Nitrate Levels

[natalie265]

I've had my nitrate levels spike recently. I suspect i have a dead african dwarf frog decaying in the tank somewhere, but i'm not sure as i haven't been able to find a body (dead or alive). I just did a major water change and got the levels down to about 40, but this is still higher than they've ever been in the past. What is an acceptable level for nitrates? Its also caused an algae outbreak in my tank, which is maddening!!!

 

[loachman]

Most all freshwater fish are fine in nitrAte under 200 ppm. There are reports that some fish can stand many times that as well.

It is more of a measure of the overall water quality. If you have really high nitrate, you probably also have high levels of various contaminants that are hard to test for and are potentially more toxic.