Is my bad luck returning?

fishyinpa

Well this is my 12 gallon tank,which has been running for quite awhile. Maybe 6 months or so? I dont remember exactly. I havent lost that many from this tank. Only thing I did do was take out all the plants to catch all the Pencilfish which I moved to the 20 long upstairs. No way I couldve gotten em all without taking out the plants heh.

My 20 long is the one that I lost all 4 bettas in. I tore it down,had no fish in it for like 2 weeks or so. Filter was still running and all that though. I put black sand in and slowly added new fishies.

Byron

The API nitrate test kit can give false readings. Regent #2 must be shaken for at least 2 minutes before adding the drops; the instructions say 30 seconds, but this is not sufficient and in several cases will cause false readings. This may be the cause for the high reading at the store. Or it may be the reason for false readings at home. Shake the regent #2 for 2 minutes next time and see what results.

Byron.

fishyinpa

Oh...didnt know that...I will try it then. Hope its not really that high then!

Okay I did it that way,its sitting at 40ppm. Still not 160 like he said though.

fishyinpa

I just read this....what do you think??

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.
Source(s):

20 years in the Aquarium business as an aquarium store owner, a manager of 2 different aquarium stores and most recently owner/manager of professional aquarium maintenance company.

Byron

Well, I've no comment on allegations about fish stores or staff, but...

The first sentence is absolutely inaccurate. Nitrate will kill fish, period. It needs to be very high, and different fish have different levels of tolerance. And while it will not usually kill them in a normal aquarium, the stress from higher-than-acceptable nitrates will lead to other problems like disease and parasites. Stress weakens the fish's immune system for one thing.

Any reputable and reliable authority will tell you that nitrates should be kept below 40 ppm in a freshwater aquarium, and preferably at 20 or lower. This is sound advice. In a balanced planted aquarium nitrates will seldom be above 20 ppm unless something goes wrong.

Byron.

fishyinpa

Yeah I didnt think the first thing that person wrote was right...I figured at some level it would be toxic. Just the other part bout fish stores telling you this so they wont replace your fish. That sounded about right.

If my tank is sitting at 40 would that still kill a fish in less than 24 hours? If three others from the same tank at the fish store has no problems?

Byron

As I mentioned previously, I don't think nitrates at 40 ppm will kill the fish you mention, but it is one (and only one) possibility that high nitrates led to other issues. From what you've told us, it seems more likely to me that the fish that died has something wrong with it; this happens. How can any of us detect heart attacks, kidney failure, liver issues, cancer, intestinal problems, stomach ulcers... all issues known to occur in fish. I suppose some of these can be brought on my all sorts of things. And Corydoras are especially sensitive to everything. I recently bought a trio of C. axelrodi, and within 3 days two of the three were dead. I waited two weeks before replacing them with two more. I did this because I know Corydoras often develop problems from capture and transport, and these had been received in the store the day previous; I'm fairly certain that the stress was just too much for the two of them. In this instance I didn't follow my own advice, which is never buy Corydoras until they have been in the store at least a week, and then carefully acclimate them to your aquarium.

B.

fishyinpa

Very true. Sorry about your C. Axelrodi,that stinks. The manager told me they had the pandas in store for two weeks so none should have been sick. Are C. Pandas still wild caught or are they mostly tank bred now? Thanks for the info.

Byron

C. panda are largely tank raised. My C. axelrodi were wild caught in Peru, making the ordeal even worse of course for them. B.

fishyinpa

Oh okay.