55 Gallon FW Nitrates/Ammonia Spike

[chriznat20@msn.]

My 55 gallon freshwater, which has been in perfect parameters since it cycled in March, recently has had a nitrate spike way past 80ppm. One of my swordtails died for no apparent reason so I immediately had the water tested by my LFS, after my results were too shocking to be true.. but they were!! Also my ammonia is steady at 1.0 ppm. Thursday I did a 50% water change and vacuumed all of the gravel bed. Friday I did a 20% water change, and yesterday i did another 20% water change. Still, after I tested I get nitrates at 80ppm and ammonia at 1.0ppm.
I dont want anymore of my fish to die! I also added some aquarium salt, per the advice of my LFS to lessen the stress on my stressed fish. I was thinking of dropping a few Xanax in the water (j/k)
I did put my Dr Wellfish Water Softener Pillow in the filter, which is supposed to help with nitrates too ( i called the 800 # and asked)
What do I do, what did I do, and what can i do to prevent this from happening? How can i get these levels to fall? Im nervous

 

[Madame_X]

I'd keep doing daily water changes until your levels drop. You might even try a couple of live plants.

Good luck...

 

[Allivymar]

Hiya Chriznat:

You've got 2 things you need to deal with. One is getting rid of the current levels of nitrogenous waste; water changes, as Madame_X said, is the best way.

The second is determining why your tank had a spike in nitrogenous waste levels. It may help deal with the current levels, knowing whats causing them, and knowing why will help in avoiding this in the future.

On that end, has anything changed? A change in amount of fish, any new chemicals being used, change in water supply?

 

[chriznat20@msn.]

As far as i know, the only thing that happened was a fish died, but I immediately took it out and I was sure that happened because of the nitrate spike. Now I do plead the 5th by admitting that it had been 2 weeks past due for my monthly water change. But Ive heard of people not doing a partial water change for months at a time and not having a problem, so I figured since my tank was so clean and everybody "appeared" content, that I was ok. Other than that, i checked my nitrates about 15 minutes ago and there were 0ppm. I used my water softener pillow by Doc Wellfish I love that thing.

 

[Allivymar]

*slaps chriznat on the hands*

Tsk, slackin on those water changes *grin* and don't confess if you plead the 5th LOL

Seriously tho, you'll find many of the folks here run a much stricter water change regimen. Most are minimum once a week; some do even more if they have a higher bio-load. Yeah, some folks don't water change months on end, but think about it. Whatever you put into the tank doesn't come out unless YOU take it out. Even food, both in terms of what sinks into the substrate as well what gets converted to poo *grin*

You may want to up those changes, and be sure to gravel vac when you do. I'm betting there was a lot of waste in the tank (which certainly explains the nitrogenous waste spike).

As you know now, clear water doesn't mean a thing. Those nitrogenous wastes will not be visible. Better to be sure you have clean fresh water in the tank by changing it more often. Its the best thing for fish

Btw, are you bringing the water to the lfs to be tested each time? Or do you have tests of your own? I can't quite tell. I'm guessing you DO have your own tests, but in case you are dragging it over to the store, I suggest grabbing your own (I use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals liquid tests); this way you don't have to wait.

 

[chriznat20@msn.]

I have my own test kits (the same kind you have) and just in case I was doing something wrong, occasionally I get it tested at the LFS when something seems out of whack on my test kit. I have been doing daily (15%) water changes for a couple of days now. I already vacuumed the gravel, cleaned the inside glass and put in the "doc wellfish water softener pillow", which by the way, took out about 75% of the nitrate!
I guess I will just keep on changing a little water everyday (15 gallons is what I have been changing every day, it is a 55 gallon tank) I also performed a filter maintenance and changed the floss. I was careful not to clean it extremely well, i didnt want to kill all of my bacteria
Does that sound good so far? oh i also add that aquasafe stuff into the new water i put in and a pinch of aquarium salt, that i picked up from my LFS.

 

[chriznat20@msn.]

OH and you would be proud !! I bought a "marineland" computerized reminder. You set it for x amount of days and it beeps when its time to perform certain maintenances on your aquarium. I think there are 6 different items - filter maintenace, water change, change filter cartridge, clean gravel, and then you can customize 2 other reminders to whatever you want. It was $9.99, but in my eyes that a great investment.

 

[Allivymar]

Awesome! Thats actually a lot of different functions for one lil machine...not bad for $10.

In my case I'd have to program the 2 extra to remind me to get my oil changed and vacuum the apt