Ok. All my years in raising pbass ive never understood water chemistry. Probably the pollock in me. Anyways. My nitrates are 200ppm, nitrites 0ppm, ammonia 0ppm, ph 7.0, kh 40ppm gh 180ppm. Currently i had 4 brokos and 3 orinos in a 125. Running a fx6, water temp 84. All fish were 12" to 7". All were sold. Now i had 4 intermedia 2.5-3". Lost 1 losing 2 more as we speak. Ive done a 40% change last week and another 25% last night. Nitrates are still at 200ppm. What am i doing wrong. I was told keep doing water changes to bring it down. But my concern is because the temp is so high, that makes the water less oxygenated correct ? Should i add a bubble screen. But then my question is what is the fx6 doing then? Isnt it producing cleaner fresh oxygenated water? And im afraid if i keep doing water changes am i stripping the nitrifying bacteria from the water. I only change the media. Never scrub out my fx6. Can someone please explain to me wtf im doing wrong. Thank you
Water Parameters and losing fish
- Thread starter jimmie1974
- Start date
What test kit are you using? Liquid or strips? 200ppm is immense and could definitely be to blame.
Jimmie that’s extremely high. What’s you Maintenance schedule? Your probably have a ton on mulm in your canisters and substrate. Most likely you need to be doing larger more frequent water changes. For my bass, I run a drip system of 3 gph and I’m still doing 2 70 percent water changes a week.
The nitrate level in any natural waters where P-bass live, is close to 0.00 in niitrate, so if you are loosing fish I would agree the nitrate is probably a big cause in that loss.
In my tanka I do 30-40% water changes every other day to hold nitrates down to 5ppm, but for cichlids the size of P-bass I might do daily water changes of that volume.
What type filtration are you using, and how often to you clean gunk from the media, if it is less often than your water change routine, your filters might be nitrate factories pumping out nitrate.
Normal filtration does not hold down nitrate.
The other day I tested a small lagoon near me in Panama for nitrate, below a photo of that reading.
this lagoonita is filled with rotting leaf litter, and it is the dry season here. This is the norm in nature.
When I was working in a lab in Wisconsin, part of my job was to test raw lake Michigan water, it never exceeded 1 ppm nitrate.
I haven't kept P-bass in years, but if I did, my water change routine would be very voluminous.
One other thing, whenever you keep large cichlids, when young you may get away with small water changes, but as they grow, be they oscars or P-bass your amount and frequency of water changes needs to grow with them, what is tolerable to a 3" Cichla is totally inadequate for a 10" or larger one.
In my tanka I do 30-40% water changes every other day to hold nitrates down to 5ppm, but for cichlids the size of P-bass I might do daily water changes of that volume.
What type filtration are you using, and how often to you clean gunk from the media, if it is less often than your water change routine, your filters might be nitrate factories pumping out nitrate.
Normal filtration does not hold down nitrate.
The other day I tested a small lagoon near me in Panama for nitrate, below a photo of that reading.
this lagoonita is filled with rotting leaf litter, and it is the dry season here. This is the norm in nature.
When I was working in a lab in Wisconsin, part of my job was to test raw lake Michigan water, it never exceeded 1 ppm nitrate.
I haven't kept P-bass in years, but if I did, my water change routine would be very voluminous.
One other thing, whenever you keep large cichlids, when young you may get away with small water changes, but as they grow, be they oscars or P-bass your amount and frequency of water changes needs to grow with them, what is tolerable to a 3" Cichla is totally inadequate for a 10" or larger one.
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Im running a single fx6 in this 125 gallon. The pads had a dark brown gunk all over them. I thought you were to never touch that because thats where your bacteria is living. I changed the carbon. Added seachem prime. Im using API test strips 5 in 1. Added a bubble screen to help oxygenate the water, although probably not needed because my surface water is moving. Are you telling me every pad in that filter i should be rinsing out until it not long is brown when im rinsing them under water ?
The dark brown gunk on the filter pads and any media is dirt and debris and it needs to be removed during regular filter maintenance. You can squeeze them out in a bucket of fish tank water to remove as much crud as you can and it may take a few buckets of water to accomplish it.
If your tap water source is untreated (no chlorine or disinfectant) you can just clean the media in the sink using a hose sprayer attachment which is what I do with my well water. Some members do the same procedure even with treated tap water with no issues.
You cannot see good bacteria with the naked eye so what you are seeing in the filter is just leftover dirt, food and feces that accumulate in the filter and needs to be removed regularly.
I'm not a fan of the 5 in 1 test strips and prefer the API Master kit for testing the water parameters. If your nitrate is really 200PPM, clean the filter and do a few 40% water changes over the next couple days to get the nitrate down lower.
If your tap water source is untreated (no chlorine or disinfectant) you can just clean the media in the sink using a hose sprayer attachment which is what I do with my well water. Some members do the same procedure even with treated tap water with no issues.
You cannot see good bacteria with the naked eye so what you are seeing in the filter is just leftover dirt, food and feces that accumulate in the filter and needs to be removed regularly.
I'm not a fan of the 5 in 1 test strips and prefer the API Master kit for testing the water parameters. If your nitrate is really 200PPM, clean the filter and do a few 40% water changes over the next couple days to get the nitrate down lower.
If the gunk is covering the pads, it may be smothering the benefial bacteria, because that bacteria is a thin microscopic biofilm.
After hearing your description it sounds like you canister has become a nitrate factory spewing the stuff that is jeopardizing the health of your fish.
I gave up cans just this very reason, they are not user friendly to clean, so normally not done, and because the water is often clear, it gives the impression that it is healthy.
The majority of the worst unhealthy stuff in tanks is invisible, it is a human aesthetic perception far from reality.
Take a look at the water in Lake Gatun, it is so full of P-bass they have to have fishing jamborees to thin them out.
After hearing your description it sounds like you canister has become a nitrate factory spewing the stuff that is jeopardizing the health of your fish.
I gave up cans just this very reason, they are not user friendly to clean, so normally not done, and because the water is often clear, it gives the impression that it is healthy.
The majority of the worst unhealthy stuff in tanks is invisible, it is a human aesthetic perception far from reality.
Take a look at the water in Lake Gatun, it is so full of P-bass they have to have fishing jamborees to thin them out.
Hello; Mt understanding is the water itself holds little if any of the beneficial bacteria (bb). So large and often waterchanges (WC) do no harm. Some report doing fin level WC very opften.
Hello; there are two sorts of filter media possible. The mechanical type which is supposed to catch the mulm. (Also called detritus, crud, fish poo. solids and so on) I throw away this sort when loaded up and replace with new.
One caution - If your filter has more that one such mechanical filter portion then I would not change out all of them at the same time. Example I have a HOB with two sets. I change only one at a time. My thinking is there will be some of the bb even on the mechanical filter media so as I have the option, I take advantage of the option. However on smaller filters with only a single mechanical part I have replaced them for decades with no problem as long as I do not clean the rest of the filter at the same time.
Hello; This.
Hello; This.
Hello; Yes I have heard/read about that belief. I will add another similar one. That being to always clean all media by gently swissing in old tank water. While there is a sort of logic to both I find them to be less than absolute.
The second sort of media in usually called bio-media. It should be behind the mechanical so the mechanical catches most of the mulm and stays clean. Nice theory but not a real world thing. The bio-media will get loaded up eventually.
The bb make a thin sticky film on solid surfaces. They take ammonia and nitrite from the water as it flows over that film. When the bio-media gets gunked up or layered over then my take is it is smothered and cannot do the job.
If you pull the bio-media and clean it pretty regular then you will likely get by with a gentle swish in old tank water for sometime. The bb film is called sessile and is reported to stick well to surfaces so the swishing need not be so gentle.
At some point more thorough cleaning is needed. I use a garden hose with tap water having chlorine. I figure some of the bb will be killed but the cleaning at that point is the more important.
I take precautions by cleaning only a portion of my bio-media at one time. Another thing is to do this cleaning during a WC so that any tap water residue can be dealt with by adding Prime with the WC. No feeding for a day or two can help reduce the impact of the lost bb.
Hello; If you are swishing in old tank water or rinsing with chlorine /chloramine free well water then do them all at once this first time. You really need to get that "nitrate factory" cleaned out. Keep them wet all the time. I would not do all at the same time if using tap water.
Hello; Yes to this. Once you get past the current crisis figure out a regular cleaning schedule.
Hello; I do this but not evert time. Maybe two or three time a year with the precautions already mentioned.
Hello; This.
Hello; This. I will add some links for your further reading.
Aquarium cycling links
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html
http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html
Thank you. Did alot of reading and youtube videos tonight to get a better understanding. I appreciate all the help