Help!!!!!!!!!!!

rane

rane

Member
Ok I justed did a 30 gallon water change in my 155gl tank and my nitrates are sky rocket, my leaopard shark is breathing heavy an dis staying on the bottom and my other fish are moving around but my tang is just hanging out in the rock work this is my water condition
amonia 0.25 ppm
nitrate 80 to 160ppm
nitrite 0 ppm
ph 8.2-8.4
salinity 1021-1022
what caused the nitrate spike?
also I emptied out the water in my wet dry and filled it back up with new water could this have caused it and will my fish make it? or what can I do to lower my nitrates?
Thanks
 
jester

jester

Member
I would definatly not do a water change that big. Nitrates won't kill them just make them a little stupid. I would be more concerned with the amonia. When you flushed out your wet/dry, you probraly killed some very important bacteria.
Tangs are usually the first to die due to toxic water. They are like the canary's coal miners use. But, I don't know jack about the hardeyness of sharks. I would wait it out and not do anything else to the tank unless amonia was at .5 or the nitrites start to climb.
 
rane

rane

Member
ok my lobster has died and my shark is still breathing heavy..I guess I will wait it out till morning if everything dies in my tank I will just give up and sell the tank I havent had much luck and I have spent a fortune on equipment and supplies :mad:
I think it might be my water as I use tap water
:-(
 
jester

jester

Member
Um, well the lobster probraly died because of a ph fluctuation. Since you are using tap water, I would expect everything to die at this point. There are so many chemicals in tap water, you just never know what your getting when you turn the faucet.
What you could do is run to Jewel or Dominics and get as much purified water as you can do a water change. I was under the impression that you were using ro/di water. Or, maybe a more feesable soultion, add lots and lots of carbon to help pull the chemicals out. I would put it in a nylon sock and put in fron of a powerhead or somewhere there is alot of waterflow. Probraly in several locations. The poisining is already done, so all you can do now is give them some poison free water.
By the way, did you test for clorine?
 
A

alti

Guest
hey rane,
you need to get the nitrates down, but you also need to take your time doing it. drastic changes in water conditions is alot of stress on your fish. there could be something else wrong in your tank besides the nitrates. you really should not be detecting ammonia if your tank is fully cycled. how long has this tank been running? how long did you mix the salt water for the water change? was it the same temp as the tank water?
i live in north jersey too and i used tap water when i had a FO tank. the only problemks i had were consistent algea problems. where do you live?
 
rane

rane

Member
alti,
I live in northern NJ in Union City,
Well I woke up this morning and my shark was dead,
my tang has white spots on it like ick, this happend the last time I did a water change back in august and I lost another leopard shark, I am so upset, when I did the water change I mixed the 30 gallons in rubbermade and threw in a heater made the water the same temp as in the tank and a power head to mix the salt, i mixed it till the water was clear and all the salt was diluted, then added it to the tank, I think there might be alot of copper in the water cause it killed the lobster and the shark and they dont tolerate copper thats all I can think of. :mad:
 
A

alti

Guest
im sorry to hear about the shark. i strongly recommend that you let the salt mix overnight fom now on. you really need to give it time to stabilize the ph and make sure the water is well oxygenated. the ph swing could have killed your lobster. they are pretty sensitive to drastic changes in water params and high nitrates. you really need to get the nitrates down slowly. now that you have ick, it will be a bit harder because you dont want to stress the tang any more than he is already. be careful how you go about treating the ick. most of the quick cures they sell at stores and hypo stress the fish out even more. from my experience ick is much easier to get rid of if you can get rid of whatever is causing it and keep the fish well fed and comfortable.cleaner shrimp will help some. even if they do not really get rid of the ick, they give some kind of comfort to the fish. i live in tenafly. i dont know how far you are from me, but if you want me to come over and take a look at the tank i would be happy to help. the onloy problem is that i dont drive, so you would have to pick me up. you can email me or give me a call if you want.
hamuskinny@aol.com
201-541-0993
rob
 
chevytrks

chevytrks

Member
i agree test your replacement water, could be a good source of your ammonia too
metals in your tap water must have been present to kill your lobster that fast, most invertabrates cannont tolerate metals.
Do you have access to RO water?
 
rane

rane

Member
Thanks guys,
I think that was the problem my tap water must be really bad I am going to buy an Ro unit when I can get the funds up till then I am not going to add anything else...even my live rock is turning brown when it used to be nice and purple....
Rob,
Where do you buy your fish from is there a local place that you use that is good?...as for the ick its strange because they will have it for one day and then the next nothing and then back again I am feeding them twice a day from once a day to see if I can get the imune system up
 
A

alti

Guest
rane,
ick will come and go sometimes. it goes through different stages. the parasites will attatch to the fish then fall off. they reproduce in the tank and attatch to the fish again. some people fight it for months. the only way to be sure its gone is if you dont see it appear for at least a month or two. im not the expert since i only had ick once when my tank was new. it killed my puffer and my cowfish, but my triggers shrugged it off like it was just a mosquito or something. once the other fish died the triggers never came down with it again. i waited about 2 months before i added any more fish and ive never seen it again.
i think the nitrates are probably a bigger problem that using the tap water. i've used tap water and the only problem was constant algea blooms. your nitrates seem to be out of control if they are that high. if you dont get them down the rest of your fish will slowly die one by one. the only way to get them down is alot of water changes. i recommend you do a 20% change every three days until your nitrates get to an acceptable level. you really need to do more routine water changes on the tank to keep the levels down. a 10% to 20% change every two weeks is more what you really need to do. doing water changes every 3 months is not going to work.
as for a good local shop, i only buy fish from beitals aquarium in pearl river NY. he may be expensive, but he has quality livestock. the corals aren't great, but the fish selection is the best. just be sure not to buy any dry goods from him. they are triple the price of other stores. for dry goods i mostly buy online. if i need something in an emergency i go to the ***** on rt 17 north. absolutely fish is a great store, but the prices are too high for the quality of fish they sell. you can easilly get screwed there sometimes. ive seen them give a $10.00 fish a fancy name aqnd try to push it on clueless people for triple price. i only go there because its one stop shopping for me. they have a large selection of fresh water , salt water and reef tanks.
 
A

alti

Guest
jester,
you may have not done a change, but are your nitrates at 160 ppm like rane's?
 
jester

jester

Member
they were off the scale until I stopped messing with it. I left the tank alone for a few weeks, cut back on the feeding and they went down to almost nothing.
I really think it was the"diet" I put them on that reduced them the most.
If he keeps doing water changes with toxic water, he'll get the nitrates down for a short while, but the toxins will kill the bacteria that converts the nitrates to nitrogen and then they rise again.
Is a frustrating problem. I went throught it.
 
A

alti

Guest
jester,
if he had a dsb, he would have anearobic areas for the bacteria converting nitrate to nitrogen. but he doesn't, so you tell me where are the nitrates going to go?
 
splash1914

splash1914

Member
in aggressive setups you must do monthly water changes to control the nitrates... noway around it....
not doing a water change in a aggressive tank for 6 months would be suicide....
 
jester

jester

Member
Good point alti.
Soultion: get more sand and use RO water.
Sorry ryane, looks like you need to spend a few more dollars on equipment.
FYI theres a guy on ---- who sells a 100gpd 5 stage for 185 shipped.
email me if you interested and I'll give you his id.
 
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