deaths!!!

[timwag2001]

I'm having some death issues this week. 1) i lost a kuhli loach that has been sick for a while. it was an expected death. was never doing well from the second i got it but started struggling with its breathing. 2) next was a tiger barb that i thought was gravid. started pumping gills and i thought maybe labored breathing meant it was gonna drop some eggs. dead! 3) my favorite apistogramma cacatuoides died today. never seemed sick or anything. my girlfriend flushed it before i got home so i didn't see it.

now. i was having nitrite problems. when i was having nitrite problems i was doing very frequent pwcs. at the begining of the week my nitrites started to level off. my ammonia is at 0 ppm my nitrites are 0 ppm and my nitrates are up around 60 ppm all of a sudden. you think thats the problem?

 

[bs6749]

Nitrates are the problem. A lack of water changes is what killed your fish. You should change out 90% of the water immediately. Nitrates over 20 is not good IMO. Most will tell you 30ppm is the threshold but I keep mine as low as possible. Generally, mine are 5 or less. This is accomplished with the help of live plants and massive water changes. If you change out 90% of the water you should have roughly 5ppm of nitrates remaining.

 

[timwag2001]

i was doing daily 25% pwc for 2 weeks ending this week. this week i did one. isnt 90% a little much? what do you think is the cause of the spiking nitrate?

 

[timwag2001]

ok. found a problem. my tap is at least 20ppm.

 

[bs6749]

90% is not too much. Your goal should be to get the nitrates down as low as you can and as fast as you reasonably can. I highly doubt that your tap water has 20ppm of nitrates in it. Maybe 5ppm I'd believe but not 20. Are you on a city water system?

 

[timwag2001]

well water.

 

[bs6749]

I'd test it again as that's an incredibly high reading. You may have to purchase purified water and mix that in a 1:1 ratio if it actually is 20ppm for some odd reason. Also make sure you have plenty of live plants in the tank since they will help to soak up nitrates. Good plants are guppy grass, duckweed, and fast growing stem plants like sunset hygro.

 

[timwag2001]

i live next to a farm, we have a septic tank, and there's a carpet cleaning company in the same building that i live in that dumps waste water from the days work into the septic system i'm pretty sure that some of the waste water has been dumped right out into the yard. which i'm sure are all contribute. i'm not very good at matching the colors from the test kit to the card that it comes with but i'm absolutely positive that its 20 ppm at the minimum.

 

[timwag2001]

i have about 7 plants right now. not too sure the names of them, i'm just starting to get into the planted aspect of my tank.

 

[bs6749]

I did some digging around and found that the EPA water standards say that the maximum "safe" level of nitrates in the water is 10ppm EPA Ground Water & Drinking Water > breadcrumb? > Consumer Factsheet on: NITRATES/NITRITES If you live next to a farm, I can believe that they are that high though. I'd definitely look into a filtration system or another source of water, not only for your fish but for you and your family as well.

 

[timwag2001]

i was doing some research on nitrates as well and it said WHO says that the average adult consumes 20-60 ppm of nitrates a day from vegetables like spinach and lettuce alone. my girlfriend is a water snob anyway so we only drink poland springs (i prefer beer) so i'm not worried about the fam. but my fish need something. what kind of filtration will help me? can i get some kind of filter for my tank or will it affect my plant growth? how about some sort of water conditioner?

lol. listen to me. i dont care about my family just my fish

 

[bs6749]

What size tank is it and how many tanks do you own?

 

[timwag2001]

its a 55. i also have a 30. plan on getting another 55 and using the 30 for quarantine and hospital

 

[bs6749]

You are going to want to invest in an RO unit then. They are about $100 +/- $25 and would be sufficient for that volume of water. Either that or you will need plants in your aquariums. For that you will need better lighting and that will cost more than the RO unit since you will need lights on each of the tanks.

 

[timwag2001]

does increased airation have anything to do with high nitrates?

 

[bs6749]

No, the additional aeration won't change the amount of nitrtes in the water.

 

[timwag2001]

ok. i've done necesary water changes using prime to condition the water to deal w nitrates. and now another fish dead (tiger barb). i had a molly that had what appeared to be ich so i treated with coppersafe and have been using melafix.

so...
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm

 

[timwag2001]

water parameters are the still the same. another tiger barb dead. molly gave birth 3 days ago, now has popeye and is very miserable sitting at the bottom of the tank. my tank is like a time bomb for fish.

 

[bs6749]

Livebearers go through a consierable amount of stress when they give birth and it's not uncommon for them to get sick shortly afterwards. My Endlers seem to get sick 1/4 of the time after releasing fry. It's always ICK though and it goes away very fast. Not sure what is going on in your tank. Nitrates don't help ay though.

 

[timwag2001]

heres a thought. when i leave my house in the morning my heat in my apt is set to 62. is it possible that the cold atmosphere outside of the tank is affecting the fish?
i currently have a topfin 300w subersable. it doesnt have a temperature thermostat, instead a high and low setting. i know i should, well.. need, to get another heater just in case.