Nitrates at 80!@#@!

[fishobcessed]

I do regular water changes and the water stats have always been good so I stopped testing the water but have continued to change the water every 2 weeks. Tonight I decided to test the water and I almost had a stroke when the nitrates showed 80!! Ammonia is 0 nitrites are 0 too. I did a 6 gallon water change (from my 25 G tank) I think I may be overfeeding. I tested the water after the water change and the nitrates were still at 40. Should I NOT feed them for 2 days and change more water? So far no disease or death. Haven't added anything new such as ornaments or fish. Help!!

 

[HannahJ]

Only feed less if you think you're overfeeding. However, this will only cut back on future biological matter output (aka fish poo) which won't lower your nitrates now. What you should do is a 50% PWC every day (or every other day, if you prefer) until your nitrates are under 20ppm. Every PWC will cut your nitrates approximately in half, so if you're reading around 40, two ought to do the trick. And in the future, weekly PWC's will help keep your nitrates managable. Good luck!

 

[Ferret_Friend]

While that's certainly high, one thing I"ve learned with this hobby is that many fish are surprisingly resilient. Before the recent acquisition of my python, there were several times where my nitrates exceeded 250. That's right... 250. Surprisingly, I've lost very few fish considering.

But hey... that's what I get for diving into the hobby headfirst, then not getting a python right away. Add to that my desire to not haul buckets of water, and you can see where I went wrong as a rookie.

Oh well... Python is here. Things will be better from here on out.

But back to my point. It wouldn't hurt to skip a day on feeding them and doing another PWC. Even so, a short time at 80 shouldn't have much of a long term effect on them. Sure, that's higher than it should be, but it could have been much worse.

 

[An t-iasg]

From HannahJ's suggestion, IMO, I would do 50% changes every other day until your nitrates are 20 or below. Ferret Friend has a good point too - fish can adapt to high nitrates - it's not great for them, of course, but they can adapt. If your fish are used to the high nitrates, then lowering it too fast will cause a sudden parameter swing that may shock the fish. Certainly, get the nitrates down, but do it somewhat slowly, so that the fish are not stressed.

 

[Guest]

250 wow? Can you add any low light plants to help a little? PWC every week will help.

EDIT: Have you ever tested your tap water ?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Get it down from 80 to about 20. Start doing water changes weekly. It will keep the levels under control.

 

[Ferret_Friend]

250 wow? Can you add any low light plants to help a little? PWC every week will help.

EDIT: Have you ever tested your tap water ?

Oh... it's not the tap water. THe tank was/is overstocked and I was going for weeks at a time without doing changes since the nearest sink was upstairs and hauling buckets of water up a flight of stairs blows. Got my python recently, and moved into a mobile, so no stairs to fight with. There will be many more water changes.

If your fish are used to the high nitrates, then lowering it too fast will cause a sudden parameter swing that may shock the fish.

I lost three fish that way. The nitrates were about 250. I finally got off my ass to do a water change, so I took out all the water I could take out while still leaving enough room for the fish to still swim. Within 1-2 days, three fish died. I attributed it to the sudden change in the environment.

Obviously, the goal is to keep nitrates low, but yes, make the changes slowly. Anything more than a 50% water change will likely stress the fish, and if you have an easy way to do them more frequently, just do a 25% every day for a few days and you should be alright.

 

[Thebluyak]

also you can add some low-light easy plants, they will help "eat" up some of the nitrates, provide some O2 in the water and give the fish some "cover"

 

[fish_4_all]

Throw in a handful of anacharis/elodea to eat the nitrates naturally and change the levels slowly. They will eat themup quickly and you can trim thim as needed so they don't overrun your tank. You can leave it floating too and it seems to even grow quicker that way.

50% water changes are a good idea, once a week. Anything less and you wind up with buildup and levels higher than we want them.

 

[Ferret_Friend]

I still think that two 25% changes in one week will be healthier for the fish than one single 50%, but I suppose part of it is going to be how heavily stocked the tank is too.