I have a 20 gallon tank. In it I have 1 frog, one pleco, 2 dalmation molly, 4 sunburst molly and 2 black molly fish. I know I have been overfeeding and am gradually cutting back to 1 pinch 2x's a day. The nitrite level is still registering barely in the safe area, the nitrate level is in danger zone. My fish don't seem to be stressed, but, after a 25% water change, the levels are still the same. What can I do? I put in an ammonia remover, but no effect. I change 20%-25% water once a week. Should I just let it alone and hope for my fish to survive? Also one dalmation is prego and is slowly birthing, which I am leaving in the tank. I know the fish will eat the babies, but hey, population control. have seen 2 babies so far, still living in the tank. She is still very very fat.
2007-08-31 13:57:08 · 5 answers · asked by cookyaustinchic 3 in Pets ➔ Fish
The tank has been set up for two months, and was cycled for one month before adding fish in slowly.
2007-08-31 14:13:36 · update #1
Nitrate (NO3) is NOT toxic to freshwater fish in any concentration. Here is the dirty little secret about Nitrate, it is a great scape goat for pet stores when you come to them and say your fish are dying. Instead of having to actually know anything about fish or trying to find the real cause of the problem, they test the Nitrate, along with some other tests, and since just about every tank in existence has a nitrate level the is "un-safe" (according to the direction on the nitrate test kit) they have an instant answer for you.
This works well when they are trying to CYA when a new fish you bought from them dies. They test the water and tell you it is YOUR fault the fish died because of this nitrate problem, then you see, they can say they didn't sell you a bad fish.
If your Nitrite and Ammonia are ok and the fish are not stressed, it sounds like all is well. Don't worry about it.
2007-08-31 15:42:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Did you maybe mean to say ammonia and nitrate??
Because if you still have nitrite your tank it is not cycled
nitrates are suppose to be around 20, but nitrite and ammonia are suppose to be at 0
If your ammonia is really high, do a 50% waterchange right away, and keep doing partial waterchanges of 25% every 3 days, untill your ammonia in under control
After that you can keep up with your weekly changes
Hope that helps
Good luck
EB
Feel free to email me for further help
2007-09-01 06:08:30 · answer #2 · answered by Kribensis lover 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
One very very important aspect about the ammonia remover is that it doesn't really "remove" ammonia, but rather just detoxifies it. If you put a chemical to "remove" the ammonia, then where does the ammonia go?
The ammonia (both toxic and non toxic will still show up in your test.
You should be okay as long as you dose some water conditioner that detoxifies the ammonia, or whatever that's showing up high.
2007-08-31 14:17:12 · answer #3 · answered by revernance 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate below 40ppm these are the once you need to watch petsmart will have them
2016-05-18 02:19:39 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How long has your tank been set up? Stop the excessive water changes, this tends to crash tanks. Leave it alone for a few weeks... then change the water every 3-4 weeks.
2007-08-31 14:06:03 · answer #5 · answered by Nancy G 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋