Ph parameters for Darters...

So I have my 20L set up. I have rocks I collected and soaked in a very strong bleach solution over night as the substrate, and a few big rocks as decor. They've been in there close to a month. I have an unidentified plant (see pic) That I'm going to move into my feeder guppy tank, since it's not doing well. (likely a combo of temp, current, and Ph). I finally had the funds for a good master test kit, and everything tested great (ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite are all at 0 for all intents and purposes) except the Ph...I had to break out the high range test after the regular one went off the chart. High range came in around 8.0 (I have a lot of trouble matching the colors, but it's the closest). I have a few options.

1. Take out all of my gravel and rocks, try to re-test for Ph with vinegar (though I already tested a sample size of all the white rocks when I collected them, and none bubbled that I saw, though there could be trace amounts of calcium carbonate in there).

2. Use peat moss or driftwood as a counter-buffer.

3. Leave it, since it seems to be stable, and slowly acclimate the fish when I get them.

4. Something else?

Important to note, there are no fish in there yet, and I still have about a week and a half before I leave to collect them.

Thoughts?  PTDC0022.JPG   101.61KB   0 downloads

Sorry the pic is so fuzzy, I couldn't find my good camera...

If you're collecting fish in the Tennessee drainage, which I assume you are, most of the local streams will have a pH >7 along with total dissolved solids of somewhere in the range 80-200 ppm. All of the regional darters like water in that range, and that water is pretty well buffered in that range of TDS. pH is often overrated as a water quality measure, since in natural waters it can vary over a 24-hour cycle due to the photosynthetic activity of plants and algaes that consume various forms of dissolved carbon that affect pH. So if your water has a pH of ~8, you're fine.

I would love to collect in TN, unfortunately it's illegal to possess "bait fish" away from the water they reside in. It's also illegal to remove ANY animal from the wild and keep it as a pet. Sucks, but that's the law. I'm taking a trip to St. Louis, MO to visit my brother-in-law, and plan to collect them up there. Good to know that an 8ish isn't so bad though. I kind of freaked upon seeing that.

My Ph test kit only reads to 7.6. The water from the stream where I have collected darters pegs it out, so I know it's higher than that. The water in the aquarium that I keep them in is about 6.8. The water from my tap is out the bottom of my test kit range which is 6.0. The only time I've had darters dislike a certain Ph was when I kept some in a tank where the Ph was over 7 and then added water to it for water changes that was <6. I lost a johnny darter when it jumped out shortly after a water change. So, like you mentioned above, stability is the key.

Steve

Of course, I forgot about the recent changes to the TN law. Come to Alabama, the state doesn't really care within wide boundaries if you have a valid fishing license.

If the ones from MO don't fare well, I will definitely be making the short trip "over the border" to AL Thanks for the invite!