Nooooooo!

[simonjonkman]

I had a water test done at my local petland, and everything was fine..the ph was 7.6, the ammonia 0, but...ZOMG?!??!?!?! WHATS THE NITRATE?? 3?!??!? OMG!! WHAT DO I DO!!!!

 

[celaeno]

you should do partial water changes of 25% up to three times daily until the nitrite reads 0.

if it comes back, i recommend you get some bio-spira, although i doubt it would be useful if it's improperly shipped in this hot weather.

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

How old is the tank?

 

[Christine1014]

simon, you may have nothing at all to worry about. Let's clarify.... you wrote NitrAte. If you really meant that, and not nitrIte, you're perfectly fine. Nitrates are a perfectly normal, relatively harmless byproduct of a cycled tank.
NitrItes on the other hand, are a different matter entirely and could mean you're tank's not cycled.

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

Nitrates aren't perfectlly harmless... The fish in your tank will adapt to high levels, but fish from stores will be going from a store level of 20 ppms, to a possible 80 ppms in your tank at home. This creates stress and kills many new fish. This is the main reason that people bring their new fish home, only to find them dead the next day, it's all thanks to nitrates.

 

[Christine1014]

Nitrates aren't perfectlly harmless... The fish in your tank will adapt to high levels, but fish from stores will be going from a store level of 20 ppms, to a possible 80 ppms in your tank at home. This creates stress and kills many new fish. This is the main reason that people bring their new fish home, only to find them dead the next day, it's all thanks to nitrates.

Right, but he didn't say he just brought home new fish; he's worried that his levels are too high. That's one reason I question whether he actually might mean nitrites... Normal NitrAte levels are 20, 30, 40... "3" is practically non-existant. For nitrIte on the other hand, 3 is practically off the chart (actually, on my test kit, it IS off the chart!)

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

Fair enough but I needed to correct you about saying that they are relatively harmless, they are very harmful in very high amounts or very harmful to new fish. I just wanted to clarify, so it wasn't taken out of context, and so that he understood.

 

[Christine1014]

Fair enough but I needed to correct you about saying that they are relatively harmless, they are very harmful in very high amounts or very harmful to new fish. I just wanted to clarify, so it wasn't taken out of context, and so that he understood.

you're right, I should have been clearer with someone just starting out...

 

[simonjonkman]

ok, i did a 50% water change, put new stuff in my canister filter (the fish lady at pet land said i only needed one carbon pack, not 3) I replaced it with this rock stuff that kills nitrates and nitrites. and theres these little dots with fuzz on them floating around..whats happening??

oh, and i have 3 red devils in it, and a pleco..im planning to get a oscar soon

and its 48 gallons..

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

"and theres these little dots with fuzz on them floating around..whats happening??"


little white dots of fuzz on what? Fish or filter carbon?

 

[simonjonkman]

no, they are dots with white hair on them..

they are floating around by themselves, not attached to anything

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

Id imagine that if this happened just after inserting the filter, it's just fuzz from the filter. You may not have washed it off enough before inserting it. They should be gone by tommorow as they get sucked into the filter.

 

[simonjonkman]

no..they appeared after i started feeding the fish.

 

[OrganizedChaos69]

Hmm well normally fungus doesn't grow in little dots of free floating fungus. it grows on something. You'd know if it was growing on a peice of food. If it's just a dot of free floating fuzz, it likel yis simply fuzz and something has fallen or entered the tank. As long as it isnt a chemical fuzz, then it shouldn't be a problem. Wait a day and if they are still there, come back and tell me.

 

[simonjonkman]

no, i mean they've been there for 3 days now