High high Nitrates

[Mauricio]

I helped a buddy of mine setup a 33 gallon planted tank. He’s been having nitrate issues the past few months and his fish are dripping like flies. I have had him do 50% water changes like once a week

 

im confused on how to help him

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:15 PM, Mauricio said:

He’s been having nitrate issues the past few months and his fish are dripping like flies. I have had him do 50% water changes like once a week

Is it possible the substrate is leeching ammonia?  Is it an active substrate?

Can you provide details on filtration and how it's setup?  The tank is processing to nitrate, but this could be from the plant fertilizers or other sources!  If you're seeing constant nitrite rising, the key is usually to focus on what is causing ammonia.

My second item to check would be if there are any dead snails.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:15 PM, Mauricio said:

Do you happen to have another method for testing KH?  It looks like your KH may be very low. (this would indicate a very unstable PH).

[Lennie]

For nitrates, they can get elodea or hornwort + floating plants your friend like. Amazing combo to fight nitrates.

even in my overstocked tanks, I usually ended up reading 10 nitrates max on weekly water change days. And my tap has 20 nitrates:) I basically add nitrates to an overstocked tank with water changes and end up reading lower than what I start with!

Def give these fast growing water column feeders a try.

P.S: I always alum dip my plants and from my experience it really harms elodea and hornwort, basically kills them most of the time. Again h202, death. If I had access to seltzer water I would def try RR. If you decide to get any of them, please avoid harsh dipping methods, they cause serious harms in my experience to these plants. I barely see such effects on my other plants once dipped

Edited June 25 by Lennie

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/25/2023 at 2:54 AM, Lennie said:

For nitrates, they can get elodea or hornwort + floating plants your friend like. Amazing combo to fight nitrates.

Hornwort for sure!  My nitrates were creeping to 40+ every 4 days or so, so I had to water change more than once a week. I added hornwort and I didn’t see instant results, but as soon as it started making new growth, wow. Now my nitrates  stay at 5-10.

Also I added pothos! And that is sucking up nitrates too. Keep the leaves out of the water, just put them stems in, and they will make nice roots. The fish like the roots also. They provide cover.

If you need a super fast remedy, nitrazorb. But that’s just a temporary fix if you have plants because plants need nitrate in the water.

On 6/25/2023 at 12:45 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

The tank is processing to nitrate, but this could be from the plant fertilizers

Yes, definitely discontinue the plant fertilizers (for now).

[Lennie]

On 6/25/2023 at 1:05 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Yes, definitely discontinue the plant fertilizers (for now).

I would use stuff like Tropica Premium nutrition which has no Nitrogen and Phosphorus, only Potassium and trace elements

[Guppysnail]

If this is their first tank the first thing I would look at is feeding. New fish keepers tend to massively overfeed (and old like me sometimes). 
 

Ask him to show you how much how often they are feeding.  Fish tummies are supposed to only be as big as their eyeball. They are cold blooded so digest food much slower than we do also do need less. 
 

Emergent plants like pothos and lucky bamboo also help with nitrate control.

 

Vacuuming up uneaten food with a quick swipe whenever it’s present will also help. 

[Sora]

I also had a high nitrate problem and like some other people mentioned you could

1. discontinue fertilizer 

2. add fast growing plants like duckweed or horn wart 

3. I found that api’s nitrazorb actually did help a bit for me when I used it, you probably don’t need just something to look at.

Edited June 25 by Sora

[Peaceful Fish]

How dirty is his filter?

[Odd Duck]

1. Have him stop feeding for several days (at least 3 to 5 days) because new fishkeepers nearly always overfeed, sometimes tremendously.  I like the suggestion from @Guppysnail of having him show you how much he feeds.  That may give you an immediate answer on the source of the problem.

2. Search for any dead fish or snails and remove them immediately.

3. Check filters and if clogging, do a cleaning but not a deep cleaning.

4. Do large water changes daily until nitrates are better controlled.  His biofiltration is at least doing something in order to get the nitrates that high with only that trace of nitrites, so his tank should be reasonably well cycled.  He may be having ammonia surges, though.  Ammonia surges will “hide” under good biofiltration since they can be very transient as the BB’s can eat up the ammonia and nitrites fast.  Any ammonia surge can still be causing damage to the fish’s gills and internal organs, though.

5. More plants would be very helpful.  Surface floating plants and emerse plants will pull nitrates (and ammonia and nitrites) out fastest since they have access to room air and therefore more CO2 for metabolism.  Pothos are a good bet and proven to be one of the best.  Lucky bamboo is another that is excellent at consuming nitrates.  Keep the roots wet and the leaves out of the water for best performance.  Fast growing plants are also good but they have to be healthy, not melting.  Hornwort can be temperamental and if it goes through a big leaf drop it will just make things worse.  Pothos and lucky bamboo are incredibly unlikely to go through any kind of melt and start pulling nitrates out quickly as long as they have decent roots going in.  If somebody has pothos that are already rooted and adapted to water, that would be the fastest way to clear them other than water changes.

6. For sure do not add any fertilizer that has nitrates in it for now.  Once he gets the numbers down (to 10 or below) he can start adding a balanced fertilizer like Easy Green.  If he can keep the nitrates down below 20 then he can keep adding Easy Green.

7. Have you tested his water source to see what those numbers are?  If he starts with ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates in the water, he will probably need surface floaters and/or emerse plants to keep them controlled.

8. Prime will help bind any ammonia that is fairly likely to be the cause of acute deaths.

 

[Galabar]

The non-zero nitrite (that I'm seeing in that test) may be killing the fish.  Have you tested for ammonia?

Edited June 26 by Galabar

[Mmiller2001]

Root tabs used?

[Hobbit]

You’re getting lots of great advice! I’ll second that he needs more buffer in that tank to control pH swings. Mix a little bit of baking soda (1/4 teaspoon) into a pitcher of tank water and add it slowly over the course of the day, then retest and see if the pH and buffer are any higher.

As for a source of ammonia/nitrates, do you know if the wood in there is seasoned driftwood? Could it be rotting and adding to the problem?

[JettsPapa]

I didn't read through all the replies, though I did skim over them.  In any case, I doubt very much that nitrates killed the fish, unless it was well over 80 ppm.

[Mauricio]

Everyone was giving me a lot to look at and we eventually got it back to a balance. Thank you everyone who reached out!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 6/26/2023 at 1:08 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Root tabs used?

Hey @Mmiller2001 - in your experience, do root tabs that pop up have a high/obvious impact? I had one pop up in a 5.5g and I got a nitrate reading of well over 100 (I had used Easy Green too so, double whammy!) Could not pinpoint the issue to anything else. It’s a neo shrimp tank and lately they’ve been eating boiled veg, not even commercial food. 

Edited September 4 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Mmiller2001]

On 9/4/2023 at 12:37 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Hey @Mmiller2001 - in your experience, do root tabs that pop up have a high/obvious impact? I had one pop up in a 5.5g and I got a nitrate reading of well over 100 (I had used Easy Green too so, double whammy!) Could not pinpoint the issue to anything else. It’s a neo shrimp tank and lately they’ve been eating boiled veg, not even commercial food. 

Yes, if the contents are dissolved rapidly and allowed to enter the water column quickly. There’s always some leaching unless placed deeply into the substrate and the type of substrate they are placed in.