High Nitrates

[new fish lover]

What can I do. We have a 10 Gal tank that is high in Nitrate. We have done some water changes. This is the only thing that is high. What causes the Nitrates to get high. Lately it has been at 80 even with 2 1/2 -5 gal water change.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

You have a common plec and two algae eaters in there, that's why.

Herbivorous fish tend to excrete a lot of wastes. You might be adding to the problem if you feed them algae discs because they might not be eating all of it and it might be polluting your tank. Cut down on feedings and get rid of or move your fish to another tank.

The abovementioned fish (those to move) are the CAE and the common plec. The reason is because these guys antagonize fish later on by sucking on their slime coats. Also, the max size of the CAE is about 9", and the common plec is about 15". Sorry for the bad news.

Keep up the water changes and feed a bit less. Lowering the temperature should also lower their metabolic rates (only do this if the temp is in the high 70's or 80's).

You said that only the nitrates were high. Does this mean that your nitrite and/or ammonia levels aren't at zero? Is your tank doen cycling?

 

[new fish lover]

I actually moved the 2 CAE out a couple weeks ago to the 150 gal. I still have the pleco and 3 rosy barbs in the 10 Gal. What I want to do is turn this into a quarentine tank as well.
(had to update my signature)

Will the CAE be ok in the 150 Gal they are smaller than the other fish currently..

The Nitrites, Ammonia are at 0. Ph is normal.


The tank had so much algae in it that is why we put the CAE and Pleco in it to quarentine. The cleaned the tank PDQ.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

They should be ok in the 150, actually it's quite a lot of room for them now. however, the angels and the mollies' flanks might look rather appealing to them though. They are also territorial and having two of them in one tank won't produce very good outcomes. However, I'd still suggest a fish that stays smaller, such as otocinclus.

The plec is ok in there for the time being, but he will soon get far too big and pollute the tank a lot. I would move give him away, if possible. Perhaps you should look for a plec that doesn't get to such a large size?

Here's some info on some of the fish.

http/liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Displa...3&TopCatId=1162

http/liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Displa...4&TopCatId=1162

 

[FishDan]

It also coule be that your tap water has high nitrates, so doing water changes may not help in this case. Check your tap (or source) water to see what the level of nitrates is. This could be in addition to or an alternative to the problems already mentioned.

\Dan