ammonia burn?

F

Flower1982

AC Members
Sep 29, 2005
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Pennsylvania
Real Name
Jess
My one bleeding heart is starting to turn red/brown. It's only on the one half of him. He's acting normal and he ate today. He tends to be shy though. So he mainly stays in the rock cave most of the time. I noticed last night and did a water test. ( I use api master test kit) (The bleeding heart is in the 30 gallon community tank. I have a list of the fish in the tank in my sig)

The results were:
Ph: between 7.0 and 7.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: somewhere between 40 and 80. I couldn't really tell.
Ammonia: .25

After I tested the water I immediately did a water change and gravel vacced the tank. I did about a 60% water change. I checked the water again tonight. I only checked the ammonia and nitrate since I wasn't having problems with the Ph or Nitrite. The Ammonia is back down to 0. But the Nitrate is still about 40 or so. I can tell it went down some but I think it's still high. I'm guessing it's not good to do another larger water change right away right? I usually do water changes once a week and take out about 30% out but last week I worked overtime at work, and didn't get a day off. So the tank didn't get cleaned. I suppose I could be overfeeding but they eat all the food that I feed them. All the other fish are fine. None of them have any red on them at all. Other than turning red the bleeding heart is acting normal and he ate this morning.

Here are two pictures of the bleeding heart.

bleedingheart3.jpg


bleedingheart4.jpg
 
water change...water change...water change...
 
Ammonia would wipe out the gills far sooner then "burning" the back-half scales.

From your readings, I would guess the tank is not fully cycled. It takes a good six months for a tank to finally reach equilibrium where all the necessary bacteria are fully established. After that the water should be crystal clear and diseases far less likely to occur.

Your bio-load seems okay for your tank size (assuming this tetra is in the 30G). My three large African Cichlid tanks have nitrates between 40 and 100PPMs before I do the weekly 50% water changes. I have had no deaths or diseases for two years. Only thing I do now is occasionally take out the largest cichlids (~ 6") and sell them back to the LFS to make room for new species.
 
Nitrate is not in and of itself toxic to most fish, although it may negatively impact growth and general health. It will not kill them, however, with the exception of some specifically nitrate sensitive species, such as rummynose tetras and Apistos.

As far as nitrate is concerned, it makes no odds whether the food is eaten or not; nitrate is formed from the protein in fish food whether it's been through a piscine metabolism or not. Essentially, nitrogen in food in tank - fish growth = nitrogen in nitrate.

To my eye, it's the back of the fish which looks normal and the front pale. I've seen odd coloration like this where nerves which control colour fades and changes are diseased
 
The ammonia is down to zero and I just did another partial water change this afternoon. I took out about 50%. I haven't tested the water yet. I'll check it tomorrow afternoon. I also changed the filter. I haven't changed the filter in quite a while. Yes the bleeding heart is in the 30 gallon tank. I didn't think bleeding hearts got that dark in color KarlTh. The other 2 bleeding hearts I have aren't that color at all. When I did the partial water change today I didn't gravel-vac the bottom of the tank, since I gravel-vaced on Sunday.
I'll let you guys know what the nitrtes and the ammonia readings are.

VFC, I've had the tank set up for a while now. About 2 years I think. So it isn't a new tank at all.
 
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