Sick Cichlid

Question
Hi Karen,
Need your help pls with my Red Devil Chiclid.  She is 3 years old and lives in a 45 gallon by herself.  She has been sick for 3 months. (Nathan has been helping me but he is on vacation so thanks for your help!)  I thought at first that she had fungus so she was on the wrong meds for 2 months, then she was diagnosed with bacterial infection and was on Maracyn for about 3 weeks.  I took her off the meds and then she got the wht stuff all over her again this week.  So back to the Pet Store we go!  The guy at the store told me to try Metafix and it worked, only put it in for two days now.  I also got a testing kit and her PH is at 6.0 but I dont know what it should be at.  I was doing too many water changes trying to clean the bacteria out of the water so now the levels are off.  The pamphlet says chichlids like PH at 8.2?  Is the water burning her skin at 6.0?  thats terrible!  So I got this stuff called 'Neutral Regulator', but the problem is that the bottle says it needs to be used in combo in order to put the PH up or down.  So what is the proper way to use this?  Also what is the difference between 'PH' and 'High Range' PH testing?  The kit has both but I dont know what the diff is.
Thanks so much for your help.  Hopefully you can help Lucy get better!

Best,
Suzanne

Answer
Hi Suzanne,
Aww poor Lucy.

It's very strange for this cichlid to be sick for 3 months! poor girl.

My main concern is the pH adjuster. Using chemical pH adjusters can be risky. Because they can end up causing dangerous pH swings that can seriously stress your fish. What is the pH of your water straight out of the tap?

Cichlids are hardy and adaptable and can do well at many varying levels of pH and its best to ignore what sources claim the pH should be at. Because the majority of the time, adjusting it is simply not necessary.

I definitely wouldn't stop doing water changes. It would really help Lucy's sickness if she had consistently clean water. Doing water changes won't throw off the balance of your water parameters. If anything it will help because you will be removing pollution buildup and decaying matter (decaying matter releases acidic compounds) that cause the pH to drop. Most water types have a "buffering capacity" which keeps the pH stable. It can be used up quickly in an aquarium and replenishing it with fresh water when doing water changes will keep the pH relatively stable. Now if your water is naturally low in Alkalinity/buffering capacity then you definitely will have to use something to help the buffering capacity and therefore keep the pH stable.
But until you can test for that for now I'd test your tap water and see what the pH is like and then go from there.

So is Lucy currently being treated with Melafix? This medication sometimes isn't very effective on strong strains of bacteria/fungus so be careful that the fungus she has/had doesn't reoccur. I've had the best of luck treating even stubborn fungal infections with Jungle Brand "Fungus Clear" very effective and easy to use coupled with daily 50% water changes and re-dosing after water changes. Salt is also a helpful deterrent to fungus just be sure to pre-dissolve it first.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~