Just done a water test on my fish tank.?

Question

ph. 6.4. kh zero. nitrate 100 and nitrite one.
what do i need to correct this?
i have started doing 25 water change per week and cut back on the feeding (goldfish) 20 gall. tank . cleaned the filter out including the impeller. some of my fish are between ten and fifteen years old. i use conditioned tap water at same temperature as tank water. and feed dried flake, pellet, live bloodworm, peas, live daphnia now and again, and frozen bloodworm. do i need to add calcium carbonate ? one of my fish was sitting on the bottom this morning with fins clamped, but now had made a miraculous recovery. think from the answers i got on here, it was constipation. thank you. and to all those other answers i received this morning.

Answer 1

I just read through your other questions, didn't bother with the answers though. Not sure how many goldies you have in there-sounds like at least 3?, but definitely give some thought to a larger tank.

Clamped fins and sitting at the bottom is a sign of water quality problems. That's good you're doing them weekly now, but you really should do some every other day to get those nitrates down, I would change out about 20% of the water every other day. Ideally nitrates under 20 ppm is what you want, but I'd at least shoot for 40 ppm at this point. It sounds like your tank is suffering from what's called old tank syndrome, especially with the nitrates so high and the kh so low. All the essential minerals have been depleted out of the water-calcium and magnesium etc.

Once you get the nitrates down to a better level, then go ahead and switch to the weekly cleanings. But, this will also depend on how many are in the tank. I'm sure it was mentioned in your other questions, 15 gallons for 1 goldfish. You would probably be best off doing 2 water changes weekly, changing out 25% each time to keep the water quality good.

The foods you're feeding are great, it's a good variety for them. As for adding calcium carbonate, I wouldn't at this point. I'm guessing your ph and kh are low because of the water parameters being off, and lack of water changes. See if fixes itself when you start doing the frequent water changes, and get those water parameters in check. I have a feeling it'll work itself out that way. The least amount of chemicals and products used is the best way to go. If you add calcium carbonate to the tank/filter, and the tank "rights" itself through the water change, your ph might shoot up way high.

One last thing, since you're showing nitrites in the tank, I'd add some aquarium salt. Nitrite inhibits the fish's ability to absorb oxygen into their blood-essentially suffocating them. Add 1 tablespoon per 5 US gallons, something with the salt is supposed to help that.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Your fish was reacting to the nitrite level. It should be kept below 0.5, the point at which fish start feeling stressed by the level.

Honestly, if your fish are 10-15 years old, they should probably be in a larger tank. You dont specifiy how many you have, their sizes, or if this is a 20 regular or long, nor the variety of goldfish, but if these are commons, they should be at least 9-10 inches long (each). Goldfish produce a fair amount of wastes, and as they grew (and they grow throughout their lives, just more slowly as adults), you may have reached the capacity of your tank for being able to keep enough bacteria present to convert the nitrite to nitrate.

Extra water changes will help, as will cutting back on the feeding. The low pH may just be a result of the excess wastes in the tank - this will cause it to decrease, so at 6.4, it's not low enough to be a major concern - especially if this doesn't differ greatly from your tapwater, or what you use as your water source. You might try twice a week changes of 20% for a week or two to try and bring the nitrite and nitrate down further, but I think your ultimate solution will be a larger tank. Try figuring out the volume you should have as 20 gallons for the first fish, and 10 gallons for each additional. If you move all your gravel over, plus your filter (to keep the present bacteria) and add a second filter, you'll probably notice a difference in the amount of maintenance you need to do to keep the test levels within "normal" parameters.

Answer 3

The Nitrate numbers indicate that you could use more frequent water changes and/or much less food.
There is an accessory that might help keep your Nitrate numbers down,unfortunately no-one manufactures it. It's called a denitrating coil,and consists of a long (35'),yes that's feet, of airline sized tubing,through which you slowly pump a stream of water. The idea is to create an anaerobic section of the tubing,where De-nitrating bacteria can grow. These guys are about the opposite of the nitrifying bacteria that we cultivate when cycling a tank,they operate in an oxygen free environment,and their by-products are Sulphates.
Here's how it works,you slowly pump the water through the coil,in about 6 weeks the Denitrifying colony will be established. At this time you should start smelling a little (faint) rotten egg smell at the out-fall end of the coil. The tricky part is regulating the flow,too much flow and the bacteria die because of the high oxygen,too little flow and the room (and aquarium water) start to smell like rotten egg gas. The method requires constant attention,and sniffing but if you can get the bacteria colony growing you will be rewarded with much lower Nitrate numbers.
It would also be good to increase the kH of your tank this will provide pH stability the will make you fishes lives a lot better.
The low kH,the falling pH,an d the high Nitrate numbers all point to more frequent water changes and more aggressive gravel cleaning as necessary items for your fishes health.

Answer 4

OK theres a few things you need to address:

1) you need to increase the KH. At zero this allows the pH to vary and stress the fish, so as you suggested add calcium carbonate. Depending on what test kit you use you need to add enough to get to 140ppm or approx 8 degrees of hardness.
2) you need to lower the nitrate. Goldfish are very hardy and will tolerate 100ppm but for long term health I would aim for about 50ppm. To lower this do 40% water changes each week making sure you clean the gravel at the same time.Note make sure your tapwater contains a low nitrate level first otherwise this will not work.
3) lastly and most worring of all you need to get the nitite to zero ASAP.To get this level in the tank when it has been running so long must mean that you are a) overfeeding b) over cleaning the filter in tap water c) not got a big enough filter.To reduce the level quickly, do water changes as described above and stop feeding completly for one week.If this has not brought the level down after 2 weeks then purchase some filter bacteria from a fish/pet shop.

PS the problem with the clamped fins on the fish is a sign of stress and nitrite poisoning!!

Answer 5

Sounds like the tank is crashing! You need to dump all of that water its way too soft. This happens when you overfeed, over stock and don't change enough water often enough. Weekly water changes 25% are best for goldfish. Feed once a day all they can eat in about 3 minutes.
If you are using reverse osmosis water you need to add buffers to the water. If the tap is this acidic and soft you will need to get the buffers. Takes way too long to explain the chemistry just trust me. Kent R.O. Right and Kent Neutral Regulator hold ph very stable at neutral. The fish are suffering from acidocis and it can be fatal. If you know what the ph was before the crash get it back up to that ph and you might see a recovery. If not going to nuetral never hurts (6.8-7.2 - 7.0 being best) This is quite serious for your fish and action needs to be taken quickly or they will die in the next few hours. Email me if you want to I can try to help.
Ooh my the nitrate is way too high. Change a lot of water quickly.

Answer 6

If you cleaned your filter entirely, your tank is going to have to re-cycle. Your bacteria is mostly in the filter and you need to treat it like gold! Only quick rinses in tank water without chlorine when it's so gunky water isn't flowing through well and never let it dry out.

You definitely need to do more, bigger water changes and if at all possible, look into getting a bigger tank. 20 gallons is only enough for one goldfish that age, and barely at that.

Nitrates of 100 are way out of line. Some guidelines recommend keeping them below 40 for goldfish. I prefer below 25.

Answer 7

You have to buy a test kit. Then just follow the directions. It's easy.