Pearl gouramis lost color and stay near the surface

[Colin_T]

If you need to check the test kit for accuracy, take it to a pet shop with a sample of your aquarium water. Get the shop to test the water and you test it at the same time with your kit. Compare the results. If they are the same, the test kit is probably ok. If you get different readings to the shop, then one of the kits is faulty.

 

[Ategnatos]

And I do appreciate you taking the time to help.

We have amazon here and the masterkit cost 38$ there but it would take too long to come here and I needed it quick. Thankfully my kit works it just seems that the nitrate bottle #2 needed a very good and lengthy shaking as you said.

Unfortunately one of the pearls doesn't seem like she will make it. The second pearl started bullying her and she probably was already weakened by my bad water parameters. She had laid down on a corner of the tank but as I am writing this I see she has swum to the surface and currently stays there.

 

[Jacky12]

Like they say, live and learn.

Can you remove the ailing gourami? I’ve isolated fish in a one gallon $5 glass cookie jar from Walmart. Sad to say, some fish go after a weak/dying fish and eat them.

Best of luck! She may rally yet!

 

[Ategnatos]

Would isolating her help? I can probably find something clean and large enough for her.

 

[Ategnatos]

Actually I don't know if I can isolate her since I won't be able to properly heat whatever container I get her in.

 

[Jacky12]

Good point. I’ve seen people sell practically new or even new small capacity heaters for $5. Keep an eye on local Facebook groups where people sell & exchange equipment. Good idea to have extra equipment around when it can be cheaply had.

 

[Jacky12]

Ategnatos!

 

[Ategnatos]

It turns out my tap water actually contains around 30-40 ppm of nitrate. What can I do in this case? Could I use bottled water or will it harm my fish?

 

[Jacky12]

Wow! That’s high! I’d take another reading. My tap water is 5ppm.
I’ve never heard of bottled water harming anymore than your checking account

Is this city water?

 

[Ategnatos]

No it's not city water it's a small town water that I have read is of bad quality because of the fertilizers used in the farms here. Could I use live plants to help me balance my nitrates? I am reading that java moss is good for aquariums without soil.

 

[Colin_T]

Tap water in most countries is allowed to have some nitrates and the maximum allowable level is generally around 40ppm. However, nitrates are bad for anything that ingests them (except plants) and you want the level as low as possible for yourself, your pets and your fish.

Some bottled water is fine, some isn't. You need to check the ingredients and avoid water that contains sodium chloride (salt). They usually have sodium and chlorides listed individually rather than sodium chloride on the same line. You can check the pH, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate of bottled water and if it is suitable for the fish being kept, then you can use it.

The other options include a reverse osmosis unit that will remove most nutrients and minerals from the water. There are filter additives that remove nitrates from water. Growing live floating plants in the aquarium ca help to remove nitrates. Some people grow terrestrial plants above the tank and let their roots grow into the water. the terrestrial plants can use a lot of nitrates. Distilling water is another option, which can work well in hot climates.

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SOLAR STILL

You can make a solar still, which would probably work well in Greece. It would give you pure water, no waste water and be free to make pure water, it just requires a bit of sunlight.

Use food grade/ food safe containers for this.

Get a large plastic storage container and put it outside in the sun.
Pour a bucket of water into the storage container.
Put a clean bucket in the middle of the storage container. Have a rock in the bucket to stop it floating around.
Put the lid on the storage container.
Put a rock or small weight on the lid in the middle, so the lid sags a little bit above the bucket.

As the sun heats up the container, water will evaporate and condense on the underside of the lid. The water will run towards the centre and drip into the bucket. When the bucket is full of water, you put it into a holding container and put the bucket back in the storage container with another bucket of tap water.

You get pure water with a pH of 7.0, 0 GH, 0KH and no wasted water, no power used and it's cheap to set up.

 

[Aiken Drum]

It turns out my tap water actually contains around 30-40 ppm of nitrate. What can I do in this case? Could I use bottled water or will it harm my fish?

EU maximum nitrate for potable water is 50ppm. Ive known a few people who have had that sort of level here in England, especially around London.

 

[Jacky12]

Aiken, that’s 3X what my east coast US city allows. Is that the max and seldom seen? What would aquarium keepers do if they had the upper limit?

 

[Aiken Drum]

My understanding is USA has a limit of 20ppm nitrate for potable water. So yeah, about 3x higher here.

Ive got 7ppm nitrate, and generally our water is clean and has has zero to low level of nitrate. But i have seen members down near London with 40 to 50ppm.

What do they do? Terrestrial plants with their roots in the water soak up nitrate, floating plants are usually good too. Remineralised RO water, or spring water. Nitrate absorbing chemical media. Or more often just live with it. If your tap water is say 30ppm nitrate, you should be able to keep the nitrate in the 40 to 60ppm range if you are careful with how heavy you stock and change water regularly. Its a bit high, but many people keep fish just fine at those sorts of levels or even higher.

One of our members from manchester swears by collecting rainwater for his aquarium. Not for high nitrate reasons, he just doesn't want the chemicals used to treat tap water in his aquarium.

We still have EU laws since leaving, and it will probably be decades before we pick apart all the laws and introduce our own. I dont see water quality being one of the priorities to improve on, but you never know.

 

[Jacky12]

Thanks, all very interesting. The water dept sends out an annual long list of water chemicals (if that’s the right term) & I never paid attention. It looks and tastes fine. I only tested the nitrate level when fish people reported zero. The best I can usually do is 15-20 ppm even after a big water change. Yet I continue to read 0 to 10 is better. I think 15-20 is ok, do you? I keep hardy fish & they seem to do fine.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Nitrate is something that many people will have different opinion on. We had this thread recently on the subject and got a wide variety of thoughts.

https://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/nitrate-frustration-380442.html

Lower is better for fish, higher is better for plants. Inverts are less tolerant than fish.

My opinion is 20 to 40ppm is a good level to aim for, 10 to 20ppm is better. I dont keep shrimp so thats not something that concerns me and the low demand plants i keep are fine with those levels of nitrate.

Aquarium Co op recommend nitrate at 50ppm for planted tanks.

I have to accept though, that people sucessfully keep fish at higher nitrate levels than 40ppm. Even into the 100s. Most people in the hobby arent as involved as forum members might be and just muddle through, knowing next to nothing about water parameters, cycling etc, and for the most part they get by. Their fish might get sick a little more often and need replacing, or not live quite as long, but if nobody is shouting at them that their practices are wrong, they simply get on with things largely without problems and only start to look into issues when something unusual happens.