Toxic water chemistry

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Kazzaye

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hi all I have not been on for sometime but I really need some help here. I'm very worried my fish are going to die as for all my efforts my water chemistry is getting worse rather than better. About a week ago I tested my water and my ammonia measured around 2 and appears to be rising. My nitrate is 20. My nitrite .25. My ph is 6. I have been water changing everyday and the ammonia is not improving. The nitrite was not .25 until tonight's read. So even though I have been changing the water the situation appears to be worse not better. Tank is now also a touch cloudier. I have a 90 litre tank with 10cardinal tetras and 2 Angel fish. They all appear ok at the moment. I have a nitrate sponge in the filter. I added 5 ml of prime last night. I'm also adding filtered water rather than tap. PLEASE HELP
 
How long has the tank been set up?
If it is newly set up, did you cycle it before getting fish? By cycling, I mean adding ammonia and waiting for the bacteria to grow.
If it is new and you didn't cycle the tank first, you are doing a fish-in cycle. http://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/



If the tank is not newly set up -
Have done anything to the filter recently, such as changing the media?
Do you have live plants - and if yes, have any of them died recently?
Have you changed the substrate?
How long have you been using filtered water for?
What exactly do you mean by filtered water?
Have any fish died and you not found found the body?
Have you added any fish recently?
Has anyone (you or anyone else) put too much food in the tank
Has anyone put anything in the tank which could have harmed the bacteria, including medications?

For ammonia and nitrite to suddenly increase, something must have happened to the ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria. We need to find out what that something is.
 
Last edited:
could it possibly be a change in the lighting that would alter the growth rate of certain bacteria
 
Thanks I'm at a loss.... Could a nitrate removing filter pad do it? No deaths in fish or plants. Tank has been going for 6 months. The filtered water I'm using is from a tap on my fridge. I then zap it in the microwave to bring the temperature up a bit. I'm just wondering if I should add more chemicals or just keep doing water changes . I feel like everything I've done has worsened things. I will do a test tonight and possibly another water change. See how I go - just feel sorry for the poor blighters
 
Hi I've actually got 20 cardinal tetras not 10 and 2 Angel fish in a 90 litre tank. Could it be overcrowded? I would have thought as tetras are so small the ratio would be OK
 
. I'm just wondering if I should add more chemicals
What chemicals are you using, and how much.

My ph is 6.
Is this the PH of the tap water?

At low ph ammonia is converted to ammonium. If you are using the API test kit, be aware that it cant tell the difference between ammonia and ammonium.
 
I put in 5ml of prime 2 days ago. I added a 1/3 teaspoon of ph up . The ph appears to be ok now . I will test tonight. How do u test for ammonium?
 
I added a 1/3 teaspoon of ph up

I am not a fan of these PH altering products, they can cause more problems that they allegedly solve.


You say your water is filtered thru the fridge, Can you post the make and model of the fridge so we can look at the filtration unit

. I then zap it in the microwave to bring the temperature up a bit

How do you zap 40 litres of water? Why 40l? because thats how much you should be changing.


What is the PH of your tap water?
What is the PH of the water once it has been filtered.
 
It would be helpful if you could tell us the hardness of your tap water - you should be able to find that somewhere on your water supplier's website. We need the number and the unit as they could use any one of half a dozen different units.
And also the pH of your tap water, both freshly run and a glass that's stood overnight, and your filtered water. I am concerned that the filter is some thing like a Brita filter as this removes hardness and lowers pH.

If your tap water is OK for your fish it would be better to use this in future, but depending on how much filtered water is in the tank it would be harmful to do large water changes if that would change the water too drastically.
 
I changed 20 litres yesterday and 40 the day before. I'm having a rest tonight they are going to have to wait till tomorrow. How do you zap 40 litres of water? It's painful I tell you. The only reason I'm doing it is because I'm on holiday at the moment. I've heard tap water is full of chemicals so I thought I'd try the filtered.
 
I'm going to test the filtered water tonight and my tap water
 
Can you please test the water from the tap and fridge for ammonia nitrite and nitrate also?
 
Water always has chemicals. These are mainly natural chemicals that make the water hard (lots of them) or soft (not many of them). If you are in the UK, legislation governs how much of other chemicals are allowed in drinking water.


Fish have evolved to live in a certain hardness. The fish you have are all soft water fish. So if your tap water is hard - look on your water company's website - you can add pure water to soften it. But not filtered water. That changes the chemistry of the water in ways that are not good for fish while things like RO (reverse osmosis) water just dilute them.


For example, Brita filters. They remove the hard mineral ions calcium and magnesium and replace them with hydrogen ions. The more hydrogen ions there are the lower the pH. My filter jug drops the pH so low it is off the bottom of the scale. You report your pH as 6, but if your test kit is like mine, 6 is the lowest it can measure so your pH could actually be well below 6. A pH that low is not good for a lot of fish, or the filter bacteria.


So if your tap water does turn out to be hard, you need to use RO water to dilute it rather than filtered water.

But you do need to find out how hard your water is as soon as possible. If you can't find it, tell us which water company and we'll help you look for it.
 
could the problem not be the microwave. could the radiation not be killing all the bacteria. also that sudden change in temp could be doing some funky things to it. causing blooms or the deaths of certain bacteria.
 
I can't see how warming water in the microwave could be the problem. If the filtered water is safe to drink it won't contain any harmful bacteria.
 

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