Hey guys yesterday lost my AT. He was fine the night before swimming and eating as usual. Then saw him struggling to swim in the morning. Tested my water and found high nitrates. Is the 0.25 of nitrites also deadly? I did a water change about 3 days before at the usual 50%. The only thing i did new was add a second canister. I never touched my old one so the BB from there was never touched or anything. What should I do as of now to lower the nitrates? I'll test the water again tomorrow.
High nitrates
- Thread starter shua71
- Start date
Your nitrite reading high. along with the nitrates. The test is reading false nitrates or the canister filter you added caused and mini cycle.The nitrite is the worse of the 2 and may have been an issue with one of your fish. I would rinse the tubes out and retest the nitrite. Sometimes when I check the water I will get a false reading and I will retest the nitrite and its fine. The only acceptable level of nitrite is 0. Also I have noticed that the color matching on the cards in the test kit you are using are faded and do not match the colors of the test tube as well as they should. Water changes are the only way to lower the nitrates once every 2 days 35% added with the recommened dosage of Amquel + or prime to help lower the nitrates, the dosage is in the directions on the bottle. Kep doing the water changes it could take a few weeks. Make sure you test the water you use to do the water changes in the tank. If that water has high nitrates so will your tank. I had the same thing and I am still doing the water and nitrate is coming down slowly even though I am doing the water changes once a week and maybe sometimes 2. My nitrates were above 60 dark red and now its about 40.
Shua71 do you notice that the ph also drops. I have read the high nitratres can cause problems with the ph going to low. But it all goes back to keeping up with the water changes. Once I uped the wcs the ph in my tank stabilized.
It sounds to me like your fish died of nitrIte poisoning. This is where nitrItes out-compete oxygen in the gills, and causes "brown blood disease."
Add salt to your tank 1 tsp. per gallon, as well as change 50% of your water. Make sure the new water is the same temperature as the tank water.
Monitor your water parameters daily, report back here with other questions, and we'll help you through the cycling process on your tank. The only real way to lower nitrAtes is through multiple large water changes. You can do 50% every 12 hours for the best results at lowering nitrAtes. I recommend Prime, as it makes ammonia and nitrIte available to your biobugs, whereas Amquel does not, and can starve your ammonia bugs.
If you salt your water as suggested, wait to do it until you do the first water change. Pre-mix the salt with some tank water until it dissolves, then add it to a high flow area to mix it with your tank's water. When you do another water change, you will need to replace how ever much salt that you take out with the water you take out. For instance, if you have a 100 gallon tank, and you removed 50 gallons of water, you will need to replace 50 teaspoons of salt during that water change. Do not add salt when "topping off" for evaporation, only when you physically remove the water from the tank.
You will want to keep the salt in the tank, until your tank fully cycles (i.e. 0 nitrIte reading) and then you can slowly begin changing the water with fresh water, without adding back salt.
Add salt to your tank 1 tsp. per gallon, as well as change 50% of your water. Make sure the new water is the same temperature as the tank water.
Monitor your water parameters daily, report back here with other questions, and we'll help you through the cycling process on your tank. The only real way to lower nitrAtes is through multiple large water changes. You can do 50% every 12 hours for the best results at lowering nitrAtes. I recommend Prime, as it makes ammonia and nitrIte available to your biobugs, whereas Amquel does not, and can starve your ammonia bugs.
If you salt your water as suggested, wait to do it until you do the first water change. Pre-mix the salt with some tank water until it dissolves, then add it to a high flow area to mix it with your tank's water. When you do another water change, you will need to replace how ever much salt that you take out with the water you take out. For instance, if you have a 100 gallon tank, and you removed 50 gallons of water, you will need to replace 50 teaspoons of salt during that water change. Do not add salt when "topping off" for evaporation, only when you physically remove the water from the tank.
You will want to keep the salt in the tank, until your tank fully cycles (i.e. 0 nitrIte reading) and then you can slowly begin changing the water with fresh water, without adding back salt.
Laticauda;4879154; said:
Thanks for the response guys. I don't think salt is a good option for me since I have clown loaches and I'd rather not stress them. I always dose with prime during water changes. As of now i'll stick to 50% water changes. I'll test my water and then do one soon. Just did a 50% change yesterday already.
Well, 1tsp per gallon will not irritate the loaches, and will actually make them more comfortable, since the salt out-competes the nitrItes, making it possible for them to breath. But they are your fish, if you don't mind them suffocating, then I certainly don't.
You don't even need 1tsp per gallon, just a add 1 tsp for the entire tank and it will protect against nitrite poisoning.
Burt
Burt
Your nitrates are really, really high. You need to start doing more frequent water changes. Maybe give your substrate a good cleaning too?
jcardona1;4879725; said:
Its bare bottom and I've been doing daily changes. Its really starting to puzzle me..