Nitrates 160ppm
- Thread starter HumanBean
- Start date
As I mentioned in my post tank is running steadily without any issue over a year. It contains a healthy population of polys . If maintainnce was not done properly how can it last for a year without any issue.
My maintance schedule is pretty regular and I am running a good size canister filter which I clean every 2 week.
I hardly doubt it nitrates even if they were 160ppm killed your fish. This is not a lethal level. And nitrates can't be measured accurately even in laboratory conditions. So I wouldn't concentrate on that.
How about oxygen/surface movement? Contaminants of some sort that may have went into the tank, etc?
How about oxygen/surface movement? Contaminants of some sort that may have went into the tank, etc?
Its fairly OK. A spray bar from canister filter. I am coming to that conclusion as well that it wasn't nitrate. Contamination not too sure. I fed them brine shrimp and bloodworm mixture. That's about it.
How are the fish now? Have you done any changes since? Something did may them gasp, question is what. You've ruled out ammonia, nitrite, ph drop, perhaps oxygen...Can you post a short video of the amount of surface movement and tank and fish maybe?
As always, the best is to do more and larger water changes for the time being.
As always, the best is to do more and larger water changes for the time being.
If he hadn't noticed that high of a concentration over a fairly long period of time, 160 ppm is most certainly lethal after prolonged exposure.
OP what tank size? how many is that healthy population of polys, and is there anything else filtering besides the canister?
Theres a belief that nitrates effect fish similar to PH in that if you expose them to high levels for a period of time, dropping them rapidly will cause the fish a sort of shock and possibly kill them, though I've had nitrate spikes of 80+ and dropped them to 10 or below and never killed a fish lol.
Duanes link gives enough info, check that out.
If high nitrates weren't toxic to fish, there would be almost no reason for water changes or maintenance really.
Is it going to kill them immediately? More than likely no. Is it going to cause lethal complications down the line? yes.
http://www.tfhmagazine.com/freshwater/feature-articles/keeping-up-with-nitrate.htm
not saying its a completely reliable article, but quite a bit of history of the nitrogen cycle tend to back up most of the info.
If high nitrates weren't toxic to fish, there would be almost no reason for water changes or maintenance really.
Is it going to kill them immediately? More than likely no. Is it going to cause lethal complications down the line? yes.
http://www.tfhmagazine.com/freshwater/feature-articles/keeping-up-with-nitrate.htm
not saying its a completely reliable article, but quite a bit of history of the nitrogen cycle tend to back up most of the info.
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