I'm sure this has all been discussed before, but I'm a little confused.

I have a tetra test strip kit, which I know isn't the best, but its the only one I could find locally. My GH and KH levels are not existant and my pH level has risen slighty and I'm not too sure what this means for my fancy and what to do about it.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Hi bekab,

What is your pH value?

GH & KH combines to ensure a stable pH. If KH is non-existant then the pH can change very rapidly and may crash without warning. There are a number of way to adjust both KH and GH depending on whether you need to do it quickly or slowly. Baking soda can adjust KH quickly but it can increase pH if care is not taken. Things like crush shell and coral will slowly increase and maintain KH.

Its only increased from 7 to 8, but I wasn't sure why it would go up.

I'm still new to fishkeeping and dont recall having seen any crush shell or coral in my local shops. What are they and how do they work exactly?

Wow, a change of 7 to 8 is a sizable jump. What happened to the tank or water to bring this on? Usually, when KH is low, the pH tends to go down, not up.

KH measures carbonate hardness which acts a buffers against pH swings. Crushed shell (sea shells) and crushed corals are a ready source of calcium carbonate which is released into the water as it becomes acidic and maintains both KH and GH. It just does it slowly in the background.

Like I said, I'm confused!

The change may have happened slowly. I'm afraid I don't test the levels that often.

Since the last time I tested the water I lost a fish and I've added some aquarium salt, but otherwise I've been feeding the same and changing the water the same and there have been no additions to the tank.

Maybe I just got an innaccurate reading. Will try gain tomorrow I think.

It wasn't aqualibrium aquarium salt you used by any chance was it

It was yes. I completely forgot that was meant to have a pH buffer in it. It seems strange that the pH would go up though.

Have you used this? Did it happen to you?

I have used it but not enough to make that much difference although my ph is on the low side so use coral gravel to bring it up although would think that is likely what raised yours

Thanks.

Would there be any bad effects of this increase?

On a related (but not) topic - is there any harm in treating for an internal bacterial infection if there isn't one present? I believe this is what my late fish bubba died from. (He mainly appeared to have swimbladder problems, but at the time I wasn't aware that this could be due to ibi). Anyway, my current fish Pedro has started to behave a bit oddly over the last few days - floating, sitting at the bottom. Was a bit worried it could be the same thing.

A sudden jump is not good for the fish but they will soon let you know if they are not happy with it if it is swimbladder your fish is suffering iwould try feeding garden peas defrosted and chopped small before using any treatment and see if there is any improvement, also check out the thread on swimbladder trouble and go from there