pH, kH and oranda

[piggyvir]

hi experts

I would like to ask what would be the ideal readings for pH and kH for my orandas? plenty of red streaks on the tail and the tail starts shredding..... Hollywood Fish farm recommends me to do ph stabilser...

My pH is 7.6 and kH is 4 (4 drops of solution)....

Thanks

Cheers

Vir

[phoenix44]

the red streaks are usually associated with high and elevated levels of ammonia. Id suggest doing water changes to get rid of that ammonia slowly.

Now for the pH buffer. A buffer is a solution that resists pH change (v.simply put without getting into advanced chem). So basically if your water has good buffering qualities - it will resist that pH change that the fish do not like.

sometimes pH change kills fish, and not the pH the fish are in. eg. if your fish are water with pH 0f 5 and are happy; and then you do a pH test and panic, do a complete wc and then raise the pH to 7 and your fish die... this means your fish havent died because the pH was low when you tested it.. but actually because the change to pH 7 was brought about drastically.

I'd recommend some oystershells (in the birdsecton of your local pet shop) - they raise the pH slowly and slightly - and help with those vital buffers.

[piggyvir]

I have done my ammonia check and it has been between 0-0.25 for the past few weeks. Should I raise my pH or lower my pH? I am just a bit confused here...