New here, fish problem

[NoahFL]

Did a 25% water change (using tap water since bottle water is scarce atm due to the hurricane) and here are the readings after the change:

Nitrate: 200+ppm
Nitrite: 0
Hardiness: 25ppm
Alkalinity: 80ppm
PH: 7.2
Ammonia: .25

So, the changes are Nitrites are now 0 (*boggle*) and the Hardiness has gone down by 50ppm to 25ppm. I put the 2nd dose of Melafix in today. Carbon filters are out. This morning, I noticed the tank is much clearer then it was yesterday. The smaller fishes are now swimming normal around the tank in their school. Is there anything else I can do to bring down the Nitrates? Add real plants? Driftwood? or just let Mother Nature do her thing?


Thanks,
~Noah

 

[karrihug]

adding real plants will help with the nitrates, but i would continue to do 25 to 30% per day changes till you get them at least under 50. good luck.

 

[Nisha]

It sounds like your fish are seriously stressed out from all the sudden changes. Your nitrogen cycle seems to be disrupted too and the tank is probably cycling again. Glad to know things are stabilising now but keep up with the water changes so that the fish don't have too much more stress.

Yes, real plants will definitely help to get the nitrates down and more stable. Here are a couple of links that might help you get started with plants. Gouramis do like to nibble on plants so try to get Java ferns and Anubias, or some others on the Proven preformers website.

Yout First Planted Tank
Proven Performers - Aquarium plants

Hope this helps. Just keep on those water changes and things will soon get better for your fish.

 

[CathyG]

Real plants and water changes are the best way to cope with Nitrates. How old is your test kit? Do you trust the readings from your tap water? That seems an awfully high reading for Nitrates directly after a water change! They should come down accordingly...ie a 50% water change should halve the Nitrate reading of your tank if the tap water reads zero...

It looks to me like you are not overfeeding, and I personally would not concern myself right now with your PH reading unless it has changed suddenly (?) Your fish were previously ok.

The likelihood is that the power out has killed off your beneficial bacteria in your filter, and now your tank is going through a mini cycle. Keep up with the water changes, and check the use by date on your test kit. Good luck!

 

[appleblossom]

I think everyone here has covered everything I would suggest.

From your previous figures your ph has changed from 6.2 to 7.2 with your tap water coming in at 8.4

although most fish will live in a ph which is outside of their natural range (I keep gourami in a tank which is always at ph 8.0) the stability is very very important.

water changes will bring your ph up even higher because your tap water ph is so high. Do you know if you could get RO water or well water to use in your tank?
If not then you will need to try and keep the ph as stable as you can, without using chemicals (never a good idea to mess with chemicals to adjust the ph)

if you want to bring the ph down, add bog wood (may turn your water brown) or use aquarium peat in your filter (probably not possible with a ugf) perhaps you could put some aquarium peat in a new, clean, stocking and suspend it in the tank to keep the ph down.

if you want to raise it, crushed coral or coral sand in a stocking supended in the tank will help. Using suspended material means that you can remove it if you feel the ph is heading too far in one direction.

both of these methods will alter your ph very gradually which is less stressful for the fish.


best of luck and keep us updated with how everything goes!

 

[NoahFL]

Thank you all for the advice. I will keep you posted. As soon as stores start opening around here, I'll go to the lfs and see if they have bogwood and compare it to online prices. Many of the stores are still closed from Ivan because they don't have power or have damage.

As far as well water goes, we have a well for the sprinkler system, but the water is pretty nasty and very high in sulfur. What is RO water? From what I recall a long time ago, I checked the tap water and the PH wasn't that high. I do the water plant is using their reserves and we have to boil our water if we are to consume it. I will check the tap water again when things normalize around here.

Thanks again!

 

[pnyklr3]

RO stands for "reverse osmosis". It's a way of purifying the water. Companies that sell water coolers, like Culligan (not sure if you have them around them), have RO systems (small little contraptions mounted on a wall if possible) that cleanes some of the water coming in, and sends it to a special "drinking water" faucet. I've had the pleasure of having an RO system once (my husband worked for Culligan, so we got the pricy system for free), but I didn't have any tanks then.

You can't get much cleaner (99.8% pure I think...din't quote me on that!) than RO water!!

~Jade

 

[NoahFL]

After 2 days of 25% water changes, I'm seeing the readings trying to normalize:

Nitrate: 160ppm (was 200+)
Nitrite: 0
Hardiness: 75ppm
Alkalinity: 40-80ppm (it's not 40, not 80.. somewhere in between. I'm using a Jungle test strip)
PH: between 6.8-7.2 (on the test strip, it's alittle darker then 6.8, but lighter then 7.2)
Ammonia: between 0-0.25

Readings yesterday:

Nitrate: 200+ppm
Nitrite: 0
Hardiness: 25ppm
Alkalinity: 80ppm
PH: 7.2
Ammonia: .25

Should I continue to do daily 25% changes?

Thank you.

 

[karrihug]

i would keep going till the ammonia is back to 0 and the nitrates are below 50 if i were you.