High Toxic Nitrate!!!!!!!

[FishKeeper-16]

My Nitrates Are Out Of Control And I Did A Partial Change And The Guy At The Pet Store And He Said To Do A Partial Water Change In 2 Two Days So Will It Be Safe To Do Another Water Change Tonight AND WILL IT JUST CAUSE MORE STRESS IF I DO IT TWICE IN ONE DAY??? IT IS A 29G TANK.

[IndianaSam]

It won't cause more stress than high nitrates. Just make sure that the new water is the same temp as the water in the tank.

How much are you doing for a "partial" water change?

What are your stocking levels?

[Blinky]

FishKeeper - don't worry, you can change 50% of the water twice daily if you need to, it won't hurt the fish or the nitrifying bacteria in your filter media.
As IndianaSam said, be sure the new water is the same temperature as the old water, and you might want to check the nitrate levels in your tap water - sometimes tap water contains high nitrates, in which case you'll need to use another source of water to get your levels down.

[FishKeeper-16]

10 fish and 1/4 water change

[betta V3.0]

get some plants!

[FishKeeper-16]

i have some plants and the leaves are turning brown and that might be the cause of the high nitrate

[FishKeeper-16]

well i have a salfin mollie dieing and i think a velvet swordtail and i have lost a total of 2 fish in the past week but my zebra danios are tolerating it pretty well

[russjet]

how high are your nitrates

what are your other levels nitrite and ammonia

i have high nitrate in my water but my fish seem to be fine so i am wondering if your other levels are 0

and like blinky said it is worth checking the nitrates in your tapwater

if the level is ok or 0 in your tap water then you could try doing two large 50% waterchanges back to back this should dramatically decrease the nitrates

and post your other parameters so we can see if nitrate is your only problem

also give us the nitate reading of your tapwater

[FishKeeper-16]

I woke up today and no more fish have died yet!!

[daveedka]

Nitrates are not immediatly toxic !?!??
MAny fish live for years in water with nitrate levels far above 100 ppm. This is not good for the fish and indicates a general maintenance and pollution problem but does not kill fish quickly.
I would be testing nitrites and ammonia as mentioned, and checking into other issues. high nitrates do indicate high production of ammonia, and thus nitrite. this does not mean you have high levels of those two, but you may.

As far as your original question, as was said, water changes shouldn't cause stress. Just make sure your tap water matches your tank as closely as possible and do however many whatever size water changes you need.
Remove all decaying plant matter and vaccume as much waste out as possible. and feed very lightly if at all.
dave

[anonapersona]

Be sure that you are using the correct water conditioner. Do you have chlorine or chloamine?
Many water conditioners that appear to "treat" chloramine really only break the bond and then release toxic ammonia. Be certain that if you have chloramine that your water treatment method actually treats chloramine as well as chlorine and ammonia.

[redbucket]

Be sure that you are using the correct water conditioner. Do you have chlorine or chloamine?

i haven't had any issues with the tap water / RO mix i've been using, but you've got me courious: how would i go about finding out what my tap water has in it?

[daveedka]

test your tap water for ammonia first, and note the results, then put a quantity of it in a bucket, and add a simple dechlorinator (Prime and amquel would not be advised for this test) something that is basically sodium thisulfate and not much more. After the chlorine is treated re test for ammonia. when the chlorine is removed from chloramine it leaves ammonia or ammonium So the levels should be higher after treatment than before. Prime and amquel (i think) will bind the ammonia, a simple ( 1 bottle ) ammonia test will still show the bound ammonium as part of the ammonia level, but the better ammonia tests (2 bottle) will only show toxic ammonia levels not ammonium and ammonia
you can also find out from your utility companies website if they have one.
dave

[Vyper]

I have heard an interesting fact that salt in aquarium water negates the toxic effects of nitrates. So perhaps adding some salt at the ration of 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons would help.

Sounds like to me though somehow you've destroyed the bacteria that deal with nitrates and as such going "clean crazy" in your aquariium i.e. 50% water changes twice every day is probably way too much. You need to let you bacteria establish, i.e. let mother nature take care of things. I have no idea what kind of filter you have but I have a Fluval 204 external filter which has baskets. Each baskets can hold different kinds of media, but one thing I have found particularly useful are the small porus rings that are designed to act as colony area for your bacteria.

From my experience sometimes doing too much can be worse than doing too little, I realise fish dieing isn't cool but going to extremes of constant large scale water changes every day wont help I assure you, try scaleing it down somewhat and add some salt.

[RTR]

There is no downside to water changes, so long as the water is treated to neutralize whatever disinfectant is present and near the temp of the tank, and preferably near the TDS of the tank. Nitrification bacteria are obligate attached bacteria, they cannot metabolize or grow except when attached, so will not be present in the water column, only attached to surfaces where the water flow and oxygenation is sufficient. Saying that water changes will not help a tank in old tank syndrome is incorrect.

Sodium chloride (ordinary salt) or potassium chloride (sodium-free salt substitute) will block the toxicity of nitrite, which is interference with the ability of the blood to transport oxygen. It will not affect the toxicity of nitrate, which is more generalized and longer-term.