Have I done everything I needed to do?

[VioletThePurple]

My platy and probably cory that I just bought yesterday I woke up to find dead. The reason I say the cory is probably dead and not certainly is that I can't find it, or any remains of it in the tank. I'm assuming my snails ate it since they were already picking at the platy when I had removed it. I had bought two cories, as there were only the two in the store tank. I feel bad for my little buddy now because he lost his friend. But obviously I shouldn't go buy more fish right away until I take care of the problem in my tank. I tested my nitrates, and it was red, meaning at least 40 ppm assuming I did the test right. I know this is relatively high, so I did a water change. Should I do daily water changes until the nitrates are at a low level? I can test my other water parameters if needed, but I accidentally ended up mixing the nitrite solution with the nitrate solution as I'm in a bit of a frenzied state right now.

 

[jaylach]

Yes, you need to do water tests so you know where you are. 40 PPM on nitrates is not moderately high, it is ver high and can be toxic to many fish. Shoot, 20 PPM is fatal for Panda Garra.

How long has the tank been setup and was it fully cycled before adding fish?

Are there still live fish? If so I'd recommend a 50+% water change at least twice a week until the nitrates level out and remain under 10 PPM.

Also make sure that you are using a water conditioner such as Prime to neutralize the chlorine/chloride in the source water. This is absolutely essential.

 

[VioletThePurple]

Yes, you need to do water tests so you know where you are. 40 PPM on nitrates is not moderately high, it is ver high and can be toxic to many fish. Shoot, 20 PPM is fatal for Panda Garra.

How long has the tank been setup and was it fully cycled before adding fish?

Are there still live fish? If so, I'd recommend a 50+% water change at least twice a week until the nitrates level out and remain under 10 PPM.

Also make sure that you are using a water conditioner such as Prime to neutralize the chlorine/chloride in the source water. This is absolutely essential.

I do have a bit of a happy update. I finally saw the other cory. So, they are both still alive. Surprisingly, this isn't a new tank, this is a relatively old tank (I've had it for two years but tbf I've only learned about the importance of water quality recently.) Is there a reason you recommend a large water change twice a week instead of a small one everyday?

 

[jaylach]

I want larger water changes to get the nitrate level down to acceptable levels. A 50% water change cuts the nitrates in half. Small water changes daily don't do the same as they only remove a smaller amount of the nitrates.

Let's go with your nitrate level of 40+ PPM. Do a 10% water change and the nitrates are still at 36+ PPM. Do a 50% water change and the nitrates are 20+ PPM.

 

[MaloK]

A couple months ago I checked that a little closer and the results speaks from themselves.

If you do 50% per day, it will take 5 days to change 95% of the water.

If you do 20% per day, it will take 14 days to change 95% of the water.

If you do 10% per day, it will take 29 days to change 95% of the water.

At this point, it's like doing no water changes...

 

[Colin_T]

What is the ammonia and nitrite reading?
If you have nitrite it will show up as nitrate on the nitrate test kit and you get a false reading.

If you lose a fish to poor water quality or if you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are 0ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Check your tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate too. It's pointless doing big water changes if the tap water isn't safe.

 

[GaryE]

You don't say where you are, but large areas of the midwestern US have polluted tap water. So testing your source water becomes important.

I would go with a series of 50% water changes, if the tap is good. Don't do more as your fish have to acclimate. They'll have tried to adjust physically to rough conditions, and you don't want to shock them. 50% would be safe, treated for chlorine or chloramines.

Then, after a week or ten days, you have a choice. You can use the test kits and keep taking the fish to the edge of what's safe, or do what I've done for years. I change 25 to 30% of the water every week, or going past 10 days in extreme circumstances like sickness. Prevention goes a long way.

 

[VioletThePurple]

What is the ammonia and nitrite reading?
If you have nitrite it will show up as nitrate on the nitrate test kit and you get a false reading.

If you lose a fish to poor water quality or if you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm, do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day until the levels are 0ppm.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Check your tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate too. It's pointless doing big water changes if the tap water isn't safe.

I woke up to an empty snail shell, so I am still actively losing life despite doing a water change each day for the past two days. I do dechlorinate with prime so I know my tap water should be safe in that regard, but I'll get back to you once I do all the other readings

 

[jaylach]

When you check your tap water put some in a container and let it sit for a day before testing.

 

[VioletThePurple]

So don't use fresh water straight from the tap? Cause that turned out to be 0 nitrate

 

[jaylach]

The tap water has to sit for some tests but not others. PH is one where it needs to sit. I don't really know about others.

 

[Colin_T]

The pH is the only thing you need to let tap water sit for 24 hours before testing. That allows the dissolved gasses in the water to get to normal levels so you get a more accurate pH. It doesn't normally make a lot of difference but if you have a lot of carbon dioxide in the water it can give you a lower pH reading than the water actually is.

You don't need to let water sit for ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.

 

[VioletThePurple]

The pH is the only thing you need to let tap water sit for 24 hours before testing. That allows the dissolved gasses in the water to get to normal levels so you get a more accurate pH. It doesn't normally make a lot of difference but if you have a lot of carbon dioxide in the water it can give you a lower pH reading than the water actually is.

You don't need to let water sit for ammonia, nitrite or nitrate.

That's weird then, cause I have zero nitrate on that but using a test strip on my tank water, it still shows a concerning number of nitrates. Of course, I still have to retest the nitrates with my kit.

 

[jaylach]

Nitrates are caused by bacteria in the tank. One type of bacteria changes ammonia to nitrites and another type of bacteria changes nitrites to nitrates. There are no bacteria to get rid of nitrates. I've seen nitrate filters that are supposed to get rid of nitrates but it is best to just do water changes. Water changes not only get rid of nitrates but, also, other toxins that can harm fish.

 

[VioletThePurple]

Nitrates are caused by bacteria in the tank. One type of bacteria changes ammonia to nitrites and another type of bacteria changes nitrites to nitrates. There are no bacteria to get rid of nitrates. I've seen nitrate filters that are supposed to get rid of nitrates but it is best to just do water changes. Water changes not only get rid of nitrates but, also, other toxins that can harm fish.

I've tried. I've done two water changes and my nitrates are still showing up as high