Nitrates

[TheFragile]

Hello all! My tank has finally cycled. I've been checking my levels every few days. I have a 6.5 gallon tank with 4 neon tetras and a Cory catfish. My nitrate levels have been good until today.

Today they tested at 80ppm. My ammonia and nitrite are both 0. I did a water change but I am wondering what could be spiking my nitrate. The fish only eat a small pinch of food per day. I put 1 sinking pellet in with it for the Cory. Is that too much?

When I change the water I always siphon the rocks as well. Could this just be my tank still stabilizing? My ammonia only disappeared a few weeks ago.

 

[sinibotia]

Did you double test, and have you tested your tap? In my experience nitrate is the finickiest of the common water tests. Nitrate can also occur in tap water- most commonly around this time of year.

That said, you do have a small tank and a heavy stock for that size. If your tap doesn't have nitrate in it, do more frequent or bigger water changes. Is there any uneaten food that you may have overlooked?

 

[coralbandit]

Check what your trates are now after wc and track how fast they rise.
How much water did you change?

 

[TheFragile]

Tap is clean. I did about a 50%. I didn't think there was issue with my stock. I thought the rule was inch of fish per gallon and I am under that. None of my fish are larger than an inch. I'll test again this morning.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

Stop feeding every day. Feed the same amount every other day. When they're mature you could feed twice a week.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[sinibotia]

Tap is clean. I did about a 50%. I didn't think there was issue with my stock. I thought the rule was inch of fish per gallon and I am under that. None of my fish are larger than an inch. I'll test again this morning.

"Inch of fish per gallon" is so bad as a rule that it's nearly worthless. Fish growth and space requirements are too complex to boil down into that simple of a rule.

You're not like, crazy-overstocked. But definitely pretty heavily so. If I had to point out a stocking issue it's that you've got too few corydoras and neons- both need schools of at least 5-6 individuals; but that's neither here nor there.

 

[ImACoolguy]

"Inch of fish per gallon" is so bad as a rule that it's nearly worthless. Fish growth and space requirements are too complex to boil down into that simple of a rule.



You're not like, crazy-overstocked. But definitely pretty heavily so. If I had to point out a stocking issue it's that you've got too few corydoras and neons- both need schools of at least 5-6 individuals; but that's neither here nor there.

+1 to sininininini

I would look at upping the tank size or getting a more stabilized stock.


Caleb

 

[TheFragile]

Well, I'm certainly not going to dispose of the fish I currently have, and upsizing is an eventual goal, but not really possible at the moment due to room needs. I live in the smallest house on the planet and I have a 3 year old, so you know, the house is essentially his LOL.

 

[TheFragile]

Oh! After the water change the nitrates dropped to 10.0. I'll check them again tomorrow and feed every other day and see what happens.

 

[coralbandit]

Oh! After the water change the nitrates dropped to 10.0. I'll check them again tomorrow and feed every other day and see what happens.

Knowing is half the battle!
And 10 is a GOOD number!

 

[sinibotia]

Hey, my fiance and I are getting a tiny 2 bedroom apartment, and we've got 8 tanks between the two of us the fish bug bites some of us hard