Help please!

[Smokidean]

I'm really not new to fish. I've had them all my life. Never ever have I had any problems with my water! The tank I have now i can't keep the water parameters right. One day they are fine and the next day my fish start dieing and the parameters are through the roof! please help.. i don't understand. In the past 2 days I'm down to 1 fish I had 6.

 

[AilyNC]

When did you set this tank up? Did you cycle it? When did you add fish? What fish are in the tank & what's the tank dimensions? Can you test water and give ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings?

 

[Darkomot]

You say that you can't keep the water parameters right, but can you say what they are?

 

[Smokidean]

The tank has been up for over a test. The only fish left is a red tetra. It is a 30 gallon tank. all of the parameters are off the charts

 

[Smokidean]

You say that you can't keep the water parameters right, but can you say what they are?

 

[Smokidean]

The tank has been up for over a year. The parameters are so high they don't read. The water in the tubes are almost black

 

[Smokidean]

Nitrate +160ppm
Ammonia 2-4ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
Ph 6

 

[kwi]

What are your water changes like? (Frequency and amount.)
Have you changed/cleaned anything lately?
Have you any live plants?

 

[AilyNC]

Definitely need a biggggg water change - have you been doing them frequently and how much at a time?

@Ch4rlie @AdoraBelle Dearheart @HoldenOn @

 

[Smokidean]

Just did a 70% water change last week.

 

[Smokidean]

the only live plant I have is a Photos floating around

 

[kwi]

Test your source (Tap) water.
That Nitrate result is either a bad test or polluted source water.
Edit: assuming 70% weekly change.

 

[Ch4rlie]

This is suspiciously sounding like old tank syndrome (OTS) or at the very least high nitrate levels.

Very basically OTS means either a gradual decline or a sudden crash in water parameters that usually results in the sudden death of most if not all your livestock.

This is normally happening when tanks are basically left with little changes over time be it over 6 months or 2 years, the result is the same, not enough gravel vac, watching nitrate levels (not just ammonia and nitrite), keeping an eye on ph and kh in both tank and tap water, filter maintenaces and possibly leaving too much food leftover to rot, decaying leaves and so on.

So once you see a marked difference between tank water and tap water parameters of around 0.5ppm or more then action should be taken such as a good gravel vac, large water change, do a big filter maintenance as well and these should help bring the tank back to norml conditions.

Possible causes of OTS can be of the following, not an exhaustive list but the general points -

Inadequate water changes.
Overstocked fish levels.
Dirty gravel.
Uneaten food.
Unwashed filters.
Dead fish/shrimps/snails.
Decaying plant matter.
Low GH or KH water supply.
High nitrate water supply.

 

[Smokidean]

Test your source (Tap) water.
That Nitrate result is either a bad test or polluted source water.
Edit: assuming 70% weekly change.

I tested the tap water. It is fine. Within the parameters

 

[kwi]

Then was that 70% the first in a long time?
@Ch4rlie has gone over OTS above.