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Unclear Water

2K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  Boredomb 
#1 ·
I recently started a tank up again, a long break after my father added tiger oscars to my 100% peaceful tank long ago, and its been going about a month. I've been told by petco that my nitrates where very high, so they have me changing my tank 50% at a time, after 3 days ive cut it by about half, but i keep reading that changing water like this can increase bad bacteria and such, also my tank is abit foggy (white). I was wondering if im putting my fish at risk or if this is the right thing to continue. Also i would like to know if anyone knows a way to help get rid of nitrates and keep them lower besides the water swap.

Thankyou for your time,
Garren Prather
 

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#2 · (Edited)
I recently started a tank up again, a long break after my father added tiger oscars to my 100% peaceful tank long ago, and its been going about a month. I've been told by petco that my nitrates where very high, so they have me changing my tank 50% at a time, after 3 days ive cut it by about half, but i keep reading that changing water like this can increase bad bacteria and such, also my tank is abit foggy (white). I was wondering if im putting my fish at risk or if this is the right thing to continue. Also i would like to know if anyone knows a way to help get rid of nitrates and keep them lower besides the water swap.

Thankyou for your time,
Garren Prather
That looks like a Bacteria Bloom. Best thing to for that is not to be doing water changes. That can make it worse but if you have really high Nitrates doing water changes to get them to come down to safe levels for the fish is best for them. The bacterica bloom wont hurt the fish just looks unsightly. Do you know the numbers for ammiona and nitrites also? Do you have a way of testing the water yourself? Couple of questions to see what can be addressed to help with the high nitrates. How much food are you feeding your fish? How big is your tank? How many fish do you have in the tank? Are you using tab water and if so have you check it for nitrates?

Plants do wonders for nitrates. I see you do have some in there. The one in the left corner of the tank is it a White ribbon plant ( Dracaena Sanderiana )? If so it is not a true aquatic plant and it will die being completely submerged. Which brings me to say if there is any decaying plant matter in the tank that is big enough to see it needs to come out. That won't help with high nitrates. Floating plants like Duckweed or Pennywort or water sprite when let floating will do great.
 
#3 ·
"Do you know the numbers for ammiona and nitrites also? Do you have a way of testing the water yourself? Couple of questions to see what can be addressed to help with the high nitrates. How much food are you feeding your fish? How big is your tank? How many fish do you have in the tank? Are you using tab water and if so have you check it for nitrates? "

I dont have the numbers and sadly dont have a way of testing them on my own right now, imma buy the kit soon tho. ive started feeding them less, a pinch of food 2 times a day and a few shrimp pellets for the bottom feeders. 30G. 3 angle fish a reg pleco a longfin bushynose pleco, 1 chinese algee eater, 1 bamboo shrimp, 1 pictus catfish,1 african butterfly fish, and 1 senegal bichir, all fish r under 3". im using tap water but have no way of testing it atm.
 
#6 ·
"I dont have the numbers and sadly dont have a way of testing them on my own right now, imma buy the kit soon tho. ive started feeding them less, a pinch of food 2 times a day and a few shrimp pellets for the bottom feeders. 30G. 3 angle fish a reg pleco a longfin bushynose pleco, 1 chinese algee eater, 1 bamboo shrimp, 1 pictus catfish,1 african butterfly fish, and 1 senegal bichir, all fish r under 3". im using tap water but have no way of testing it atm.
WoW umm okay there are some issues with the size tank you have how many "big" fish you have in there. I know you say they are all under 3" but many will get huge and need bigger tanks. The bichir alone needs a 75 gallon tank at minimum. The regular pleco is also going to get to big for the tank. My first suggestions would be to re-home the bichir, the regular pleco and the Chinese algae eater (as it gets aggressive when it gets older). The tank is over-stocked the way it is which is the reason for the high nitrates ( also assuming the other numbers may be up too). The more in a small tank the more waste is produced in a small tank that just can't handle it unless you do more water changes but this is still not fair to the fish. When fish are put into a tank that is too small to house them. It causes them serious harm cause through it may appear that the fish stops growing in fact it never does internally. So then you have a defend very unhealthy fish.
 
#7 ·
I agree with Boredomb but would go even further in removing fish. The Pictus Catfish should be in a group of 5 but it gets too large for anything less than a 4-foot tank.

You will note that some of the fish names shaded in this and earlier posts; that means you can click on the shaded name and bring up the profile of that species. Info on numbers, minimum tank size, compatibility, etc is included in the profiles. Please have a read of them.

Byron.
 
#9 ·
Without knowing your parameters (GH, KH, and PH) it is hard to recommend what fish to get. I will say this I am not the best to recommend what kind of fish to get am still learning compatibility. I will say this in a 30 gallon tank I would probably just get some corydoras and stick with those two fish. I say that because 3 Scalare Angelfish (have a read of the profile for the Angelfish. It will give you suggestion also. You can do so by clicking on the shaded name.) are going to take up a lot of room in the middle and top section of the tank. So the Corydoras will fill in the bottom section. As for which kind of corydoras to get well that's going go to depend on your water. Also someone with more experience may be able to recommend something different or more species.

Also Thank You for rehoming the other fish!
 
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