky taste. It actually gives my husband heartburn!).

I'm not sure I can get Poland Springs where I live. They might have it at KMart. The local grocery sells Absopure, so that's what I bought. I was trying to be careful, because I noticed that some bottled waters contain trace amounts of sodium. This specifically said on the label, "NO SODIUM." Should I try to switch to another brand, or just go with this? Again, not wanting to make too many drastic changes.

The replacement of bottled to tap has been gradual. I've done a gallon a week changes to my 5 gallon tank, and plan to do another tonight. Horatio hasn't shown any reaction to the new water......he looks healthy, alert, active. (I've heard mention of Betta stress line in another post; what/where is that?)

Thanks!!

[Jenny]

A stress line, is a stripe that runs horizontally along a bettas body, sometimes more than one, and more often called 'stress stripes'. Some of them, but more often females, get this when they are stressed out.

[Emerson]

Jenny said:

A stress line, is a stripe that runs horizontally along a bettas body, sometimes more than one, and more often called 'stress stripes'. Some of them, but more often females, get this when they are stressed out.

I don't believe I've ever seen this on Horatio. He has a pink body, and I'm thinking it would be fairly visible.

?

[Jenny]

I don't know how common they are. I've never seen them in any of my four bettas, including the female.

[Emerson]

Jenny said:

I don't know how common they are. I've never seen them in any of my four bettas, including the female.

Jenny,
Where do you generally keep your PH levels? I have just about made up my mind just to stick with what I've been using.

Called the petshop where I bought Horatio and some kid answered (WHY do they have young teens working at a petshop by themselves???). I asked what PH they have. She said, "It's really low." I said, "6.8?" and she replied, "Probably even lower than that."

!

[Jenny]

I have never done a ph test on my water. I just use tap water with dehlor, and my guys have never had problems with it. I tend to think that if your fish is doing fine, then why mess with it.

[Jenny]

If you do decide you want to change the ph, I would suggest that you find a brand of bottled water that has the opposite problem as yours, and mix the two together until you have the right ph. This seems like a much more natural approach, and less likely to stress the fish.

[Emerson]

Jenny said:

If you do decide you want to change the ph, I would suggest that you find a brand of bottled water that has the opposite problem as yours, and mix the two together until you have the right ph. This seems like a much more natural approach, and less likely to stress the fish.

Yes, that was what I was thinking, but I'll need a test kit for that and I don't have one just yet.

In the meantime, I have left a message at our water/utility company....there is someone there who tests the water in our community regularly, and I'm told he can tell me what our tap's actual PH is. If it's 7.0 or above, I'm just going to leave well enough alone -- since Horatio was used to the our tap water before I started replacing with bottled.

Too, Horatio didn't start building his bubblenest until I started adding the bottled water. So......maybe he actually likes it!

UPDATE: I just got a call back from our local water agency, and the man who tests the water said that our community's tap water PH runs between 7.5 and 7.7, usually 7.7. That is extremely close to the bottled water that I have been buying (PH 7.8), and since Horatio was originally acclimated to our tap water, I guess I won't do anything further.

Well, that was one problem that just sort of solved itself!

Thanks again for all the feedback!
sef

[Rachel - old]

sef said:

UPDATE: I just got a call back from our local water agency, and the man who tests the water said that our community's tap water PH runs between 7.5 and 7.7, usually 7.7. That is extremely close to the bottled water that I have been buying (PH 7.8), and since Horatio was originally acclimated to our tap water, I guess I won't do anything further.

Oh good! I'm glad you got that figured out! That's about what my tap water runs at too.

[Denise]

Hi,

You've gotten lots of good input here but thought I'd put my two cents in because pH is something that was driving me nuts til I finally devised a good method for keeping it close to neutral. First, I think bottled spring water is a good idea if your tap water has ammonia. If you only have one betta, buying the water is probably not a problem. Buying bottled water becomes a problem when you have a lot of fish (like me). I have an inexpensive pH test kit by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. It comes with a glass tube and the testing drops. You can also by the deluxe model that comes with pH up and down drops, but I don't recommend using those drops at all, so I don't buy that kit. Different brands of bottled spring water will test differently, so I recommend buying several different brands, testing them, and choosing the one you like best. (Definitely buy the kind with no sodium added.) Most spring waters have lots of minerals in them which usually causes a high pH. If you test several brands, you may find one that is just right. Actually 7.6 or 7.8 is not way too high, especially if your betta is used to it and not having problems. I think ideal is about 7.0 or 7.2. Our tap water is about 8.2, so through my own experimenting, I began mixing about 1/3 gallon of reverse osmosis (R.O.) water with 2/3 tap water to get a close to neutral pH. R.O. water and distilled water have all the minerals purified out of them, so the pH is extremely low. When mixed with high pH water, you can get a nice balance. You would never use R.O. or distilled water by themselves because the pH is too low and they have no minerals at all and your betta needs some minerals in his water. Read the labels carefully on bottled water. Those that are labeled "drinking water" are usually R.O. Purified usually means distilled. Horatio sounds happy in his bottled water, so I don't think you need to worry about the pH too much. As someone mentioned, consistency is important, so once you find a brand of bottled water you like, stick with it. I wanted to give you my ideas about mixing just in case you think you need to do this. Good luck and all the best to Horatio.

[Emerson]

Hi Denise!

Thanks very much for the input on this. You have given me some really good ideas.

I guess the main reason why I just sorta went with this brand of spring water was availability....we live in a small, rural community and it's the only brand that our local store carries that isn't "purified drinking water" or distilled. It was a little surprising to me when I was told that this particular brand has a PH of 7.8; I guess I thought most bottled waters were neutral!

I might take a look at *Mart in the next town (where I work) this week and see what bottled waters they carry. It might be good to know, just in case Horatio starts having a problem with the higher PH.

As you said, consistency is the main thing. Interestingly, I found out that our tap water's PH fluctuates between 7.2 to 8.0! Yikes! I had already decided not to use it because of the elevated ammonia in it, but that's just one more reason to go with bottled.

Thanks again!
sef