Nitrates gone

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Reygan2

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I did a fishless cycle on my last build and as expected nitrate levels were through the roof when it was finished. I did the big water changes until levels were safe for fish. Things were moving smoothly until one of my fish became ill. I checked parameters first thing and nitrates were at 20ish, which isn't bad in my opinion, but I went ahead and did a water change. I ended up treating the tank with prazipro, metro and epsom salt at various stages. None of the meds are supposed to harm BB, but when I tested nitrates the other day I could not get a reading. I tested several times and the results were zero. I planted the tank during the cycle, and I realize that plants absorb nitrates, but to have zero readings seems odd. I'm dosing KNO3 because zero nitrate levels can cause issues. Could it be that I've killed my BB treating the fish?
 
Rey...

Using chemicals that speed up the nitrogen cycle can leave you with a less than stable water chemistry. A tank cycled more slowly with a few, hardy fish takes longer, but you end with more stable water conditions. Here's the thing to do: Change out most of the tank water and add a hardy fish species, like Danios or Platys. Add 3 to 4 medium fish for every 10 gallons of tank volume. Add some floating plants like Hornwort or Water sprite. Just drop the individual stems into the tank. Let everything run for a couple of days, so the plants steady the water. Feed the fish a little every day and test the water for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test, remove 25 percent of the water and replace that with pure tap water treated with a dechlorinator. Just test daily and remove the water when needed. When several daily tests show no traces of ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled. Then you just remove most of the water every few days to guarantee safe conditions for the fish.

B
 
Rey...

Using chemicals that speed up the nitrogen cycle can leave you with a less than stable water chemistry. A tank cycled more slowly with a few, hardy fish takes longer, but you end with more stable water conditions. Here's the thing to do: Change out most of the tank water and add a hardy fish species, like Danios or Platys. Add 3 to 4 medium fish for every 10 gallons of tank volume. Add some floating plants like Hornwort or Water sprite. Just drop the individual stems into the tank. Let everything run for a couple of days, so the plants steady the water. Feed the fish a little every day and test the water for traces of ammonia and nitrite. If you have a positive test, remove 25 percent of the water and replace that with pure tap water treated with a dechlorinator. Just test daily and remove the water when needed. When several daily tests show no traces of ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled. Then you just remove most of the water every few days to guarantee safe conditions for the fish.

B



Thanks for responding. This is a cold water goldfish build so I can't put in tropical fish. The tank was completely cycled and I really don't think I need to start over. I'm also testing ammonia and nitrites daily and the results are zero, so with goldfish I'd certainly have something show up if my tank crashed, right? I have several fast growing plants and I'm thinking that they may be the reason nitrates aren't showing up. I was curious if anyone else had experienced anything like this after treating with prazi, metro and epsom salt. The treatments lasted over a couple of weeks. My parameters were spot on before that. I'm only adding the KN03 to avoid a BBA outbreak.
 
It's been so long since I've dealt with algae issues, so please excuse my hair-brainedness :oops: It occurred to me that I was mistaken about low nitrate levels contributing to BBA. Actually, very low nitrates are one of the possible contributing factors to blue-green algae, or cynobacteria, not BBA.
 
It's been so long since I've dealt with algae issues, so please excuse my hair-brainedness :oops: It occurred to me that I was mistaken about low nitrate levels contributing to BBA. Actually, very low nitrates are one of the possible contributing factors to blue-green algae, or cynobacteria, not BBA.



May things can cause BBA. BBA tends to get a foot hold whenever a plant is struggling. If you lost all your nitrate and the plant started to become weak then it's a perfect pad for BBA to start growing on it.

There are many reasons people say BBA starts, to be honest I don't think anyone knows lol. The fight of a build up of organics/co2 fluctuations causing BBA has been going on for ages.

It really is a pain to get rid of.
 
Plants will use your nitrates. There are plenty of people who keep planted tanks and have to add nitrates.

So you had 20ppm then did a water change (i.e. removed nitrates) AND added plants. As long as you're still getting zeros on ammonia and nitrites, your tank is cycled. You have fish that constantly pour out ammonia. If you lost your cycle, you would see it.
 
Plants will use your nitrates. There are plenty of people who keep planted tanks and have to add nitrates.

So you had 20ppm then did a water change (i.e. removed nitrates) AND added plants. As long as you're still getting zeros on ammonia and nitrites, your tank is cycled. You have fish that constantly pour out ammonia. If you lost your cycle, you would see it.

The tank was planted from the beginning, during the cycling process. I did weekly water changes as usual while I was treating the sick goldfish. I had nitrates up until the end of the treatment, which made me wonder if the meds had something to do with getting a zero reading. I tested a few days ago and the results were ~5/10ppm. I only dosed a very small amount of KN03, so I'm not sure what's going on.

You're right though, I would be getting ammonia readings if my BB was killed off by the meds. Guess I'll keep on keeping on... fish are doing well and my plants are growing nicely :)

Love my goldies! :fish1:
 
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