PH Dropped Etc...
- Thread starter cranberry
- Start date
Nitrates
I bought a test kit. Ammonia and Nitrite are fine.
pH is now 7.4'ish.
BUT ... the nitrate level was BAD; it was a little darker than the 100 ppm on the chart. I'm guessing that that is what killed Mr. Molly. I'm doing water changes every day to lower the reading. What else can be done? Would the Nitrates be responsible for Pleco changing colors?
I bought a test kit. Ammonia and Nitrite are fine.
pH is now 7.4'ish.
BUT ... the nitrate level was BAD; it was a little darker than the 100 ppm on the chart. I'm guessing that that is what killed Mr. Molly. I'm doing water changes every day to lower the reading. What else can be done? Would the Nitrates be responsible for Pleco changing colors?
sorry if you have this somewhere in your posts, but how long have you had the tank running? I had really high nitrates a while back and none of my fish seemed fazed by it. I was under the impression that high nitrates are only bad when it is a constant/long term situation. Water changes and gravel vacs. are really the only way to get them down. You can buy chemicals, but they don't really fix the problem, just cover it up. Real plants can help keep the nitrates down, you might consider that too 
The nitrates aren't the only pollutant, they're just the easiest one to test for. At 100 ppm there is a TON of crap in your water, and that will definantly stress your fish out (and make them more prone to disease like your molly!).
Keep doing water changes, 50% on a daily basis if you can, until you can get your nitrate reading down to ~20 ppm (less is better). You should check your tap water for nitrates though, since it is pretty common to have some... and if it's really high you will have to do something else (though I don't remember what )
On PH, the best way to go is to have it as close as possible to your tap water. This way water changes don't shock your fish with changing conditions... and you don't have to worry about it getting all crazy on you as chemicals and stuff change concentration and all that. Again, check your tap water to see what it is... it's probably right around that 7.4 mark, which is fine. So long as it's not like 8+ I wouldn't worry about it.
Keep doing water changes, 50% on a daily basis if you can, until you can get your nitrate reading down to ~20 ppm (less is better). You should check your tap water for nitrates though, since it is pretty common to have some... and if it's really high you will have to do something else (though I don't remember what
) On PH, the best way to go is to have it as close as possible to your tap water. This way water changes don't shock your fish with changing conditions... and you don't have to worry about it getting all crazy on you as chemicals and stuff change concentration and all that. Again, check your tap water to see what it is... it's probably right around that 7.4 mark, which is fine. So long as it's not like 8+ I wouldn't worry about it.
