PH goofy! Water green! Help save my boy's fish!

Amhobbs

I tested the PH and Ammonia of my water because my water was so green I couldn't see my fish. The Ammonia was fine. The PH was on the low side, so I put the tablet in it to bring it up but it's up too high! Is doing a partial water change the only way to bring it down?
The fish are my Autistic son's and I'm really worried I'm gonna loose them

Molinious

Im not an expert on these matters but for the best possible help i think the ones in the know would appriciate a photo of the tank. By any chance is it in direct sunlight??

Amhobbs

No, It's not in direct light.I don't even turn the light on most of the time until almost dinner time. I've been keeping fish for most of my life and never had this happen. The only change to the tank has been adding fish. But every thing was done the right way.
Since I've added the PH tablet the water is now clear but the PH is way high.

Nilet699

from what i know fish can adjust to a slow change in PH in your tank but forcing a quick and massive change with chemicals is actually much worse for them.

And yes, change water plenty and keep an close eye would be my newbie advise

Amhobbs

The tables were supposed to adjust it slowly according to the package. It was the first time I have ever used them. And the package says they treat 10-40 gallon tanks. My ex husband gave them to me after the fish died in his 30 gallon tank.
So note to self, next time cut the table in half. LOL

Boredomb

Water changes are the only way to bring it down but here is the catch. If you change too much water too fast and it causes another major ph swing it could do harm. Its likely your fish are already stresses if the Ph has been swing back and forth another major swing and it could kill them. What is your ph in your tank and what is the Ph lvls in your tab water? Why are you using Ph tablets anyways if you don't mind me asking?
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Amhobbs

Well I just changed 2 gallons of water. We'll see what happens. When the tank was green the PH was 6.2 after I added the tablet it came up to 7.6 and the water became clear again. My tap water is right around 7.0.
I've never needed to adjust PH before in over 20 years. The only reason I used the tables was because they were given to me when my ex-husband took down his 30 gallon tank so they were on hand. And at that moment I couldn't get in to a water change with 2 babies trying to "help" me.
They worked well just too well for my size tank.

Boredomb

I would stop using the PH tablets as they can cause more problems then good.

Also I am kinda confused on the Green water and the Ph tablets clearing it up. Green water is usually caused by free floating algae that reproduces fast enough that it turns the water green. So not sure how the tablets would clear that up.

Amhobbs

Yeah I'm not going to use them again. I figured it was worth a try. The water literally turned green over night and the only thing besides clear the water up the tables did was bring the PH up too high too fast. The PH is 7.2 now. I'll check it again in the morning.

Ogre44

Is it possible that something else was added to the tank like kool-aid or somesuch?
I've read a few threads where things like cereal, milk, etc were added to tanks by kids who wanted to give their fish a treat.
Water turning green that fast is quite unusual, especially without a lot of extra light or nutrients.