Fish acting funny when I dose alkalinity.

[danieljones8623]

I’ve added a few LPS corals to my tank lately. It really might be not enough to start dosing calcium and alkalinity, but for practice, I decided to start. My alkalinity was at 7.1 dkh initial. I read where you shouldn’t raise it more than 1.4 dkh a day, so I decided to play it safe and only try and raise it by .7 on day one. So, after I added the soda ash, my yellow watchman goby comes floating to the top. No real signs of distress, but he kinda just clings to the side of the aquarium glass for a while and then he goes back into his hole. I figured that was a fluke because he was back with his shrimp today acting fine. But when I added the same amount to day, he did it again. I’m just wondering what could be causing this?

 

[blaxsun]

I'd add it the sump if possible, and I'd probably look at ±0.25 dKH per day max instead of ±0.7 dKH (especially if some of the fish are having an adverse reaction).

 

[Carwin]

Second adding it in sump. That way it can dissolve more before hitting your livestock.

 

[MnFish1]

I’ve added a few LPS corals to my tank lately. It really might be not enough to start dosing calcium and alkalinity, but for practice, I decided to start. My alkalinity was at 7.1 dkh initial. I read where you shouldn’t raise it more than 1.4 dkh a day, so I decided to play it safe and only try and raise it by .7 on day one. So, after I added the soda ash, my yellow watchman goby comes floating to the top. No real signs of distress, but he kinda just clings to the side of the aquarium glass for a while and then he goes back into his hole. I figured that was a fluke because he was back with his shrimp today acting fine. But when I added the same amount to day, he did it again. I’m just wondering what could be causing this?

What could be happening is that you have some ammonia in your tank - depending on how old, etc - When you increase the pH - Which Soda ash will temporarily do - it could raise FREE ammonia at the same time. But - any other details about the tank, etc? Additionally - I would make sure your alkalinity is really 7.1 - i.e. - recheck with a different test - and also check your pH pre and post dose. Hopefully this makes sense