High nitrates

[Ypavlu]

Please can you help me! I had a serious outbreak of hair algae. I thought I would be able to remove it by scrubbing the rocks. It got rid of the algae, but since then I have had seriously high nitrate levels and 4 of my fish have died. I have done two water changes in the mean time, but it has not helped. There seems to be brown algae now forming and i am not sure if its left over from the hair algae that has now died and is decomposing? Is this just a cycle it's going through and if so, how long will it last?
Please please, urgent help would be much appreciated!!!

 

[Aquacal]

How big is your tank? How many fish? What are yet parameters?

 

[Ypavlu]

I have a really small tank, 10 gal. And have one clown, one goby and a cardinal. I have a hermit crab and two snails.

 

[Aquacal]

Do you use ro/di water?

 

[Ypavlu]

Yes, only that water.

 

[dmolavi]

what are your other water parameters?

pH
NitrIte
Ammonia

 

[Ypavlu]

Ph is normal, and ammonia and nitrites are low.

 

[dmolavi]

Define "low". They should be zero. If they aren't, you are not fully cycled.

 

[Ypavlu]

Ok, they were not exactly on the 0. What does it mean if I am not fully cycled? And what can I do to save my fish? The tank has been running for about 8 months now.

 

[dmolavi]

Did you cycle the tank prior to adding fish? Or did you just add salt to RO/DI water and dump in the fish after a week?

Cycle your salt tank - Aquarium Advice

You could also be overfeeding and your BB on the live rock can't keep up. A HOB filter will help with that if appropriately set up to permit BB growth.

Also read this: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice

 

[dmolavi]

As an FYI, I let my 20 gallon tank cycle for 2 months prior to adding any living creatures to it. I took daily readings of all water parameters and logged them all in a notebook. After 2 weeks, the cycle was complete, but I opted to continue to build the BB colonies in my rock, as well as allow my rock to cure for a while.

 

[Bectan01]

So you have a 10g with three fish in it and you lost 4 fish, so you had 7 in total?

 

[dmolavi]

So you have a 10g with three fish in it and you lost 4 fish, so you had 7 in total?

Wowza...my brain parsed it as 100 in the original message.

OP, you are waaaaaay overstocked for a 10. Pick one fish to keep, take the rest back.

 

[Ypavlu]

I cycled it for about 3 months before I added anything. Then I started with the cleaning crew of two snails, a blenny and my hermit crab. That was in then for about two months. I then got a clown fish and puffer and sea hare which were in for about 2 months as well. Then the pet store here said I should take another kind of sea hare and that's when everything started going wrong.

How often would I be feeding?

 

[Scottyhorse]

You should only have one fish, and a few shrimp and a couple hermits/snails for clean up.

 

[AquaRick]

+1 to what was said above. Replace your fish with one or two very small nano fish.

 

[Ypavlu]

Ok, but can I get corals?

 

[Rutrag]

Ok, but can I get corals?

Assuming you have adequate lighting, once you have your ammonia and nitrites to zero, and nitrates to less than 10ppm, yes. Corals are less tolerant of pollution than the fish.

Also, did your sea hare die? They can release toxins upon death and nuke your tank. If he did, you will need to run some carbon to help clear that out as well.

 

[dmolavi]

I cycled it for about 3 months before I added anything. Then I started with the cleaning crew of two snails, a blenny and my hermit crab. That was in then for about two months. I then got a clown fish and puffer and sea hare which were in for about 2 months as well. Then the pet store here said I should take another kind of sea hare and that's when everything started going wrong.

How often would I be feeding?

I would also find another LFS to patronize if the one you were going to said it was OK to put that many fish in a 10 gallon tank.