Natrate Spike

[omega59]

I noticed my clown was swimming oddly and checking his side fins (where they have a black pattern line around) i noticed it was missing looked broken or chewed. I did a water test last night and it was at 5.0, today i ran the test again and it is still at 5.0. Any ideas what caused this to happen, Is it cus i never clean my LR in over 6 months i was told to never clean LR. I also want to know how can the fins be repaired. Thanks.

 

[kj23502]

NitrAte of 5ppm WON'T hurt your fish. I know a few tanks that get up to 100ppm. It's most likely from aggression or infection or something. What are the tankmates? What size tank? And what kind of clown?

by the way my nitrates were 40ppm a week or more ago and I still had my pistol shrimp and my CUC snails.

How often and how much do you do wc?

 

[TigerIssey]

You did not actually state what level was 5.0, is this Nitrate, or is it ammonia or Nitrite.

EDIT sorry just seen title, 5.0 should not be a problem as KJ stated

 

[omega59]

it's a 30gal tank, runing for 7 months
liverock (not sure the lbs)
2 ocellaris clownfish
2 hydor power heads that do 4GPH
aquaclear 200 filter
water change every 3 weeks max 4

 

[kj23502]

maybe the clowns were fighting and that tore the fin?

 

[omega59]

aawww, what can i do about this fighting so sad. and will the fins take long to repair?

 

[ben1987]

my old clowns split a fin one day, took about 4 days to look as good as new. If the clowns have been together 7 months there shouldnt be much fighting between them...id be more worried about a preditor.

 

[kj23502]

That too Ben. I checked my water stats last night and my Trates are about 10-20ppm. That's before the wc

 

[omega59]

A preditor, like what there is nothing else in the tank LOL

 

[ben1987]

mantis shrimp or crab that came in your live rock, they usually come in very small and grow up if lefyt un-noticed.

 

[omega59]

I haven't yet to find anything on my LR, what I'm i looking for exactly??

 

[kj23502]

get out a flashlight and something to make the light red. Look in your tank at night to see if you see anything suspicious moving around.

 

[omega59]

okay, will one of those red laser pens work?

 

[omega59]

the poor guy is having trouble swiming cus of his fin