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GoldfishLove919

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Hi everyone,
 
Lately, I've been having trouble with nitrate in my tank.  I own two fancy goldfish, a 6 inch long and a 5 inch long, and keep them together in a 25 gallon tank.  I change out the water regularly, replace filter cartridges monthly, dose with natural remedies (like stress coat X and aquarium salt) when ill and use chemical solutions to mend water issues.  I test with Quick Dip strips.
 
For the past 3 testings, the nitrate has been in the "danger" zone.  I've been doing water changes, changing the filter, and adding anti-nitrate solutions (Easy-Balance by Tetra Aqua), but nothing has helped.  What would you recommend to fix this issue?
 
GoldfishLove919
 
Bigger water changes.
 
And stop changing the filter! Every time you do, you're losing a good proportion (or all, if you change the whole filter insides) of the good bacteria you need, which will lead to raised ammonia levels.
 
Yep I agree with the above poster. Larger and more frequent water changes is really the only way.
 
Try using a liquid test such as API rather than dip strips as the latter are not very accurate. Might also be worth testing your tap water - if it is high to start with (mine is 20ppm)  and you aren't able to do frequent or big water changes, you might want to consider using a nitrate-reducing product such as API Aqua Detox which reduced mine very quickly from 40-80ppm to 5ppm in 24 hours after which time I removed it as I didn't want the nitrifying bacteria to be compromised (it also reduces ammonia) wish I'd checked the levels after 12 hours because the level is now a bit low for the live plants in mine, but I'm keeping an eye on them and so far so good.
 
If high Nitrate in the tank there is a good source of food for plants! Maybe sticking in a bunch of live plants with some feed tablets will help otherwise keep sticking with water changes until its low enough.
I found high nitrates cause massive algae growth if left untreated. 
 

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