why is my nitrate so high

[dadecountyalan]

it seems like no matter how many water changes i do my nitrate is always at 30ppm. with 0 nitrite.any ideas on how to bring it down?



and i also think my fish are suffering from flukes. no flashing or darting just one gil closed and breathing heavily and not as active. i treated it yesterday by doing a big water change and adding salt. by night time they were swimimg around. i get home today to find the same situation as yesterday whats the deal

[Second Hand Pat]

Are there nitrates in your source water?

[ericatdallas]

Maybe bad test? Test the water at the source and see what you get. Also, do you check right after a WC?

[dadecountyalan]

no nitrate in my source of water and i check before and after water changes.

any ideas on the gil flukes???

[ericatdallas]

no nitrate in my source of water and i check before and after water changes.

any ideas on the gil flukes???

That eliminates it being a bad test (maybe) and it from the tap. Now, take a 5G bucket and put 2G of fresh tap water and 2G of tank water. What does it read? If it reads somehwere in between 0-30ppm (around 15) then your test is probably good. If it reads 30, then it is probably your test.

Once you eliminate the obvious cases of source and test...

What kind of filters do you have? Do you have substrate? Canisters that aren't properly and regularly cleaned can generate nitrates. Not sure why it would go up and plateau at 30 ppm though.

Also, how much water do you change? How often do you change it? Is it still 30ppm even after a 80% WC?

[Darrell Ward]

Decomposing particles in filters and substrate are the most common causes of unexplained nitrate readings. As for the gill flukes, it doesn't really sound like gill flukes, because the symptoms usually include quite a bit of flashing and darting. They are quite irritating to the fish. Heavy breathing and sluggishness can be caused by a lot of things.

[Second Hand Pat]

no nitrate in my source of water and i check before and after water changes.

any ideas on the gil flukes???

Alan, replied to your PM.