More on water chemistry: These levels look OK?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
O

Oreo

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 7, 2008
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Baltimore
Ammonia = .08 ppm

Nitrite = .025 ppm

Copper = .09 ppm

These numbers taken with a spectrophotometer so they should be pretty accurate. Tank water is from a well established FW aquarium that's been getting 50% water changes slightly better then weekly.

Tank is a 30gal stocked with:
a patriot crab
a ghost knife
2 scats
2 large goldfish
a very young columbian shark cat
a cory-cat

How much copper & zinc are acceptable for a healthy aquarium?
 
Honestly I have never checked for copper or zinc in my tanks. But I will say that your tank is overstocked .The amm and nitrites should be at 0 if its an established aquarium . If it were me I would get rid of the scats , goldfish and columbian cat . As the goldfish are the only non brackish fish but get very large and are big ole waste producers . Sorry I couldnt help with the other problem though .... Good Luck :D
 
I know the tank is overstocked. I'm in the process of setting up a 110gal tank for them.

I put 1tsp salt / gal in now. We'll see who dies first & who ever is left will determine the direction of the tank water. I bought these fish when I was less knowledgeable about aquarium stocking. I've since grown wiser.

I think it's important to emphasize that on your normal aquarium test strips the ammonia & nitrite levels do read at zero. I'm using some much more sophisticated equipment here capable of reading mere trace amounts. As long as there are fish in the aquarium there's going to be trace levels of ammonia & nitrite.
 
Your Ghost Knife will probably die form the salt and the goldfish too. I agree about trace amounts of nitrite and ammonia being in aquariums always. Its just most tests dont pick it up because its so low, and when its so low it isnt really a threat.
 
I also agree that we all have trace amounts , but as far as the copper and zinc well we probably have trace amounts of that also but I know of noone with the type of equipment that you have . As far as adding salt and letting fish "die off" to pick your stock I personally feel thats not a very good method . I simply ask questions here or google to choose stock , but to each his own I suppose
 
I agree that better could be done about my stock situation. Those goldfish were feeders that just grew too big. So, they've had a pretty good life considering where they came from. If you believe in a God, he was looking out for that goldfish! lol The rest of the tankmates have been doing just fine together over the last year or so- albeit a bit crowded now that everyone has grown up a bit. Hence the bigger tank coming online within a month.

I'm just wondering at what point does copper or zinc become a problem? What levels do the test strips normally test for?
 
Thats awesome !!! Ive had feeders make it too , thank god theres a fish store around my area that will take them and sell as pond fish lol. I cant recall ever seeing test strips for zinc , or copper for that matter but im sure if copper was a problem in your tank the BKG would show signs of distress
 
I've come so far in my abilities with aquariums. My girlfriend & I started the hobby together about 3 years ago. At first we were losing fish left & right. We had a lot to learn about water chemistry first & then crudely found out the hard way about stocking. Now that I've got the basics down I'm going high-tech planted tank for the 110gal.

The goldfish were for a couple dwarf african frogs that got big & started eating us out of house & home!! Two goldfish survived till those frogs died. First they survived the horrible water conditions of the feeder tank. Then they survived being eaten by the frogs- litterally, somehow managed to swim out of it's mouth after being swallowed. Then survived living in the tank with the two frogs long enough to get too big for them to eat. Now the one goldfish is probably 7-8" long!!! We're really good to that goldfish now, seeing as how he's such good friends with God, we fear for our souls.
 
OK so I found THIS on DrFoster&Smith that says copper is bad for plants & invertebrates but is used to treat protozoan parasites at a dosage not to exceed .15ppm. That worries me since I'm already at over half the recommended dosage for medication & I have a crab. Crab seems to be doing OK, but I'm going to have to watch my copper levels for a while to see what's normal.
 
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