10 gallon goldfish tank, no water changes, 10ppm nitrates?

[UCF-Planted]

So here's the thing. My boss has a 10 gallon tank at home that keeps 3 goldfish in, one he estimates is about 4" now, and I was talking to him about what maintenance he does, and he says he never does water changes. He says last time he did a water change it was a year ago. I sent home my nitrate kit with him and he came back saying it only read 10ppm. It's a new kit and the results seem accurate on my tanks. Is it possible he is using some kind of additive that is messing up the readings, or do you think he just did the test wrong? Anybody heard of anything causing low nitrate readings?

 

[Amber23]

I don't know, but tell him he is a pretty crappy fish owner to have his goldfish in a tank that size.

 

[12 Volt Man]

I suppose he could have a nitrate remover (eg nitrazorb by seachem) in his filter, but they have to be removed and recharged once per month.

 

[Coler]

pretty unlikely he's using a nitrate remover isn't it...like if he cared that much he would do water changes.

He's probably not doing the test right...if your test is e.g. the API liquid drop test kit, I'll bet he is either/all of not shaking bottle 2 for 30 secs before adding, or not shaking the tube for 1 min after adding, or not lettig sit for at least 5 mins before reading.

If your test is paper strips (which Idoubt from what you say) they're not accurate.

 

[12 Volt Man]

pretty unlikely he's using a nitrate remover isn't it...like if he cared that much he would do water changes.

LOL very true! unless he had it in his filter but had no clue what it was. lol

 

[UCF-Planted]

I'm working on getting him to upgrade to a bigger tank, but I can't really tell my boss he's a crappy fish owner now can I?

It actually could be that he's using a remover of some kind. It sounded like he follows the directions for taking care of the filter pretty well, but he simply didn't know he needed to do water changes. I've got him started on weekly PWC, working up so he doesn't shock the fish with clean water. I didn't know they made a nitrate remover though. I'd heard of ammonia absorbers, but not nitrate removers.

 

[Weezer]

No water changes in a year, probably no gravel vac's either, he must be joking with you........:eek3:

 

[rich311k]

Have him bring you a sample of water and test it yourself. Nitrate tests can be tricky to do correctly.

 

[UCF-Planted]

Have him bring you a sample of water and test it yourself. Nitrate tests can be tricky to do correctly.

I was just thinking about that. Maybe I'll send him a text message tonight to have him bring me a cup of water tomorrow.

 

[J double R]

my bet is he discovered that his readings are off the charts, and lied.. doesnt wanna deal with it.