Help!!! Nitrate problem

[eds]

Hi, i was just wondering if anyone could help me. I have a nitrate problem and i have been doing water changes often and its not coming down. I was wondering if anyone could tell me something i could put in the water or the filter to quickly lower the nitrates so that i can keep on top of the problem.
The pH, nitrites and ammonia levels are all fine, just having problems with the nitrates.
Thanks

[DR.V]

maybe you need to vac your gravel

[chrissyoscar]

What you should do is clean your filter as it could be the cause of your high Nitrates. Do a gravel vac as DR.V said and do a 30% water change.
Also how much are you feeding your discus. Over feeding also causes high nitrates.
Also test your tap water for nitrates. My tap water gives me a reading of about 5.

Oscar

[Sam]

water change, vacume the gravel, clean the filter, feed less. (if u r over feeding). pretty much as above.

[leanne31]

Just do what eveyone above suggests but check and make sure you dont have any dead fish hiding somewhere or rotted plants and if it was me I'd be doing 40% wc everyday antil it comes down

Leanne

[Merrilyn]

Hi eds, welcome to the forum. Looks like some of the guys have already introduced themselves.

And they have given you some really sound advice.

I know you said your levels are okay, but can you post just what they are.

[eds]

thanks for the warm welcome. the ph is 7.0 the ammonia is 0.5-1 and the nitrite is 0.1.

[Merrilyn]

It sounds like your tank is still cycling. How long have you had it running.

And do you have fish in there now.

[eds]

i had until about 7 weeks ago about 20 fish, bristle nose, clown loaches, black neon tetras and glowlight tetras and 4 discus- 1 red melon, 1 turquoise, 1 golden sunset (that was getting more beautiful as the months passed) and an ocean green. then disaster struck... my ph dropped to 3.2, im not sure what the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were doing as i didn't have the test kits, i just periodically got it tested at my local aquarium and it was fine so i just kept on with my routine. My discus first alerted me that something was up with cloudy eye. within 12 hours the eye was covered wtih a fungus that looked like cotton wool. i medicated for about 8 weeks with promethasul at first but when they didnt respond i tried a broad spectrum medication which contains mafenide, aminacrine, and malachite green. i struggeled with the ph as im still doing- it keeps dropping i try to keep it at 6.8, but it drops as low as 5.2 in 48 hrs. im doing 10% water changes daily as i was doing 10% every second or third day. my ammonia and nitrites were fine. Nitrates off the chart. My ocean green survived, the only fish. one eye looks permanently scarred. Isaw it recently at an aquarium, but they didnt know what it was.
the tank has been running for about 5 years, but only in the past 18 months its been occupied by discus.
i ve just set up a 4 ft and some occupents have recently moved out ( a cherry barb 3 clown loaches and an 8 cm bristlenose). but remaining in the problem tank is 4 discus ( the ocean green 18 months in the tank, a pearl pidgeon and a chequreboard both in the tank 4 weeks and a blue diamond about the size of a fifty cent piece, in the tank two days), 1 ghost knife (aout 7 cm),and 3 britlse nose ( about 3cm).in 8 days they move into the 4 ft tank (currently in a 2x18x12)

[goldenpigeon]

are you using neutraliser? how much? also your bactier will have died off with a ph that low. the bacteria will die when the ph gets about 4.5. so your tanks muct still be cycling

[eds]

i use water ager cn which which says it neutralises chlorine chloromine ammonia and heavy metals. it recommends 4 drops per 10L i use 8.

[goldenpigeon]

ok well it isnt your neutraliser then :s what is your tap water like? r u using co2? and is there much ammonia in the tank?

[leanne31]

Your just gonna have to do lots of wc antil your tank starts to stabalize a bit.

Leanne

[Merrilyn]

Eds, your tank is going thru a full cycle again. Your bio filter would have been wiped out when the pH dropped to that level.

A cycling tank is not a good place for discus to be. Can you move them into another tank, and do a full fishless cycle on that tank. It should take about 10 days.

Toss in a decent handful of shell grit to keep the pH from dropping to such low levels. Your water must be very soft. This will help buffer it.

That dramatic drop in pH would have been the cause of the clouding of the eyes too. Any time you see the eyes go even a little bit cloudy, test your water. Nine times out of ten the pH will have dropped. Your fish may recover a clear eye in the correct pH, or it may not clear up completely.

Good luck.

[eds]

thanks for the help, the nitrates have come down a little bit. so im just keeping up the daily water changes.
in the mean time i moved all but three bristle nose in to a 4ft x 18 in x 18in. they seem to have adjusted well. woll my boy friend thinks that the ocean green and his pearl pidgeon blood are going to mate. so we will see, it looks promising though they havent started bowing (yet...)
in the four foot are the OG, PPB, BD,CHB, 1 x guppy, 5 x bristlenose, 1x cherry barb, 3x clown loaches and a ghost knife. i plan to get a peppermint bristlenose, some corydoras i esp like the julii and four more discus, about 6 congo tetras and maybe some emperor tetras.

[Merrilyn]

Glad things are starting to settle.

How do the eyes look now?

[wyldchyld01]

if you really like julii plse make sure they are not triliniatus which are prevelant in the industry as julii..

that's all i'm saying, otherwise it sounds good.

Brenton

[Squid]

Another thing you can try is a dedicated pH buffer. The problem is with very soft water (like it sounds you have) is it has little buffering capability. Heaps of products on the market for this. Hope this helps with your pH problems. Also, a change of pH to a very low reading with cause some suspended solids (I dont know your water composition) to flock ie it becomes cloudy and it will also denature some protiens. This low pH could also be a cause for the fishes corneal tissue/eyes to cloud up. I've had that problem before, but it may/may not be the case with your fish. Hope this helps.

[Annie]

Also, if you want to help speed up the cycle, add some of your filter media and such from the established tank into the other. It will not give you a complete cycle, but it will help give it a boost and cut the time down.