47 replies to this topic

[THE D]

Hey Guys,

I got home today from work and noticed that one of my Red Zebra's wasnt looking to healthy, I did a water test straight away using API 5 in 1 Test strips.
as soon as i put the strips in the NO2 and NO3 just went pink on the strip. My test kit only measures 0-200ppm on NO3 and 0-10ppm on NO2.

So i immediately did about a 60-70% water change, put the usual chemicals back in the water after a water change.
During the night one of my Electric Blues died, i tested the water again this morning and once again the NO2 and NO3 are off the chart.

What could cause my NO2, NO3 levels to spike so radically? The tank has been running for about 4 months. The ammonia levels are still below 0.5ppm, PH is about 8.0, GH is about 120, and KH is 180, Water temp was about 27 degrees when i got home. The light stays on for about 10 hours.
I have a 170L tank running a 1400L/H Aqua One Nautalis Canister filter (which was cleaned about 10 days ago)

Any help would be great.
Cheers

Edited by THE D, 11 January 2012 - 06:24 AM.

[Melvin]

What's your stocking level like? When you cleaned your filter, what did you precisely do?

[simmoman]

It's a bit strange having ammonia and nitrate in a tank running for 4 months. One thing that will destroy healthy bacteria is to use tap water when cleaning the filters.
I'm hoping you use tank water??????

[fourdapostle]

overstocking, not enough filtration, as said above using tap water to clean filters, which kills bacteria there are a few reason as I said in another post, I lost a lot of expensive fish to a spike, sometimes it just happens..I tell you what though you learn quick...

[Neakit]

Have you accounted for all your fish? is there a possible dead body hidden?

[werdna]

Try taking the water into your lfs to get tested as well, test strips arent the best for accuracy.

If your levels were off the chart before the water change, doing a 60% water change will reduce levels by 60%.
So if NO3 was at 400ppm, a 60% water change will only drop to 160ppm, so it wont take long to go off the chart again.

How often are you doing water changes and how much are you changing at a time?
+1 for possible dead fish somewhere too.

You need to supply us more information, that is why there is a template for making a new post in this section, you should fill out everything you can on there, it saves most of the questions that have been asked above and gets you an answer quicker.

Andrew

[Westie]

You need to supply us more information, that is why there is a template for making a new post in this section, you should fill out everything you can on there, it saves most of the questions that have been asked above and gets you an answer quicker.
Andrew

He wouldnt have seen the template as it was originally posted in the wrong section (cichlid discussion)

[THE D]

Yeh sorry guys im only new to the forum stuff.

I have 9 Cichlids and 8 Bristlenose in the 170L tank.

I only use dirty tank water to wash my filters in, and with the bio balls and ceramic noodles i only shake the basket around in the bucket of dirty water, i dont rinse or wash anything.

I have counted fish and there is nothing missing.

[simmoman]

were're not giving you a hard time just more info is needed to try and help.

My only other question is what size are the fish as there seems to be an overload somewhere.

[THE D]

Hey

My Cichlids range in size from 7-12cm, only one of them (Red Zebra) is about 12cm.
The brisstlenose are between 4-8cm

[Westie]

Hey mate bio balls aren't great for canister filters. If you can afford it, get something a bit better.

[Buccal]

Some canisters, have bio balls, that's what re seeds the model quicker, if the rest of your fish look healthy don't stress to much, it appears that your doing all the right things, get your self a two part liquid nitrate tester and get your self a bottle of Seachem Prime water conditioner and add it to the water after every water change and filter clean, it's expensive but very concentrated and lasts for long time, it adds a sulphur molecule to the nitrate molecule and renders the nitrate as nontoxic, the stuff is magic and is usually used by tang breeders
I use it on my Malawi display after filters are cleaned for safe precaution, my tank is over stocked by five times over even more, the more knowledge you get the further you can push the boundaries.
Good luck

[bigjohnnofish]

just another quick point to mention... some fish keepers neglect to do this....

if you have a gravel substrate and you dont gravel clean every 4-6 weeks you can get a buildup of nitrates in your gravel... when you do a water change you lower nitrate level in the water... but over night the nitrates concentrated in your gravel leaches back into your water and your nitrate level is off the scale again.....

a trap for even the most experienced fish keeper....

[THE D]

Well thanks heaps for the help guys,
I know what your saying with the gravel retaining waste, i took all the gravel out and rinsed it about 2 weeks ago as the syphon hose just wasnt cutting it.

I also am stating to think i have been over feeding the fish a little bit. But i will get some of the water conditioner on the weekend, clean the tank and hope it comes good.

Thanks for the help!

[Buccal]

Just another quick one, one day out of the week do not feed your fish, this will allow the beneficial bacteria to play catch up.
Also use silica sand or any safe sand, and add one or two geophagus earth eater type fish, they mix with just about anything, they constantly shovel and turn over sand keeping everything sanitary and clean looking.
Waste can not get into sand like it does gravel, and cause nitrate build up, obviously each particle is a tighter knit.
Remember your fish can go up to 18 days without food, 5 days without is no dramma for the fish at all, as long as they are properly heathy and conditioned to begin with.

[THE D]

overstocking, not enough filtration, as said above using tap water to clean filters, which kills bacteria there are a few reason as I said in another post, I lost a lot of expensive fish to a spike, sometimes it just happens..I tell you what though you learn quick...

Thanks for all the help guys, But as Fourdapostle has experienced i woke last night to find ALL my Cichlids dead.

The water has gone a little cloudy looking, the cat fish are still going strong.......Big mystery.

Will have to get a sample tested and see if there is anything that im doing wrong..

[Buccal]

Sorry to hear that what a shame, you may have started to do the right thing, but the fish may have been past the no return point.
Gets me thinking, I set up a tank for a friend a while back and stocked it with fish, it was all balanced out perfect, it had fully cycled and was one of those set ups that just looked naturally balanced and attractive.
Four to five weeks later the water went cloudy meaning it started to cycle again, I pulled the fish out and put them back in my breed room which has a sump filter.
Days later it went clear, so back in with the fish, all good the next week, then low and behold it did it again.
So, I pulled them out and did it all over again, I had a interrogating talk with him to find out the problem, he was doing everything right, and even not feeding for days at a time.
Eventually we worked it out his young daughter was feeding them when ever she felt like it, we found this out the second time as I opened the canister filter and being clogged with stinky rotten food.
Just a possibility if you have young children.

[bigjohnnofish]

a tank is never fully cycled... bacteria numbers increase and decrease with the bioload placed on them

[THE D]

Well i got a sample of the water last night, have now done a water change and cleaned EVERYTHING, tank looks good this morning.
So i will take a sample of water today and get both tested and see what is going on.

[sydad]

Some canisters, have bio balls, that's what re seeds the model quicker, if the rest of your fish look healthy don't stress to much, it appears that your doing all the right things, get your self a two part liquid nitrate tester and get your self a bottle of Seachem Prime water conditioner and add it to the water after every water change and filter clean, it's expensive but very concentrated and lasts for long time, it adds a sulphur molecule to the nitrate molecule and renders the nitrate as nontoxic,

Just saw this, and wish to make these observations.

Nitrate, as distinct from nitrite, is relatively non-toxic; requiring very high levels (typically above 60mg/l) to cause toxic effects even in more sensitive fish species. The greatest problem with nitrate is that in poorly buffered water it exists as hydrogen nitrate: better known as nitric acid, and this highly ionised acid can cause precipitous pH drops. I have measured nitrate levels at above 150ppm (mg/l) in well buffered aquaria that have not had water changes for prolonged periods, and in which fishes were not displaying any evident problems (though it would almost certainly be a cause of fatality to any newly introduced fishes). To say that Prime adds a sulphur molecule (or even atom) to the nitrate molecule is chemical nonsense, as this simply cannot happen per se.
Syd.