I have a 55 gallon saltwater tank. My tank has been going for about 3 months now. After my tank cycled with 4 chromis, I added a Blue Spotted puffer and yellow tang. I was testing my water every couple of weeks and my parameters were generally good (Ammonia- 0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate 10-20).
Wanting to spiff up my aquarium, I added some inverts including 5 feather dusters, a serpent star, some small nasarius snails, sea cumumber, and hermits to get with some turbo snails I had. I also added some shaving brush plants for decoration. I added a Royal Gramma about a week ago after he spent 2 weeks in quarantine.
Everything was fine in my tank until yesterday when I noticed that my Gramma didn't look good. He was having problems breathing and swimming around. I went ahead and did my monthly big water change (did 10 gallons or 20%). I used pre-made sea water from Petco for my water change. The gramma lasted a couple more hours after that and then passed onto fishy heaven.
I decided to go ahead and test my water finding out that my nitrates are through the roof (50+ PPM). It had never been that high before and wondered what could be causing it. My ammonia and nitrate were a little higher than 0 (next category up on the test kit but not off the scale like the nitrates).
Potential causes include:
1.) I admit that I'm probably overfeeding the fish since they weren't eating all the food that I was giving them. I have been giving them a cube of various frozen foods twice a day which they never ate all of it. Would overfeeding cause the nitrates to be really high?
2.) I've also been trying to feed microvert food to my feather dusters. I've been doing that every 2-3 days for a couple of weeks. Would that do it?
3.) I haven't seen my serpent starfish or cucumber in the past 2-3 days. Is it possible one or more of them died and is decomposing in the sand, rocks, etc?
4.) My shaving brush plants seem to be okay but is it possible they are responsible for the nitrates?
What really concerns me is that the nitrates were really both tonight and this morning after my water change. How soon after the water change will the change be noticeable?
Can anyone suggest any remedial actions beyond changing feeding habits and more water changes to deal with the problem?
Here is some information about my tank:
-55 gallon
-60 pounds live rock
-60 pounds live sand
-CPR backpack protein skimmer
-Filstar XP2 canister filter
-In-tank UV sterilizer
-2 small powerheads for circulation (various types)
Wanting to spiff up my aquarium, I added some inverts including 5 feather dusters, a serpent star, some small nasarius snails, sea cumumber, and hermits to get with some turbo snails I had. I also added some shaving brush plants for decoration. I added a Royal Gramma about a week ago after he spent 2 weeks in quarantine.
Everything was fine in my tank until yesterday when I noticed that my Gramma didn't look good. He was having problems breathing and swimming around. I went ahead and did my monthly big water change (did 10 gallons or 20%). I used pre-made sea water from Petco for my water change. The gramma lasted a couple more hours after that and then passed onto fishy heaven.
I decided to go ahead and test my water finding out that my nitrates are through the roof (50+ PPM). It had never been that high before and wondered what could be causing it. My ammonia and nitrate were a little higher than 0 (next category up on the test kit but not off the scale like the nitrates).
Potential causes include:
1.) I admit that I'm probably overfeeding the fish since they weren't eating all the food that I was giving them. I have been giving them a cube of various frozen foods twice a day which they never ate all of it. Would overfeeding cause the nitrates to be really high?
2.) I've also been trying to feed microvert food to my feather dusters. I've been doing that every 2-3 days for a couple of weeks. Would that do it?
3.) I haven't seen my serpent starfish or cucumber in the past 2-3 days. Is it possible one or more of them died and is decomposing in the sand, rocks, etc?
4.) My shaving brush plants seem to be okay but is it possible they are responsible for the nitrates?
What really concerns me is that the nitrates were really both tonight and this morning after my water change. How soon after the water change will the change be noticeable?
Can anyone suggest any remedial actions beyond changing feeding habits and more water changes to deal with the problem?
Here is some information about my tank:
-55 gallon
-60 pounds live rock
-60 pounds live sand
-CPR backpack protein skimmer
-Filstar XP2 canister filter
-In-tank UV sterilizer
-2 small powerheads for circulation (various types)
