Quote Originally Posted by IRescue452
Which type of dragon fish are you talking about? There are several species with that common name.

pH won't be your problem. A stable pH from 5-9 will house almost all aquarium fish without problem. A slow change in pH is best, but you want it to be stable. Using chemicals to adjust the ph makes it change quickly and also makes it unstable. You should stop using those types of chemicals.

Sometimes it is just the move that stresses the fish. Sometimes it the new tankmates. What kind of fish did you acquire?

I do recommend slowly switching from bottled water to tap water altogether, bottled water does not have all the nutrients fish need. The only chemicals you should be using are dechlor and perhaps salt. Its not entirely true that all fish thrive with some salt content, some cichlids and puffers cannot tolerate any salt.
He's a dragon goby. PH is the only thing that's any different in the tank, though...all the other stuff is exactly or close to being the same. I used the chemicals to adjust the PH without any problem at all. I haven't used the chemicals in about three weeks, though and I only treated the tanks once. They all did fine, though, with the product I purchased. No one showed any signs of distress.

The new tankmates (tetras, plecos, and a feeder fish) didn't seem to be an issue either. They were all in the ten gallon tank to start with without any signs of distress at all. The move to the larger tank didn't affect anyone but Falcor.

So, buying spring water doesn't have what he needs? The problem I'm running into is that he is thriving in the ten gallon tank, which is a lower PH than I seem to find is recommended, and it's bottled spring or drinking water. Is there any way to add the nutrients to bottled water that are missing? After the scare I had putting him in the conditioned tap water, I'm afraid to not use bottled water.

And, as far as the conditioning salt I have added, it's for freshwater fish and doesn't have any warnings on it. I don't have any cichlids or puffers, though, so I'm not going to worry about that.

If it's not the PH, and it doesn't appear to be the other fish, you're saying it could be the move itself? I've seen fish react stressfully to a move, but never have I seen the way Falcor reacts. He swims really spastically, flips around (like a crocodile does), and then ends up on his back, not moving his gills or his mouth...as soon as I put him back in the small tank, he's fine. It's horrible, and I didn't expect that the first time I moved all the fish. The second time I tried to move Falcor, I had made some adjustments to the large tank and thought it would be safe (because I didn't think the PH would be that big of a factor either). If it is the move itself, what, if any, suggestions do you have for making it easier on him?