i need some advice asap

[Angel Lady]

how do I get it down without harming my fish I think that could be what caused my black mollie to die Im not for sure the rest of readings are normal. I read someone lost a bala shark when they changed the water because of high nitrates. Please help me I dont know what to do I will be waiting.

 

[kevy]

Water changes. Do a bigger one now, and do them more often, I guess.

 

[smb]

how do I get it down without harming my fish I think that could be what caused my black mollie to die Im not for sure the rest of readings are normal. I read someone lost a bala shark when they changed the water because of high nitrates. Please help me I dont know what to do I will be waiting.

Yep, like kevy said, change that water. 50-70% now, imo.

You might lose a few fish because of doing the water changes, but you will lose all the fish if you don't.

I would do 20% a day until the nitrates are below 50, then do it every 2-3 days until it is lower than 30. Anything lower then 25-30 should be ok but I wouldn't go more than a week afterwards without doing a 25% water change after this.


How often do you do water changes? It takes quite a while for nitrates to build up to that level.

 

[Angel Lady]

it took two weeks to build up that far I am in the process of changing my fish around big time I got three new 55 gallon tanks that like a week before they finish thier cycle and I just didnt want to have to change the water 2 in the same tank in less than two weeks time if you know what I mean.

 

[smb]

it took two weeks to build up that far I am in the process of changing my fish around big time I got three new 55 gallon tanks that like a week before they finish thier cycle and I just didnt want to have to change the water 2 in the same tank in less than two weeks time if you know what I mean.

2 weeks?

I am concerned about this. It takes much longer for nitrates to build up to 200ppm IME. Not saying that it can't tho. Just saying I've never seen it build up so fast before.

I would check your ammonia and nitrite levels and see where they are. If I had to guess, which I do at this point, I would say your amonia levels are about 1-2ppm.

 

[Angel Lady]

no they are at 0 Ibought a new testing kit made by jungle and come to find out it was wrong they were high but not 200 scared me to death for nothing they were at 50 I know that is high but it isnt as bad as it seems. I happen to find the regular stuff that I had for testing and it always checked out with the lfs so I will not switch brands again

 

[smb]

no they are at 0 Ibought a new testing kit made by jungle and come to find out it was wrong they were high but not 200 scared me to death for nothing they were at 50 I know that is high but it isnt as bad as it seems. I happen to find the regular stuff that I had for testing and it always checked out with the lfs so I will not switch brands again

50ppm nitrates are a little high, but not that bad. I wouldn't think it would be cause for a fish to die unless it was 50ppm or higher for a long period of time.

If it were me, and I had 50ppm nitrates, I would do a 30-50% water change and then check again. If they are still higher than 35-40ppm, I would do a 25-30% water change 2 days later and then 20-25% water changes every 2-3 days after that until they were around 25ppm.

You also have to take into consideration, I have no clue at all about bettas or mollies and don't know how this can help/hurt them. I have a CA cichlid and Mbunas and they all thrive on 50% water changes once a week. So please take that into consideration before you take my advice.

 

[DMK]

50% water change!! just do a 25% today and 10% in a couple of days 50ppm isn't all that bad. Depends on what your tap water is. mine is 10ppm so i hit 50ppm within around 3 weeks, just watch how much u r feeding put enough in to allow the fish too feed for a couple of minutes and no more, i like to spoil my fish at least once a week put a little more in than normal but i give my tank a good vacuuming every other week. in this heat i am doing 10% water change a week but no-more. Just watch the fish learn what they do when the water isn't perfect you will soon learn as to when a water change is needed.

Hope all goes ok

 

[Angel Lady]

I just got back from the lfs and guess what the nitrates is up to 160 now I have a nitrite spike to it is just starting to change on the color chart Could someone please tell me what to do. Just so everyone knows I changed out 5 gallons of water out of the tank last nite . The tank is a 20 gallon.

 

[DMK]

i would 50% - 60% water change now did the lfs not tell you what to do???

do that today and 10% for the next couple of days. u will have to mini cycle the tank again. So get yourself a good master test kit with ammonia - nitrite - nitrate tests keep an eye all all 3. Remember to use water conditioner when water changing.

When doing the water change you will need to remove all the muck from the bottom so if u have a vacuum do that then water change if not syphon the gravel will doing the water change. Any plants? if so remove all dead one plants or leaves or roots that u can see. i also wouldn't feed them for a couple of day this will stop the nitrates wanting to go back up or even your ammonia.

hope all goes well

Keep an eye on them

Danny

 

[Tanked]

water changes are the best thing to do but keep in mind this will delay the completion of your cycle. being the tank is not fully cycled yet I would do no larger than 25% change and follow up with 10% dail, unless you see the nitrates drop to an acceptable level. also some natural plants will really help with the nitrates if you have the lighting to give them.

 

[DMK]

Nitrate reading of 160ppm the cycle must have finished!!!!!!
160ppm will kill your fish very soon, i would go with a minimum of 50%

 

[Angel Lady]

ok I went and bought some prime it is made by seachem as far as I know that is the only thing to bring down the nitrates and nitrites I used it while my tanks was cycling and it worked great. I bought something else while I was down there it is made by hagen PHOS-X it is supposed to trap phosphate nitrite and nitrate has anyone here ever heard of this product before.

 

[sandyd]

I was wondering if Amquel Plus would help you out with lowering your numbers. It is supposed to lower ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I have not used it as of yet, but have heard from other fish keepers that it works well. Do you know what your tap water tests? If your numbers are high coming out of your tap, it may not be doing you much good doing water changes. Do you treat your tap water before use? Sandy

 

[Angel Lady]

it comes out of the tap 0 I treat my water with jungle start right crystals that stuff is great I put some of that prime in the water so far it hasnt went down any