high nitrates :(

[janeth0185]

ok well i tested my water with my test stripes ( dont have the liquid test yet) and well my stripes showed high nitrates, and well one of my cory fish is lookin like hes bout to dies.but hes been sick for the past 2 days.i was told doin 50% water change was something i shouldnt had done cuz that i was goin to get an ammonia spike in a week or so...is this tru and what should i really do to lower my nitrates...i did use prime while i did my water changes these past 2 days but now im clueless on what to do now, and regardless i think my cory will die soon, hes lookin real bad , but i really dont want my others to go sick too

 

[Andrew McFadden]

You should be doing 50% imo. What's the fish look like?

 

[janeth0185]

You should be doing 50% imo. What's the fish look like?

thats what i thought...i had called the store where i buy my fish and the salesguy said i shouldnt do 50%, only bout 25%...well i got 1 dwarf gourami and 3 jullis corys ( one about to die
so should i do 50% daily til the nitrates lower...?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I would do the 50% till you can get the master tester kit or it goes down witch will probably be after two changes. The strips could be wrong what's it reading at?

 

[janeth0185]

I would do the 50% till you can get the master tester kit or it goes down witch will probably be after two changes. The strips could be wrong what's it reading at?

the stripes show 0 for nitrites, about 20 ppm for nitrates and ammonia not sure if its .25 or .5... so hard to read these crappy stripes

 

[Andrew McFadden]

It looks good to me as long as the ammonia stays under the .25 ot should be ok. But I cant stress how bad the strips are and needs to be replaced.