Nitrates...

[dakotagirl]

I am just wondering if nitrates affect fish going from a qt tank and back into the regular tank.

My brother called me and said they were treating two jewel cichlids for ich in a qt tank. Now they were going to put them back in their main tank when they tested the water in the main tank the nitrate reading was about 15 and none in the qt tank. Will it affect the fish to go from no nitrates to nitrates of 15?

I said no it wouldn't be a problem, but my sister-in-law called their lfs and they said they couldn't put them back in yet until their were no nitrates in the main tank. She told them it was nitAtes, not nitrItes but they said she had to keep doing water changes until there were 0 nitrates before she could transfer them. Is this true? Will the fish be stressed going from 0 nitrates to 15?

Thanks for any info on this,

Barb

 

[WILDER]

If ammonia and nitrite is 0, and the ph is the same and temp, don't really see a problem.

 

[NightStalker]

I am just wondering if nitrates affect fish going from a qt tank and back into the regular tank.

My brother called me and said they were treating two jewel cichlids for ich in a qt tank. Now they were going to put them back in their main tank when they tested the water in the main tank the nitrate reading was about 15 and none in the qt tank. Will it affect the fish to go from no nitrates to nitrates of 15?

I said no it wouldn't be a problem, but my sister-in-law called their lfs and they said they couldn't put them back in yet until their were no nitrates in the main tank. She told them it was nitAtes, not nitrItes but they said she had to keep doing water changes until there were 0 nitrates before she could transfer them. Is this true? Will the fish be stressed going from 0 nitrates to 15?

Thanks for any info on this,

Barb

Well anything below 50 is safe i think, and 15 is not a problem at all for fish in normal cases. If it will bother them im not sure, i dont think it will. My brother put his fish in a tank we use for breeding, the nitrate levels in there were off the roof, over 80 as i can remember, they did fine inside, however they were there for only 3 days.

As far as i know it shouldnt cause a problem but i guess just to play it safe id do a water change, like 2 or 3, 25% that is, i mean its not like itll hurt or anything. When you think about it nitrate at the LFS when you buy fish are most definatley higher or lower then that of someones tank so....im not sure what they're talking about.

Then again they could know something i dont, and dont take my word for it since im no expert, but yeah thats all i know, hope it helped.

 

[dakotagirl]

Thanks for the quick response.

I could see no harm in 15 nitrates either, but the lfs said it would stress them. I called my brother and they put the jewels back in the main tank and they seem just fine. They are new to fishkeeping and I have not been doing it all that long either, so I didn't want to give them the wrong info.

Thanks again,

Barb

 

[WILDER]

Can't see that low nitrate reading doing any harm its the other stats and temp that are harmrful, we never know the nitrate reading when buying fish anyway.
So don't know what the lfs are no about.
Good luck.

 

[discus dreamer]

I wish I could have a nitrate reading of only 15
surely the lfs have got it wrong expecting nitrates to be 0
DD

 

[cane76]

i keep rays in a tank with nitrates at 50(out the tap)so i cant see any problems

 

[dakotagirl]

Just to let you know they have been in the tank almost 24 hours now and everything is fine. I told them that the lfs didn't know what they were talking about. Ammonia and nitrites were zero and that is what mattered and both tanks were at 78.

Thanks,

Barb

 

[WILDER]

Glad there ok.