Help, i messed up the water.

[Tek]

Oh.. on my previous post http://forum.simplydiscus.com//showthread.php?t=45976and found out my Nitrate high. Alll members here told to WC 20 to 50% daily to bring back nornal rang. After couples day of 20% WC, now the pH up to 7.4 which my tap water is. My discus so more stress and all them turn black color.

pH 7.4
Nitrate 80
Nitrite 0
kH 40
GH 75

[candyl70]

Tek are you using something to dechlorinate your water?
Do you age your tap water?
Is your tank planted? Or bare bottom?
How long has your tank been cycled?
What size is your tank?
What is the temp?
What is your normal water change regimine?




Candy

[ronrca]

Does the ph change over the day? Have you aged your water in an open container and tested the ph?

[Kindredspirit]

Tek did you mention what your ammonia reading was?




Marie~:angel:

[Cosmo]

Tek,

Have you tested your tap water for nitrates? Or are you adding anything other than a de-chlor / de-chloramine-er-a-tor (new word). Unless you're getting nitrates in with your tap water, you need to dramatically increase the percentage of water your changing every day to bring the nitrate count down. 80 is the highest I've ever heard :(

As others brought up.. ammonia count.. plants... :confused: the more info you post about your setup the better..

Jim

[Cosmo]

Tek -

Is this a newly established tank? Zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and sky high nitrates are what you end up with after the nitrogenation cycle completes.. if that's the case, you might want to do a massive WC to bring down the nitrates ASAP.

just a though

Jim

[Tek]

Tank is planted tank with 5 plants in.
Tap water aged with opened bucket for 24hrs with Stress Cost by Dr Wellfish.
Tap water nitrate tested at 20 or lower
ammonia is nornal tested at local petco
Tank in old from goldfish.. I have discus in for 6-7 weeks now.
Last time i tested ph at 7 about 3days ago. Due to busy work, i WC 20% daily without test pH.

[Tek]

Tek -

Is this a newly established tank? Zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and sky high nitrates are what you end up with after the nitrogenation cycle completes.. if that's the case, you might want to do a massive WC to bring down the nitrates ASAP.

just a though

Jim

WC again? I mess the pH to 7.4 within 2days period. Plus, i run of aged water. I aging water with bucket only 5hrs.

BTW temp at 90

[Tek]

Does the ph change over the day? Have you aged your water in an open container and tested the ph?

Water aged with opened bucket and tested last night before i WC and pH 7.4 at my local city.

[candyl70]

How were you getting you pH down before? Did you use any chemicals?

[Tek]

I never used pH down. Due to i WC 10% every 3 to 4 days. It always keep at 7.0 or below. This tank is 1yrs and haft old tank from goldfish keeping. pH always maintain at 6.4 or below due goldfish's wast and old alge at back of tank tent to keep pH down.

[Carol_Roberts]

My fish are in pH of 7.8 every day. Don't worry if your pH stays at 7.4 - you will find that juvenile fish are happiest in bare bottom tanks with large water changes of stable pH water - if the pH is always 7.5 that's fine. I'm guessing there is lots of mulm (waste) hidden in the gravel of your tank and that's the problem.

[QiKsilver]

Sounds to me that you don't have an ammonia tester.... i suggest you invest in getting all the other testers you need. If you don't know your water parameters and check them often you are simply guessing which is bad.

My tap water PH goes from 7.0 from tap to 7.6 after 24 hours. Fish had some difficulty adjusting to it but they are doing ok now. What i do before i do w/c...

- Test tap water for nitrates (sometimes my tap has nitrates due to migrating birds in the revervoir (around 10 ppm).. that way i'm not surprised if my nitrates are not 0 as usual after the W/c.
- Simultaneously test tank ph and W/C water side to side and see if the color is the same. Whatever the PH is i don't care as long as they are the same.
- Agitate your water and check your temps... i used to not enough mix my aged water ... one time the top of the aged water bucket was 86F but the bottom was around 82F so my tank temp dropped of 4F in 5 mins and fishes caught ick...

Hope this helps...

[Cosmo]

Yep, I think Carol hit it right on the head.

Ph was kept down by the goldfish waste :confused: May have been ok for goldfish who are much more tolerant of poor water quality than Discus.. but not good now. You should probably clear out the old algea growth too.

There is no need to keep your ph depressed below your tap water unless you are going to breed.. even then, 7.4 isn't bad. You'll do more damage trying to maintain an artificial ph than you would simply running with what you've got.

10% every 3 to 4 days is very very light for Discus water changes .. fine for goldfish, but again, they are much more tolerant. Clean the gravel, the tank, the filters, and do 30% or more every other day if you can't do daily WCs. Age your water overnight with an airstone and heater it in.

Jim

[Tek]

Will it corrupt the benifical bacteria cycle by WC of 35% or more daily? My tank is bare tank with couple drwft woods and plants.

[Carol_Roberts]

Many of us do 50% or larger water changes daily - no problem.

[candyl70]

The beneficial bacteria live in your filter, not in the water that is in your tank. Many ppl do even larger water changes than 50% daily. I would follow the suggestions that you have received here and do larger water changes with aged water. You should also wipe down the insides of the tank walls at least once a week using a strong type of paper towel. Good luck, let us know how everything works out.


Candy