Tank issues - and API Proper PH 8.2 (8 fish have died so far and counting)

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

While doing my weekly water changes and water tests on Friday,  I added a product called API Proper PH 8.2 to my tank (for the 2nd time since it completed its cycle).  The directions called out to add 1 cap full for every 10 gallons of water.  I put in 3 cap fulls for my 55 tank.  with substrate and decorations I felt this was a safe amount to add.  My tank has completed it cycle (7 weeks w/ fish).  The water tests have come back a consistent zero Ammonia, zero Nitrites and trace amounts of Nitrate. I do a 50% water changes every Saturday.  The tank has both Peacocks and Haps roughly 21 total fish all under 2" in size.  The water test have been pretty consistent not much fluctuation and the fish WERE doing very well. (I should have left the tank alone) but because I fill the tank up with well water and the source of the water comes after the water softener, I THOUGHT I needed to add this Proper PH 8.2 to the aquarium as a buffer. (Boy was I wrong) !

That is the history of my situation, here is my issue:

I specifically followed the directions on the bottle,  but here is what occurred afterward: because the product is a powder, when I added it to the aquarium, the product dispersed throughout the entire aquarium immediately.  I assume the product then was ingested into the gills of the fish, and within the next 48 hours I LOST 8 fish.  The fish would be swimming fine then all of a sudden would start to gasp heavily and 2 minutes later it was dead. At this point I am in PANIC mode, I did another 50% water change on Saturday,  then I did another 50% water change this morning. I realize now that the Proper PH 8.2 that the fish ingested was burning the gills of the fish thus causing them to gasp then die.

NOTE: I have two air pumps running with two air stones pumping in lots of air into the aquarium.  Been doing this since day one !

Here is my question:  has anyone experience this before and should I expect the rest of my fish to die as well ? 

Should I keep doing daily water changes until the rest of the fish stabilize and come back to normal?  Right now only a few fish have come back and are eating, the rest are still kind of out of it and are not very active however I do not see anyone gasping at this point, but I am worried!

I would greatly appreciate any help / advise that anyone could provide!

[danielratti]

I don't think it burned there gills or anything like you were thinking but I could be wrong.

Is this the first time using this product? Chances are what you did was shocked the fish by jumping the PH up with out properly acclamation of the fish.
What was your PH before you decided to add this?

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

I am sorry to say that I have not been testing my PH,  I was only testing for Ammonia and Nitrites and Nitrates.  However I did do a High PH test yesterday and it was between 8.4 and 8.8.  I suspect you are correct and I jumped the PH levels too quickly.   Would this cause the fish to Gasp heavily ?

[danielratti]

Yes. It was too rapid of a change in ph and caused the fish to go into shock. The same effect would happen if you were to lower it to fast.  Dont add any fancy crap unless you really feel that you have to.

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

I just tested the High PH again and it reads 8.2...

Should I keep doing daily water changes ?

[danielratti]

let it do its thing as long as you are not loosing anymore fish you should be fine. Let the fish adjust to what it is now because jumping it around too much will do more harm then good.

[Ron]

Dont add any fancy crap unless you really feel that you have to.

I kind of wanted to QFT, but that last half I don't agree with. For rift species, never use chemicals to screw with the pH.

If you really feel you need to adjust the pH higher, use a passive means like crushed limestone or some other high pH rock for substrate, decor, or in the filter (doubling also as biomedia like this FWIW). More often than not if I hear of someone using chemicals to adjust pH, it's because they're watching fish die in the process.

With regards to the fish breathing heavy, if their gills were exceptionally red, it could have been ammonia poisoning, as ammonia toxicity increased relative to an increase in pH (and temperature FWIW). To save on time spent typing, here's a couple of references:
http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/AmmoniaTox.html
http://www.thekrib.com/Chemistry/ammonia-toxicity.html

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

Ron - Thanks I will not be adding anymore additives to the tank, unless absolutely needed.   Wow what an expensive lesson. 

I guess the old adage "don't fix what is not broken" holds true!

[four_by_ken]

I am on well water also.  I had my water tested at Preuss when I was having a few issues.  Mine turned out to be extremely soft water (also using water post water softner).  I didnt have any issues in the late fall when I used post water softner water and let it warm up in the sun in the front of the door wall.

But, now that the weather is colder and also that I have too much water to do the bucket thing... I am using softened water.

I have to add quite a bit of cichlid salt and cichlid buffer to get my water to the right levels.  I will be looking into cheaper home made alternatives one of these days.

The couple times I checked my pH, it was fine.  I dont even bother anymore.

What was yours at that made you decide to use an additive?

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

It was an error in judgement on my park, I started second guessing myself and started to think that because I was adding in post softener water to the tank, I needed to add the API - Proper PH 8.2 that I had lying around. 

Here is a list of the fish that I lost:

Taiwan Reef
Eureka Red Peacock
Ruby Red Peacock
Gold Peacock
Yellowhead NKATA Chitande North Type Peacock
VC-10
Lelupi
Sulferhead Peacock
Inkfin Calvus
Gold Calvus

[four_by_ken]

Ouch!

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

Yeah - I can kick myself for over evaluating what I should be doing !   I can't tell you how many posts I have ready on this site stating to not add anything to your water...It was a BAD decision on my part.

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

Looks like I am out of the woods, everyone that is left is still alive and eating.  dumb dumb dumb! 

How long should I wait until I can start replacing those fish ? Anyone !

[Ron]

How long should I wait until I can start replacing those fish ? Anyone !

IMO, after 1-2 decent, regularly scheduled water changes to make sure everything is cool.

When you do, I'd try to not introduce only a single fish at a time in lieu of aggression (it's better to have a few new inhabitants to spread out of the attention of the OGs) and depending on size, also not try to replace them all at the same time*.

* If you were to add 8 3"+ fish to a 55, that's potentially a significant bioload IMO. If you're adding 8 1-2" fish, I'd say it's not really concerning.

[Maize-N-Blue-D]

Ron,  Thanks for the advice.