Fertilizers and big fish

[Orca2013]

I want to have this fishes in my planted tank: Mikrogeophagus ramirez, Apistogramma Cacatuoides, Trihogaster leri.

I add a lots of fertilizers per week in 240L aquarium: Green tropica 45ml, nitrat 120ml and one sspoon of calcium.

Will this fertilizers harm fishes that i mentiond above? is it safe to keep them in my aquarium?

 

[Andy Sager]

I suggest you take a water test at the substrate level of the tank to see if these fertilizers are releasing a layer of ammonia at the bottom of the tank. If they are, these fish species will probably not do well in the tank unless the Ph level in the water is under 6.8. Under 6.8, the ammonia is converted to ammonium which is not toxic to fish unless in very high levels.
Taking a water test at the bottom:
You do this by submerging the test vial with the cap on to the bottom of the tank ( just at the substrate level) then opening the top, filling the vial then replacing the cap and remove from the tank to test. If you are using test strips, take a turkey baster or Pipette and suck up water from just above the substrate for testing.

 

[Orca2013]

OK. I have no problems with small fish, but bigger are dying.

Tnx.

 

[Andy Sager]

OK. I have no problems with small fish, but bigger are dying.

Tnx.

But what kind of smaller fish? Top dwellers? Mid tank dwellers or Bottom dwellers? Are they fish that work well in your water's parameters? ( You should post what your water's parameters are to figure out if there is a correlation.) And what kind of large fish have you been losing? Would you lose them anyway due to improper water conditions, tank size, habitat? All these can be variables to why things are happening.

 

[Orca2013]

I got amandas neon tetras, rodostromus saiamic algars. And all of them are doing great.
Two I tried Mikrogeophagus ramirezis, Apistogramma Cacatuoides, Trihogaster leri, Scalars Siamic fighter. Two times they all died in about 6 months
I dont hsve testers, so I dont know water parameters.
Im just wondering can fertilizers be the reason fish are dying.

 

[Aiken Drum]

You are dosing high levels of nitrate. From my rough calculations you are adding about 30ppm of nitrate every week with your fertiliser dosing, on top of whatever your fish produce. If your plants arent taking nitrate up, if your water changes arent controlling it, you could have extremely high nitrate levels.

Are you doing a dosing/ water change regime like estimative index?

The fish that are living in there would be acclimated to the water conditions they are living in. New fish won't be.

I would find out where your water parameters are at.

 

[Andy Sager]

I got amandas neon tetras, rodostromus saiamic algars. And all of them are doing great.
Two I tried Mikrogeophagus ramirezis, Apistogramma Cacatuoides, Trihogaster leri, Scalars Siamic fighter. Two times they all died in about 6 months
I dont hsve testers, so I dont know water parameters.
Im just wondering can fertilizers be the reason fish are dying.

I'm not 100% sure what fish you are talking about because your Latin names are incorrect. I'm assuming you meant for the rodosromus are rummynose tetras, the trihogaster leri are pearl gouamis and I have no clue what Scalars Siamic fighter is. Here's the thing, if the fish were lasting 6 months, it's most likely NOT the water but the husbandry. That could mean the diet was wrong for the long term, the hardness levels were not good for the long term or the fish themselves could have been older fish so coming to their natural end. Both the Microgeophagus and apistogramma are very demanding fish. They require perfect water for long term success. So without knowing your water's parameters, it's near impossible to determine the cause of their demise.

 

[Orca2013]

Scalar is Angelfish, Siamic fighter is Siamese fighter, Rodosromus are Rummynose tetras.
Sorry about that.

Fishes were dying when I was dosing 40ml nitrat per week so thats probably not reason.
I dont know what estimative index is.
I change 50% water, then I add 25ml green tropica fertilizer, day after I add 60ml nitrate and spoon of calcium. Few das later I add 15ml green tropica fertilizer, day tomorow another 60ml of nitrat.
I had those big fish years ago, and they were doing great.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Estimative index is a process of controlled dosage of high amounts of nutrients on a regular basis to ensure there are no deficiencies, along with controlled, big water changes to reset the water parameters and ensure that the nutrients dont get out of control and you start to see the problems that go with high that. The amounts of fertiliser you are dosing suggested some routine like estimative index.

The fertiliser you are dosing and the nitrat are both adding nitrate into the water, so it would be really useful to know what level that is at before your regular water change.

How are you dosing calcium? Calcium is a metal that releases hydrogen gas when added to water and is explosive. Are you meaning a calcium salt, like calcium carbonate? If so it would be useful to know what your general and carbonate hardness is at.

 

[Andy Sager]

Scalar is Angelfish, Siamic fighter is Siamese fighter, Rodosromus are Rummynose tetras.
Sorry about that.

Fishes were dying when I was dosing 40ml nitrat per week so thats probably not reason.
I dont know what estimative index is.
I change 50% water, then I add 25ml green tropica fertilizer, day after I add 60ml nitrate and spoon of calcium. Few das later I add 15ml green tropica fertilizer, day tomorow another 60ml of nitrat.
I had those big fish years ago, and they were doing great.

Yeah, I got the rummynose right.

Those fish however are not bottom fish so if there were to be a layer of ammonia from the fertilizer, it would not effect them like it would the rams or apistos which would be on the bottom.

What size is your tank?

 

[Orca2013]

240 Litars

 

[Andy Sager]

240 Litars

Okay, so we eliminated tank size as the cause. It comes back to water chemistry. You need to get water chemistry at the bottom of the tank after you dose your fertilizers before adding any bottom dwelling fish.

 

[Orca2013]

OK. Which tests should I do?

 

[Andy Sager]

OK. Which tests should I do?

Most important are Ph, Ammonia, Nitrate, General hardness ( GH) and Carbonate hardness ( KH).
Ph and ammonia because toxic ammonia is converted to less toxic ammonium at Ph levels under 6.8. Nitrate because too high and it effects the fishes internal workings. Hardness because Apistos and Rams do not like hard water.