My Aquascapes and plants

[Colin_T]

Well water have high nitrate this year, sometimes over 85ppm.
For some reason though, (yes, my discus tank is still here)
this year, discus seems to grow faster, tetras became more active and I haven’t had any fish affected and death by diseases other than some newly purchased zebra danios from the store, and me accidentally decapitated a betta during water changes.

Do you think there are any factors behind it or was it just some strange luck going on?

High nitrates in well water is usually from agricultural runoff. Basically fertiliser runoff soaking into the ground water and contaminating it. You need to be careful and don't drink water with ammonia, nitrite or nitrates in because they can cause cancer. Don't use it for your pets either if you can help it.

If you haven't been getting as many fish there is less chance of introducing new diseases so the fish would be healthier and less stressed.

Are you growing plants in the discus tank?
If yes, they might be eating the plants and that could be helping them grow faster.

I have killed fish doing gravel cleans too. I had a black moor goldfish decide to swim up the gravel cleaner pipe and got its head sucked off. It was gross. I have had plenty of other fish do similar things too. Tiger barbs and female Bettas were the worst. They would deliberately go inside the tube and get sucked out with the water.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Oh wow, Barry!! So nice to see you here! Have definitely missed you, you've been asked after!

The plants are looking amazing! You've really developed a green thumb. Even better that you're turning into a business for yourself. Glad you checked back in and I hope you don't vanish again!

 

[Colin_T]

@Barry Tetra. I can't remember if I asked, but how are your ducks doing?

 

[Fishmanic]

Welcome back Barry.
You should enter one of your tanks in TOTM. Right now we are accepting tanks sized at 31 gallons or larger. Fish are not required. Entry period closes on Friday so enter soon.

 

[Barry Tetra]

You need to be careful and don't drink water with ammonia, nitrite or nitrates in because they can cause cancer.

Oh no….you’re just making my fear of cancer ocd worse.
The ocd is already bad to the point where every time I touch something that is carcinogenic like water sprite (according to the article) and metronidazole, I have to wash my hand for over 5 minutes.

As for the Nitrate problems, my family refused to buy RO filter
And I’ll probably not going to drink this water for long anyway since I’m going to be moving out in about 2-3 months.

There have been many inbred ducklings appearing lately since I can’t find where females hid their eggs. Some of them even escaped out for month, before coming back with horde of ducklings

Oh wow, Barry!! So nice to see you here! Have definitely missed you, you've been asked after!

Hello, nice to see you as well!

Welcome back Barry.
You should enter one of your tanks in TOTM. Right now we are accepting tanks sized at 31 gallons or larger. Fish are not required. Entry period closes on Friday so enter soon.

Sadly, I only have a 20 gallons planted tanks, the bigger ones are all bare.

 

[Colin_T]

Oh no….you’re just making my fear of cancer ocd worse.
The ocd is already bad to the point where every time I touch something that is carcinogenic like water sprite (according to the article) and metronidazole, I have to wash my hand for over 5 minutes.

I think that article is flawed or at least contradictory. It says:
The plants may have carcinogenic properties.

And further down the page it says:
This plant is often used as a vegetable, particularly in Asia.

I wouldn't worry about Water Sprite or Metronidazole. I have OCD too and won't go near asbestos fences, houses or anything else made from fibro (fibre cement products), and I hate hospitals, but I have no issues with Water Sprite or handling Metronidazole.

I have been handling Water Sprite for over 40 years and my hands don't have any weird things growing off them. As a general rule, most aquatic plants are safe to eat and I don't know of any plants that are carcinogenic. Some are poisonous but none to my knowledge, cause cancer.

If Metronidazole was a carcinogen, it would have been identified as one 50 years ago and would have been outlawed decades ago. It is still widely used today in hospitals and prescribed by doctors all around the world, so I consider it safe and not a carcinogen. Having said that, it is an antibiotic and you want to avoid using it unless you have to.

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Can you buy a reverse osmosis filter and fit it to the kitchen tap?

Alternatively, how about making a solar still and drinking the distilled water?
You can use a food grade plastic storage container. Put a food safe bucket/ container in the storage container. Put a clean rock in the bottom of the bucket. Place the bucket in the middle of the storage container. Place the container out in the sun.

Half fill the storage container with water. Put the lid on it. Put a small weight on top of the lid in the middle so the lid sags above the bucket. Leave it in the sun and a few hours later you will have distilled water that has collected in the bucket.

The distilled water will be completely free of chemicals and ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.

Chemicals in the water can cause deformities in animals using that water. Water birds are at a higher risk of developmental problems because they spend most of their time in and around the water.