Nitrate Too High - Fish Dyiing

[2manyfish]

I'm going crazy. I keep losing fish. The ammonia is 0, nitrate is .5 and the nitrate is 80! I keep changing the water and nothing seems to be getting better. This is the tank I have a pleco (9") in. At this point I have the pleco, 7 mollies and 1 guppy in 29 gallons. The temp is 78F and I have a HOT Magnum Cannister filter and an air stone in the tank. Any suggestions? Last water change was yesterday....

Thanks,

Sherrie

 

[Mikaila31]

what the nitrate in you tap water?

 

[stuuk1]

You need to be doing 50% water changes everyday, perhaps higher if you are struggling. Have you actually cycled your tank? + You got your nitrates and nitrites the wrong way round I hope....

 

[mattlee]

as said above check the tap water for nitrate ppm, mine is 10ppm but ive heard people having 60+. without plants you will not get the nitrate lower than it comes from the tap and 80 isnt a major problem unless you keep sensitive fish like discus or german blue rams etc.

i would be more concerned about the nitrite being 0.5 and consider this to be the factor involved in the fish deaths. do a 50% water change and re check the nitrite levels. if you still get a reading above 0 then keep doing the required changes until it hits 0. keep an eye on the water stats for the next few days for any rises in nitrite

how wasthe tank cycled?

 

[2manyfish]

I didn't type very well! Nitrate is high, Nitrite is 80.... I have been using bottled water since I am on a well - softened water inside and the outside water is not very clean. Testing both of those -

Bottled "Tap"
Nitrate 0 0
Nitrite 0 0
Hardness 25 0
Alkalinity 0 100
pH 6.8 7.0

Does it matter if I use the bottled water? It would be alot easier to get larger water changes using my "tap" water. I can gradually switch over it that would work. I'll wait to hear before I do my next water change.

Thanks,

Sherrie

 

[mattlee]

I didn't type very well! Nitrate is high, Nitrite is 80.... I have been using bottled water since I am on a well - softened water inside and the outside water is not very clean. Testing both of those -

Bottled "Tap"
Nitrate 0 0
Nitrite 0 0
Hardness 25 0
Alkalinity 0 100
pH 6.8 7.0

Does it matter if I use the bottled water? It would be alot easier to get larger water changes using my "tap" water. I can gradually switch over it that would work. I'll wait to hear before I do my next water change.

Thanks,

Sherrie

ok so just to clarify, your NITRITE is 80....! are you sure you dont mean NITRATE? as i know of no test that tests nitrite up to 80

does your tap water come from the well? if so if its safe for you to drink then i assume its ok for the fish.... bottled water must be quite an expensive water change so i would as you said gradually change it to tap. do say 10% water change using tap and leave it a day then do 20% etc etc just to get the fish slowly acclimatised to their new water other wise it could shock them.

how big is the tank and how did you cycle it before adding any fish?

 

[2manyfish]

oops - yes nitrate is 80, nitrite is .75ish. I will do a large water change and use 10% softened well water. That will make it much easier to keep up with. Lugging 5 gallon water containers up and down stairs is doing a number on my back! It looks like some may have a few white spots (ick/ich). Should I treat or just do water changes at this point?

Thanks,

Sherrie

 

[mattlee]

if they have ich then up the temp slowly to 30 degrees and do plenty of water changes and clean the substrate well. this might work and worth trying before adding chems/meds to the tank

if nitrite is 0.75 then keep doing water changes until it reaches 0