Yet another question. I know it is said goldfish can adjust to a wide variety of pH's. Mine is at 6.4-6.8. maybe even a little lower, but thats as low as my kit goes. And i know you say not ot mess with the pH, so should i just leave this be? Are they ok in slightly acidic water?

Goldfish can certainly live with a pH in the sixes. But, (and that is a big but), once you get into the acidic side of the pH scale, you are dancing along the line of disaster. If you have a pH in the 7's and you have a precipitous drop for one reason or another, your fish may suffer, but they will survive. If you are in the 6's and it drops, your fish are dead.

That being said, there several reasons why you would not want to mess with the pH - the most important being that is may be very difficult and lead to other problems.

What is your kH (and gH) of the tank? IF you have a very high kH, it may be extremely difficult to change that pH - more difficult than it is worth. With a high kH, a pH drop is also not very likely, so you are probably ok.

If your kH is low, you most definately consider raising the kH and the pH along with it. This will hold your tank solid and safe. With a low kH, any little problem can cause a pH plunge that could kill fish. Nasty doings. Not what you want to see....

the list of things to know seems endless hehe. What is kH?


Another thing, ive never really thought about it but i came across it to on this site, thier poop is long, it'll start off white and then go to a darker color and will start thin and then get thick and thin again, also its really long. Im feeding them goldfish flakes (soaked first) and algae wafers (accidently dropped one in and they went crazy for it

and everynow and then i throw in some freeze dried blood worms.

Is the poop something i should be worried about?

These fish have come a long way in the last week from living in fish bowls in dorm rooms, to causing me to have a speeding ticket racing home from school 3 hrs away, to now costing me about a hundred dollars and we wont even go into insurance increase if i cant get outta that ticket!

kH stands for the carbonate buffering ability of the water. The best way I can describe it is like a car's shocks. IF you have good shocks, when you go over a bumpy road, the car barely bounces. If you have bad shocks or no shocks, when you go over the bumps, the car bounces up and down and up and down.

kH in a tank are the "shocks" for the pH. With a good kH, it is hard for the pH to vary. With a low kH, the pH can easily be affected by many things.

Yet another thing to buy, huh? It is kind of important to know your kH. Perhaps if you took a water sample to a fish store and asked for them to test it. Many will test for free - just ask for a numeric reading on kH.

You can raise your kH (and pH) cheaply and easily using just baking soda. If this is needed, advice can be given.