Low ph?
My walstad tank is 2~ months old, maybe 3 now. I added a betta and the ph dropped to 6, maybe lower after about 2 weeks of having him. I had a giant pacific wood piece in there and some seiryu stone. It’s a 2.5 gallon. There was some wood fungus that emerged about a week ago and my betta lost all its color I’m guessing from the stress. There was also an ammonia spike idk from what so that’s under control now but the ph still sucks.
I removed the pacific driftwood yesterday so I’m hoping the ph balances out soon but is it possible my dirt decomposing is causing the ph to drop so low? I’ve done water changes every day for a week since my betta lost its color and the ph stays consistently low. What is happening? I’d appreciate some help?
Rn there is dirt, gravel cap, and a sand cap with anarchis, java ferns, bolbitis water fern, some other species from PETCO, and then of course the seiryu stones mentioned, my betta fish and 1 ghost shrimp. There are also pest snails.