High Nitrates

[drewbles99]

My main tank has painfully high nitrate readings since I started using no ich and turned off the skimmer. I removed all the fish to my new quarintine tank and did a 25% water change but the readings are still astronomical for nitrates. WHat do I do now?!

[quarryshark]

How high? Fish can usually tolerate higher trates.

[drewbles99]

to the top of the chart on my cheesy dip test around 200ppm.

I have now removed all fish from the tank except for the blue damsel which has never shown signs of infection.

Subsequently, my fluval 304 bit the dust last night when I shut it down to do the water change. It just won't start again

When it rains...

[indy]

When anything mechanical fails, you generally just need a bigger wrench. I prefer a speedwrench for pita jobs. For the uninitiated, a speedwrench is a good solid thump with a 5lb sledge hammer

Anyway, try submerging it in your sink and giving it a few thumps. It might free up the impeller.

[Nitrate]

Sounds like you need to remove the damsel as well in order to rid the main tank of a host and wait it out. After the fallow period your ich problem should be gone and you can do several water changes before you add the fish back in to get your nitrates under control.

[Overstocker]

Re-test your tank with a different test kit or at your lfs

[revhtree]

Great suggestions: Not in any particular order:
Re-Test with a liquid test
Let lfs retest
Let tank go fallow
Give it a big thump (not the tank)