High Nitrate And Ammonia And A Headless Rummy!

[Marto666]

Hi all

I took a water sample to my local fish shop yesterday to be told my Nitrate and Ammonia were too high.

I did notice a dead Red Nose Rummy on the bottom of the tank that must have been there for a good few days (it was headless – not sure how that happened!?!). Could this have been the most likely cause of the high readings or are there other factors that could contribute?

Many Thanks

 

[Randomitity]

Well rotting corpses do tend to cause a lot of problems in fish tanks and he might be headless because someone else was hungry and needed a snack before you fed them. There could be other factors that come into play for the ammonia and nitrate being high but the dead fish is a good start

 

[Marto666]

What other factors could these be? (Sorry for my ignorance, I am very new to this).

I did actually recover the head and body so I would imagine he fell victim to a brutal assault!

 

[Randomitity]

Poop and decomposing food/plant matter are the main ones I know of. Don't be sorry I am still learning things everyday.

Ahh the fun of having fish that make you glad they aren't human at times.

 

[Marto666]

Indeed!

Guess I will do a couple of water changes then test again to see if I’ve lowered the Nitrate and Ammonia by removing the dead fish. The tank seems pretty clean really so cant think what else it might be.

 

[Tizer]

How long has the tank been going? how long has the filter been going, was it correctly cycled before you put fish in the tank?

Nitrate readings are not important, it would take a long long time for a fish to suffer via high nitrates. Ammonia and Nitrite readings are important as they are short term toxic killers.

If your filter isnt cycled, i.e. is has no bacteria in to break down the Ammonia and Nitrite, your fish will simply die in their own p1ss and sh1t (ammonia).

A dead fish rotting in the tank will also increase the amount of ammonia in the tank and yes, your other fish will have seen it as a free snack.

Get your own freshwater test kit for £18 of ebay, the API freshwater master kit being the recommended one and do your own water tests. it will last for years and save you money in the long run.

I highly recommend a 50% daily water change until you can test your own parameters, else more fishies could die.

 

[Marto666]

Hi Tizer

The tank has been going a couple of years so it is well established. When I transported the filter it was kept moist and was up and running again within an hour. The previous owner has had no problems and the fish seem perfectly fine so was a bit surprised about the readings.

He did warn me there was a dead fish in the tank but I only spotted it yesterday so immediately removed it. I have no idea how it could have died but it was very small compared to the other fish in the tank (half the size of the other Rummys).

I did a 25% water change last night but will go 50% tonight and will defo invest in a testing kit.

If the filter requires cleaning, do you think that could be a reason for the high ammonia because of all the crap? I should have asked the previous owner when he last did it.

Thanks

 

[Tizer]

You might have just got an ammonia spike from the dead fish in that case, with a testing kit you will be able to check.

Make sure you are dechlorinating the water when you put new in, else the chlorine in the tap water will kill off your filter bacteria and then you will be stuffed and have to cycle the filter again. Gluck!

Oh should mention, filters do need a little clean now and again, mainly to get the gunk out and allow the water to flow freely. Always clean it in tank water (no chlorine in it).

 

[Marto666]

Cheers Tizer.

Fingers crossed it was the dead fish causing the NH3 spike.

Thankfully I haven’t made the mistake by not dechlorinating the water.

As I’m unsure when the filter was last cleaned, I am going to clean the filter this evening after a water change. I will ensure I use tank water – thankfully you saved me slipping on a banana skin there as I would have been washing it under the tap!