High Nitrate and Nitrite

[Carolinesugar]

Mums tank has had a death this morning, 1 of her golden gouramis

so ive tested her water and the results were,

Nitrate (NO3) = 100mg/litre (thats as far as the tester kit goes upto)

Nitrite (NO2) = 3.3-33 mg/litre (thats as far as the test kit goes upto)

PH = 7.5

im going to do a 10% water change for 5 days, will this be enough ?

 

[ade]

Personally I would do approx a 30% water change right away, then take it from there tomorrow. Sooner you can get that bad water out of there the better IMHO.

Of course, that's only what I would do, I'm no expert though.

But the bigger question is....how did it get like that? ie solve the cause rather than treat the symptoms.

HTH

Ade

 

[Carolinesugar]

Personally I would do approx a 30% water change right away, then take it from there tomorrow. Sooner you can get that bad water out of there the better IMHO.

Of course, that's only what I would do, I'm no expert though.

But the bigger question is....how did it get like that? ie solve the cause rather than treat the symptoms.

HTH

Ade

well i tested it on friday or thursday last week, and it wass all ok.

then went away 4 the weekend

wen i came back, mum had added new plants, from a shop we neva go to! and then 4got 2 wash them!

 

[ade]

Hmmm, very strange, I guess it must be something to do with the new plants, but seems odd that they've caused such a massive effect.

Anyway, I'd personally do a 30% water change today, see how it is tomorrow, take it from there, perhaps 20% tomorrow etc.

I've had a coupla emergencies like this before and find that the big water changes are less likely to harm the fish than leaving them in the bad water. Just my view though...

 

[crazie.eddie]

If you will do the water change for several days, then I would lower it down to 15%. You may be removing too much with 30% on a daily basis. I would only perform 30% water change on a weekly basis.

I suspect the nitrite to be high due to the death of the gourami.

The plant that was added, was this a plant safe for aquariums? Or a household plant?

The reason I ask is gouramis sometimes graze of the stuff on plants. If this was not an aquarium safe plant, there maybe some kind of fungus or sap that the gourami ate. Can't be sure though until we know the kind of plant.

 

[drobbyb]

Real or fake plants? Fake plants don't do anything to the water, and real ones clean all forms of nitrogen (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate). I'm guessing the problem is deeper than adding new plants.

 

[rdd1952]

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