MiggyTheMet
New Member
Okay, I'm not new to having a fish tank, but I'm not the most knowledgeable person either. In the past I've had 20 gal, 29 gal, 55 gal, all freshwater and decided to take a break from fish for about 8 years. I have a 29 gallon currently that I've had for about a year and a half now. I HAD a green terror, and an iridescent shark. My GT started flourishing around 8-9 months and really growing and colors starting to really shine. I noticed about 3 weeks ago that his stomach was getting really big, and I tried to google things and all I could find was that he was simply eating too much, which I know wasn't the issue because I only fed once a day in the morning before work, and only a pinch of pellets which whatever my GT didn't touch or came or hit the bottom the silver surfer (iridescent) would eat. His stomach then ruptured while I was at work. I buried the GT then did a 70-30 water exchange following and let the tank run for about a week with just the surfer in it. I experienced no issues, while going to look for new fish I described to the worker I was talking to the size of my iridescent and that I would be willing to give him to them for some money off of whichever fish I decided to put in my tank. I traded in my iridescent for some money off of 2 medium sized peacock cichlids (35 dollars a pop NON guaranteed) which died within 2 days after. I brought a water sample in and they said the only thing they can find wrong is that my nitrate is high. I asked about every question in the book about how to lower my nitrate and how it got so high in the first place, and didn't come up with very much (if anything) So I'm reaching out, looking for help! I love fish but I will not buy another fish and put it in my tank to die, my favorite thing about Fish is watching them grow, and that's very hard to do with them only being able to survive 2 days in my current tank situation. I was told to do another water exchange, which I then explained I would but wasn't sure what it was going to help seeing as I've been using the same water source this entire time, and this is the first time I've had an issue. I need help, is what I'm trying to say I guess, if anybody has any other explanations besides nitrate I'm very open minded. Really hoping to getting my tank back to normal as soon as I can so I can.
Thanks in advance!
Thanks in advance!