Puffer gone.. how to keep tank cycled?

[Dsmdan95]

Hi, early Sunday somewhere beween 6am & 9am my F8 "Puffer" passed away . At 6am (Sun) I noticed his Nitrates where high about 40ppm and he and that the PH dropped from its avg of 8.0 or 8.2 to 7.4 to 7.6 range. so I did a emergency water change and by 9am he was gone Ammonia was 0 so where Nitrites. Always kept at 80F and salt 1.005 . Had Puffer for over 3 years was always super healthy. Never really thought I would care very much about a death of a fish but I guess when they have a personality sorta like a dog, recognize there name and can be hand fed and arnt like any other boring fish that will happen.

So now the tank sitting dark and empty. How long will my cycle keep? I'm going to need to clean it to try and bring those nitrates down and bring the ph up but I also don't want to lose the cycle by doing it. And I'm still on the fence on whether to get another F8 or not but I want to keep the cycle if I do decide too. So what should I do in regards to keeping the cycle with no fish? It has been fishless then earily sunday today is earily tuesday.

[Dsmdan95]

Just tested my water for the first time without the fish looks like still have my cycle ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates still 40, PH shot back up to 8.4.

[Pufferpunk]

Just keep feeding the tank as if the fish is in there. That should keep the bacteria alive. Keep doing WC to get the nitrate down, especially a large one, cleaning out all that uneaten food, before you add the new fella. Sorry for your loss...

[Dsmdan95]

Any know why the PH dropped randomly?

[Clowntje]

Maybe there is some left over food under some stones?
Sometimes its enough to raise the nitrates without nitriet and ammonia.

You could also test your tap water to see if it has high nitrates.

[Lola]

Whoa, yes - why the huge drop in ph? That change is drastic.

[RTR]

Nitrification drops the KH, which makes the pH drop as well. If the puffer's last meal (or more) was uneaten or undigested and excreted, the drop is not unexpected.

When the nitrates are kept lower, the pH will stay higher. you actually would expect such a drop in a light BW tank - without boosted KH, it is not easy to keep the KH up (and resulting pH up from the higher KH). that is why I am neurotic about aragonite in light BW tanks - it helps with supporting the KH.

HTH

[sevenyearnight]

Good information!