what could be causing my high nitrates?

[linds3y]

Anything is possible
This is why I said leave the canister alone. Because by what your doing your going to destroy the BB in the tank or most of it anyway. So your best option is to turn it off while your doing the first cleaning. After your done turn it back on and keep a close eye on water chemistry and the fish for sickness.

Okay that's what I'll do. I was a little worried about losing too much BB since I just cleaned the filter two days ago before I discovered the nitrates had risen again but we'll just see how this goes.

 

[linds3y]

Will some of the BB from the substrate be sucked up into the filter so I won't lose all of it?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Will some of the BB from the substrate be sucked up into the filter so I won't lose all of it?

Yep when your done and you turn the filter back on it will suck the free floating stuff up. You may still need to do another one after it all settles depending on how bad it is. Don't worry to much. Just don't clean your filter again at less you have to due to flow I'd wait a couple days before rinsing it.

 

[linds3y]

Okay thank you for all your advice! I'm just nervous about losing fish, especially the angel, bp and bgk..those are my little babies

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Okay thank you for all your advice! I'm just nervous about losing fish, especially the angel, bp and bgk..those are my little babies

Understood nobody likes losing fish, but you'll be ok most people here do 50% pwc every week sometimes 2 times a week. And your welcome that's what we are here for. Just remember to cut back on food a little they don't need so much.

 

[linds3y]

Understood nobody likes losing fish, but you'll be ok most people here do 50% pwc every week sometimes 2 times a week. And your welcome that's what we are here for. Just remember to cut back on food a little they don't need so much.

Will do, I just never know how much to feed and I wanna make sure all my lil froggies are getting food too. I'll cut back to doing normal feelings every other day and on the days in between i'll drop a couple algae wafers / carnivore pellets in at night.

 

[linds3y]

Its just so hard to say no when they beg! Lol I have the same problem with my dogs and even my cat steals my food, I'm such a push over!

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Will do, I just never know how much to feed and I wanna make sure all my lil froggies are getting food too. I'll cut back to doing normal feelings every other day and on the days in between i'll drop a couple algae wafers / carnivore pellets in at night.

You was probably over feeding and the powerhead was sucking it up and now its stuck and breaking down to trates under you gravel. Thats my best guess keep us posted on how it went and how it tests.

 

[linds3y]

You was probably over feeding and the powerhead was sucking it up and now its stuck and breaking down to trates under you gravel. Thats my best guess keep us posted on how it went and how it tests.

Okay, i'm gonna get started around 1:30 and I'll update this later tonight

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Okay, i'm gonna get started around 1:30 and I'll update this later tonight

Cool have fun and don't stress out

 

[linds3y]

Pulled the ugf + about a 65% pwc.
Not as cloudy as I expected
I'm gonna leave the decorations out for a few more hours to see how the water clears up and determine if changing more is necessary.
I also think I have two missing african dwarf frogs
Could they have become a snack for my black ghost knife? I don't know where they could be if they weren't eaten.

 

[blert]

We're they there when you started the UGF removal?

Check your decorations, maybe they hitched a ride.

Take a small gardening rake to your gravel while your decor is out. I hate to suggest it but, maybe they got trapped under some gravel during the process.

I doubt it was the BGK if he is still small but you never know. Those frogs can't see very well and are not very fast, easy to sneak up on. It could well have been any of your fish as frogs are easy pickings when in a deep community tank with moderately aggressive fish.

 

[linds3y]

We're they there when you started the UGF removal?

Check your decorations, maybe they hitched a ride.

Take a small gardening rake to your gravel while your decor is out. I hate to suggest it but, maybe they got trapped under some gravel during the process.

I doubt it was the BGK if he is still small but you never know. Those frogs can't see very well and are not very fast, easy to sneak up on. It could well have been any of your fish as frogs are easy pickings when in a deep community tank with moderately aggressive fish.

Well I located 4 of them, I don't know where the 5th could be, I'm hoping I just didn't see him and that he's in there :/ he's not in the gravel, I stirred it up real good and checked all decor..I guess either he's really good at hiding, or he jumped out or got eaten :/

 

[Andrew McFadden]

How's it testing now? sorry to hear about the frog

 

[linds3y]

I tested it right after the water change and it looked about 15 ppm already! I'm going to test it again in like an hour and might change like 10-20 more gallons if I need to.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I would try and get ot down as close to zero as you can

 

[linds3y]

Okay I will do that then

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Okay I will do that then

When your done I'd wait a half to an hour to re test. I hope this helps keep it down. How's the fish doing?

 

[linds3y]

Everyone is doing really good they seemed stressed at first but now they're fine. That might also have to do with the fact that I rescaped the tank when putting decorations back in

 

[linds3y]

New test readings:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
Ph 7.6

Thanks for all your help!!! The problem definitely was that pesky ugf.