Help-Nitrates!

[eastnc]

I've had my 20gal tank over a year and have really been lucky. I have well water
but I still use Stress Coat. I lost a neon tonight very suddenly. I got him out, but he died in the "hospital". I am taking him to the pet shop tomorrow to see if they can see anything-I can't. In the mean time, I bought two "water testers". The strip kind and one for ph only. Now, I am worried about my water. I can't get my ph down. I have added phDown three times! Finally, I did a 25% change and used sterilized water to fill in and it is at 7.2. Everything else was fine-except my water is very hard! Tonight, after I lost my neon-I checked my water. All of a sudden, my Nitrate has jumped to 100! The only thing I can think of is I removed a live plant when I did my water change because it was rotten! I can't do anything tonight, but what can I do about this! I have a wonderful, congenial tank! My well water can't be too bad, cause I have three various stages of fancy guppies in plastic buckets cause I can't see them and let them get eaten-but that's another problem. *S*
Thanks,
cheryl

 

[tttnjfttt]

ok, lots of issues, so I'm gonna adress them one at a time, maybe not in the order you had posted them in...

First of all, can you describe your "normal" water change proceedure, and also do a water quality test on your tap water as well as your tank water, and post those? Specifically, can you post ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH (sometimes called alkanity). Also, is there anything you regularly add to your water?

pH - In general, it is best to not use chemicals to alter your pH. The pH in my tanks is around 8.6 (tiger barbs, zebra danios, and bettas). How long have you been you been using ph down?

Sterilized water - What do you mean by this?

Nitrates - What is the nitrate in your tank on a normal day, and what is it in your water? this seems very high, but its very wierd to see a sudden spike, usually its a gradual buildup.

When you say you are on well water, is this a private well or city well? Do you use a dechlorinator, as many of them also detoxify heavy metals as well as remove chlorine/chloramine. Removing the plant wouldn't have caused a spike in nitrates, atleast not a very rapid one since it was already rotting.

 

[eastnc]

Thank you for answering,
I change my water with a gravel vacuum. Usually replace at least 4gallons. Until I got my "testers" I wasn't as nervous as I am now-ignorance was bliss. My well water is: Nitrites-0, Nitrates-0; GH 300; KH-colors don't match-best guess is 200; PH-I use different tester 7.2
Tank: Nitrites-0 Nitrates-80-100; everything else the same.
I first bought color strips. Nothing was ever wrong except my ph looked high, so I bought a separate ph tester and with it came phdown and phup. So, I tried adding the phdown when the test looked high. It didn't change, so rather than add more chemicals to my tank, I asked the pet store and they suggested using bottled sterilized water as a replacement to soften my water(which is very hard) and get the ph down. I did this Mon. Tonight, my Nitrates are showing high on my color strip and they never have before. I have two stripped danios, a dwarf gourami, a catfish, two fancy guppies, two black barb, two red barbs, and did have two neons-now just one. My newest fish are the barbs-have had them over a month. I did loose a guppy two weeks ago, but it looked like she had been bitten and she had had babies twice and was due again-no sign of any infection. I have one of those fry in a net-he isn't big enough to turn loose yet and he is doing great! My other female is probably "feeding the tank' as we type, but I don't have room to save any more-I have 14 fry at different stages now!
Thanks for any help.
Cheryl

 

[eastnc]

Forgot to add, I do use Stress Coat. In fact, since it is all I have here, I just added some. I also use Aquarium salt-always mix to prevent burning fish.
Thanks again,
Cheryl

 

[tttnjfttt]

If your pH is 7.2, it is NOT high.... One myth that LPS/LFS love to sell is your pH needs to be exactly at 7. It is best to let the fish adapt to YOUR water, dont worry about the chemicals.

As for the very hard water, I personally don't have that problem, but I have heard others on this board just let their fish adapt to the water.

As for the neon tetra that died - they are fairly fragile fish, i'm guessing the nitrate got to him. Right now, I would suggest doing several partial water changes over the next few days to bring the nitrate back under control. The key is to go slowly because it can shock your fish and do more harm than good.

Here is a link about water chemistry that might be helpful. http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=59467

 

[eastnc]

Thanks, I guess this was a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!".
In all fairness, when I started, my PH was close to 8. But, the fish were alive!
Glad I have the strips for the Nitrate thing, but I think I'll look for extremes only.
I just changed two gallons and I think they look happier already-I'll do it slowly.
Just one neon left-don't think I'll replace him. Over this year I have lost five of them-two I euthanized because I thought they looked like they had that neon disease. Two others I found on the bottom and now this one. They are beautiful, but so are the others and they seem to be hardier. I have two dogs, a cat, and two horses, I never thought I could get this "attached" to fish.
Cheryl

 

[tttnjfttt]

In my tank, my pH is 8.6 unadjusted, its 9+ out of the tap, but people here have asured me (countless times) that don't mess with it, just aclimate the fish slowly.

 

[morgan]

It doesn't say in your profile what type of tank you have. If it is a Juwel you can get a Nitrate Removing Sponge. They are green. I did not have water quality problems but I saw these sponges at Aquatics Direct and thought I would try them. You might be able to get similar filter media for other types of filter but I wouldn't know about that, I stick to the simple ones(appropriate to my knowledge!). Hope this helps. If you do decide to use it it does take a few days for the bacteria in the green sponge to start working.