High Nitrate Levels!

[TheSims3Dude]

Hello, I have an API test kit, I bought some new fish today for my 5 gallon tank (platys) and once I put them in, a while later I checked the water, Ammonia and NitrIte were 0 ppm. However NitrAte was 180 ppm!
I did a 50%-60% water change, and put some nitrIte, ammonia and nitrAte remover, I just checked the water again with the test kit and it's now at 40-80 ppm I beleive, I can't do a water change as it's almost 10 pm and everyone's asleep now, and I also can't put the remover in anymore because it says no more than once every 24 hrs, so I'll have to wait till 5 pm tomorrow night
The male platy is at the top of the tank not moving, (just barely) and the females are at the bottom of the tank just lying still like the male,.. What should I do???

 

[TheSims3Dude]

I managed to clean the tank quietly, so hopefully it'll work out! I just don't like seeing the poor fishies suffer!

 

[fatheadminnow]

The nitrate level is a little higher then we usually see it, but it is no where near dangerous levels. Don't put anything in your tank that removes ammonia, as this will "starve" the bacteria, unless it just turns the ammonia into ammonium.

Are you doing 10%-20% weekly water changes?

-FHM

 

[kribensis12]

I'm going to have to disagree with you there Trent. Nitrate is usually seen in the 30-50 ppm range. Honestly, anything over that is like playing with fire. Your nitrates are extremely high. When I was younger (about 3-5 years ago) I would never gravel vacum my tank (to pick up detris and other nitrate causing agents), I would just top the tank off. I started losing fish left and right after about 3 months. I took my water in to get tested, the Nitrates were around 180 ppm. I lost many fish. I have never experienced nitrate related deaths since that day. I just do weekly 25 percent water changes and I vacum the gravel in the tank.

 

[Truck]

First of all you're using an API kit, possibly the least accurate nitrate kit available, so don't get too wound up on your results, because they're going to be out by a lot! Get yourself a salifert nitrate test kit, they're much more accurate and because the reagents are kept separate, the test kits accuracy doesn't decrease over time.

180PPM isn't really anything to worry about, it's actually not that high, most fish start to see problems at 400ppm, but some more sensitive fish such as rams may start to encounter problems at 250ppm.

IMO I think testing for nitrate is useless and pointless, first of all a sensibly stocked tank, and a good regime of water changes will keep them low, also plants will use nitrates as a nitrogen source also, but the average take up in a low light tank is only 1-3ppm a day.

If the fish are suffering, then it is nothing to with nitrate levels, science has proved this, there is obviously something else wrong.

 

[TheSims3Dude]

Hmm, their all alive today still, but not moving very much, I don't know what the problem could be

 

[Ben M]

have you checked if your filter's working. once mine stopped working, and all of the fish stopped swimming.

cheers