I currently have a 75 gallon established tank with two gouramis, 4 silver dollars, and two Bichirs. The gouramis and bichirs are maybe 2-4 inches long and the silver dollars in my tank are about 3 inches long. I have an undergravel filter and a magnum 350 canister filter for filtration. I feed my fish a combination of cucumber, freeze dried blood worms, brine shrimp, blood worms, and Tetrafin tropical flakes. All parameters in this tank are mostly normal (nitrites/ammonia are 0 ppm - ph is around 7.8).
My first problem is that I have an unusually high level of nitrates in my tank (around 40 ppm - maybe higher). I cut the amount of food I was giving my fish to see if overfeeding was causing the problem - this did not work. Right now, I am doing 50 percent water changes about once a week - at one point, I was doing 50 percent water changes twice a week with no improvement in the nitrate levels. Anyone have any additional ideas I might try to bring my nitrate levels under control?
As a side note, this problem seemed to start about the same time diatoms started growing in my tank - however, diatoms feed off of nitrates so this should not be causing the problem.
Secondly, my Bichirs do not seem to be interested in eating in my tank. Everytime I chase them near some blood worms I have left for them, they don't seem interested in eating them. What can I do to get them to eat on a regular basis?
Thanks in advance for your help.
My first problem is that I have an unusually high level of nitrates in my tank (around 40 ppm - maybe higher). I cut the amount of food I was giving my fish to see if overfeeding was causing the problem - this did not work. Right now, I am doing 50 percent water changes about once a week - at one point, I was doing 50 percent water changes twice a week with no improvement in the nitrate levels. Anyone have any additional ideas I might try to bring my nitrate levels under control?
As a side note, this problem seemed to start about the same time diatoms started growing in my tank - however, diatoms feed off of nitrates so this should not be causing the problem.
Secondly, my Bichirs do not seem to be interested in eating in my tank. Everytime I chase them near some blood worms I have left for them, they don't seem interested in eating them. What can I do to get them to eat on a regular basis?
Thanks in advance for your help.