HIGH NITRATES FISH STRESSIN HELP!!!

[Snuffy]

Hello Everyone

I woke up this morning to a dead cory cat and a discus laying on her side. When I turned the lights on the fish started to stress out and dash around the tank like crazy. Temp was good at 89D so i checked the water with a test kit and here is what i got 0 Ammonia 0 Nitite but my nitates are at 80ppm
What can be done to reduce this amount of nitrates? Im running a 400 emporer filter and A ehiem canister plus 3 large sponge filters on the tank. I added aquarium salt to help reduce stress and I turned up the amount of air in the take what else should I be doing? Im going to do a water change now and i hope by the time I get back to my computer an expert on the this site might have a fix for me . Thanks Everyone for reading my call for help.

Eric

[FishLover888]

I'm no expert.

The only way to reduce nitrate quickly is water change. How big is your tank and how often do you change water? What is the bio load?

Do 40% at time, wait for few hours, do another 40%, then wait and monitor the nitrate. Keep doing the same thing till your nitrate is under 10, I would keep it under 5.

You may want to lower the temp a bit. I assume you meant 89F. That's a bit high. Keep it at 86F should be fine for most discus. Some people keep it lower than that too. I keep mine at 86F.

When there is a dead fish, ammo start to go up, then it go through the nitregen cycle and converted into nitrates. That could be the problem too. In most cases, nitrates build up means something like high bio load, or less water change was performed or over feeding.

[Snuffy]

Thanks Fishlover

The tank is a 150 and I did a 75 gallon water change this morning before i went to work and checked the nitrates again and it was at 10ppm when I left for work. The Bio Load is as follows: Discus -- 3) 6 inch 2) 4.5 inch and 3) 3inch and 3 cory cat until one died this morning making it 2 and a 3 inch pleco. I have been doing about 30 gallon water change a week but i guess I need to up that figure. Thanks for the advice its very much appreciated. I was in a panic this morning when I posted my distress call for help. Thanks

Eric

[FishLover888]

Yup, 30% a week is kind of low for discus tank. If you can do two 30% a week, it will be better.

Otherwise, I would go for at least 50% a week, maybe more. I sometimes do 70% without any problems.

My WC is set to 40% twice a week and sometimes I replace the 40% with a 70%. I have 11 discus ranging from 5.5" to 3.5". I can tell by the 3rd day, my discus are acting like they are stressed, show off stress bars and kind of jumppy. I also watch the feed too. Try to feed more frozen food just before water change so I can take out much waste. Other days I give them not much frozen food, mostly flakes.

[Graham]

Hi While you would not want NO3 at high levels for any length of time...it is not directly toxic to fish and you sure wouldn't see anything dramatic happening overnight even from that level or higher.

High nitrate lowers water quality and immune systems but it's affect are long term.........look for other possible causes for the deaths

G

[kaceyo]

I agree with Graham 100% but wanted to add that doing a 50% wc won't take the nitrates from 80ppm to 10ppm. Maybe the kit has gone bad?

Kacey

[Alight]

I agree with Graham 100% but wanted to add that doing a 50% wc won't take the nitrates from 80ppm to 10ppm. Maybe the kit has gone bad?

Kacey

I'd say the same thing. Who knows what your nitrate levels really are.
Also, as Graham said, nitrates, themselves, are not very toxic. However, high nitrates are usually caused by fish wastes building up because your water changes scheme is not sufficient. Nitrates are a convenient measure of the amount of organic compounds that build up in your tank, and high levels ususally indicate poor water quality with lots of nasty DOCs (dissolved organic compounds) in it. It's these untested compounds that are often the real problem, along with the bacteria and protozoa they grow.

I'd calibrate your nitrate test kit, to get a reliable reading, in up your water changes considerably.

[GrillMaster]

I agree with the others. High N03 wont kill fish that fast. It will over a period of time though.

Having a reading of 80 ppm N03 an doing a 50% WC should have rendered a reading of 40ppm not 10ppm. I would calibrate your test kit. Test kits dont last long.

How long has this tank been set up? Has bio filtration been established? Is it planted? BB?

That said, if bio filtration has been established and its planted, check your P04 reading. With the 30% WC's in a 150 each week, your phosphates might be thru the roof if your feeding heavy.

Mark

[Elite Aquaria]

I agree with the others. I would do at least 50% 2-3 times per week. You could also add some plants to your tanks. I have a plant that the roots are in the tanks but the plant hangs on the side of the tanks. I do not know the name but this helps out with Nitrates in my fish room.

Dan

[FishLover888]

The suggested lethal nitrates levels for sensitive fish are 50 to 100 mg/l depending on the fish. It does not act very fast but it does kill fish if it gets too high.

Goldfish can go as high as 1,600mg/l

[Snuffy]

Thanks to all who answered my Thread. I have been doing 2 water changes a day since I found the fish in distress and it seems to have worked. I lost 2 fish a cory and a pleco but the discus that was lying on her side has made a miraculous recovery and is eating and swiming around like normal. I will keep up my water changes to avoid this in the future I made the mistake of listening to a friend who has saltwater tanks ,that told me that I was over cleaning my tank and to cut down on wc's. Thank you all for the support and wisdom.

Eric

[Graham]

Glad to hear that things are turning around...........Assuming that you have decent water to use, you can never change too much water. The second that anything alive goes into the water, that water starts to decrease in quality...a water change fixes that. Even your saltwater friend needs to change water, along with all the additives.


As most of us have stated, high NO3 will not directly kill fish.........so keep an eye on things for another possible cause to your problems.


Graham

[kaceyo]

Hey Eric,
You'll find that there will always a multitude of people ready to tell you that the way you're doing things is wrong. Some of them will be more "advanced" aquarium people than you so it's hard not to take their advice. The best advice you'll get about discus is right here. And when the advice is conflicting, you have to decide which way to go based on YOUR experience with YOUR fish and system. Throw in some common sense and you're on your way to success.

Kacey

[FishLover888]

I had one LFS guy told me that I only need to change my water every three to 5 months since I have plants in it.

Well, silly me, I lost most of my rainbow fish after 3 months.

[RyanH]

I'm not sure if anyone else mentioned this but 89f is going to be too warm for corys.