Nitrate

[Yorik]

I just set up a 10 gallon aquarium the day before last. It was cycled with goldfish. I put in 5 small (less than one inch) tiger barbs in it. I tested everything that night and everything was fine. Yesterday morning I woke up and tested the water and the Nitrate had shot through the roof. Ammonia was still 0, and I don't have a nitrite test but I figure if there is no ammonia and a lot of nitrate there's probably not a lot of nitrite, right? So I did a water change and left the house.

I went to a pet store and was just looking around. In the fish products aisle I found a bottle of Tetra Easy Balance, which claims that it reduces nitrate and phosphate. I figured the worst thing that could happen was it wouldn't work, so I got it. When I got home that night the Nitrate was still high, about 50 p.p.m. I did another water change and put the easy balance in and when I tested the water after that my nitrate reading was actually 0.

So I just woke up this morning and Nitrates are way up again. Could this just be because the tank is overstocked?

[Willyleigh]

How many and what size water changes have you been doing? The only way to remove nitrates is to change the water regularly or get plants who absorb it.

[Yorik]

How many and what size water changes have you been doing? The only way to remove nitrates is to change the water regularly or get plants who absorb it.

well, just yesterday I did 2 water changes, probably about 20-30% each.

The aquarium has plants, but only anacharis. What might you suggest?

[hungryhound]

I am having trouble figuring out the time line of your tank set up. From your post it appears that it has only been set up for 3 to 5 days and this could be the cause of all of your problems.

I just set up a 10 gallon aquarium the day before last. It was cycled with goldfish.

So are you saying that you set it up on monday and put in a goldfish for one day to cycle. It is good that you knew to cycle, but there is no way that your tank is cycled, unless you used biospira. Most cycles take roughly 4 to 8 weeks unless they are seeded with biospira or gravel and filters from an already established tank.

I put in 5 small (less than one inch) tiger barbs in it. I tested everything that night and everything was fine. Yesterday morning I woke up and tested the water and the Nitrate had shot through the roof. Ammonia was still 0, and I don't have a nitrite test but I figure if there is no ammonia and a lot of nitrate there's probably not a lot of nitrite, right? So I did a water change and left the house.

I am not sure why you saw a nitrate spike and not an ammonia spike. On a 3 day aquarium you should see a ammonia spike and not a nitrate.


I went to a pet store and was just looking around. In the fish products aisle I found a bottle of Tetra Easy Balance, which claims that it reduces nitrate and phosphate. I figured the worst thing that could happen was it wouldn't work, so I got it. When I got home that night the Nitrate was still high, about 50 p.p.m. I did another water change and put the easy balance in and when I tested the water after that my nitrate reading was actually 0.

So I just woke up this morning and Nitrates are way up again. Could this just be because the tank is overstocked?

It may be that the chemical that you added caused you to have false reading. On a side note, most of the chemicals that you can buy, treat the symptoms, but not the problem.

I think to fix what is wrong you are going to need to cycle your tank. I doubt that all 5 of your tiger barbs will be able to survive the cycle. The best thing for you to do would be to return the tiger barbs and read the thread stickeyed at the top of this forum on fishless cycling.

You could also go to your local LFS and buy biospira as it is the only thing that will cycle your tank overnight (that I have seen).

If you do not want to do that, I think that you are going to be in for a long and grueling cycle, that will result in the death of more than one of your fish. You will need to do constant daily water changes to keep your chemical parameters at safe levels. I would feed your fish very little as well as excess food will contaminate your tank quickly.

This is jmho.

Good luck and I hope everything works out.

[Yorik]

No, I didn't explain well enough. The phrasing was mixed up, haha. The tank has been set up for many months and it had goldfish in it. So it was cycled before I put the barbs in it. That's why there was no ammonia spike.

Sorry. I just woke up.

By the way, in case anybody cares, the barbs appear to be very healthy and active. No signs of fin damage or strange behavior other than the usual quirky tiger barb personality, and all fins are nice and spread out. I have noticed that their colors have actually filled in a little more, their black stripes are much darker and their fins are a much brighter orange-red. At the pet shop they were in a tank smaller than mine with about 15-20 other tiger barbs, so it's probably because they have been eating better.

[hungryhound]

No, I didn't explain well enough. The phrasing was mixed up, haha. The tank has been set up for many months and it had goldfish in it. So it was cycled before I put the barbs in it.

Sorry. I just woke up.

Okay, ignore my entire fist post as I read that it was set up the day before yesterday.

Since it is cycled here are a couple of things to look for.

1. Do a quick head count and make sure that all fish are accounted for. A dead decaying fish will reak havoc on your parameters ( I had one die in a decoration and it killed off half of my tank before i could find it and get everything stabalized).

2. More likely your problem is a simple result of the tank being overstocked. How big are your barbs as they may be too big and producing too much waste for your tank to handle.

3. When you feed the fish does any food hit the ground. Rotting food will decay into nitrates as well, and can lead to algae problems.

Rue suggestion of more plants would help, along with decreasing the amount you are feeding them if their is food going to waste. In the long run I am not sure it would help much, but it would be worth a shot. In the end you may need to get a larger home for your friends.

The aquarium has plants, but only anacharis. What might you suggest?

You ideally want to get fast growing stem plants that will quickly absorb and use the waste, but any plant will help. What you can get depends on your lighting, fert, substrate, and if you are injecting co2.

I am going to assume that you have a low tech setup, and there are a lot of plants that do well in that set up.

anubis nana
java fern (regular or lace)
java moss (most mosses will do fine)

These are just a few.

[hungryhound]

I just noticed this blurb



By the way, in case anybody cares, the barbs appear to be very healthy and active. No signs of fin damage or strange behavior other than the usual quirky tiger barb personality, and all fins are nice and spread out. I have noticed that their colors have actually filled in a little more, their black stripes are much darker and their fins are a much brighter orange-red. At the pet shop they were in a tank smaller than mine with about 15-20 other tiger barbs, so it's probably because they have been eating better.

It is good to hear that the barbs are happy and healthy. Just a note. Don't use how they were stored in the fish store as a gage for how many you can keep in your tank. Your LFS is going to have an insane amount of filtration available to combat the increased biolode.

Keep in mind that the fish they sell are also juveniles and used to swimming with thier litter mates (not correct term). Additionally, the LFS only cares about short term survival until you buy the fish, while you are more focused on long term care. What works for the LFS in terms of stocking levels most likely will not work for the average aquarium owner.

Just look at you tiger barbs health as an example of how putting your fish in the right situation improves their color and health.

[Lady Hobbs]

Well, you had me confused soon enough with your statement you had just set the tank up.

But since it has been set up and has cycled, I assume your nitrates are due to needing a good gravel cleaning and a large water change. High nitrates are also lethal and should be no more than 20 with 10 being even better. I hope you have a gravel vac as it is needed to clean out that food that isn't eaten.

You may have gotten an ammonia spike from adding those barbs, as well, so are doing another mini-cycle as your bio-load needs to be larger to support more fish.

That's a strange combination you have there. I doubt goldfish and barbs will do well together. Barbs are natural fin nippers as well as goldfish are cold water fish and barbs are warm water.

[Yorik]

There are no goldfish in the tank. Only the 5 Barbs.

I have read that a good rule for stocking an aquarium is to have no more than one inch to one gallon. There are 5 barbs that are less than one inch, and in aquariums they grow to about 2 inches. Cutting it kinda close. I also know that barbs do best in groups of 5 or more, so I was doing my best to accomodate them. I know there are problems with that rule, since a 10 gallon tank dosn't actually hold 10 gallons of water, but I didn't think it would be quite like this. I figured they'd produce much less waste than the two much larger and fatter fancy goldfish that were in there.

Maybe 10 gallon tanks just aren't really large enough to do much.

Thanks for the plant reccommendations, I'll shop around today.

[hungryhound]

There are no goldfish in the tank. Only the 5 Barbs.

I have read that a good rule for stocking an aquarium is to have no more than one inch to one gallon. There are 5 barbs that are less than one inch, and in aquariums they grow to about 2 inches. Cutting it kinda close. I also know that barbs do best in groups of 5 or more, so I was doing my best to accomodate them. I know there are problems with that rule, since a 10 gallon tank dosn't actually hold 10 gallons of water, but I didn't think it would be quite like this. I figured they'd produce much less waste than the two much larger and fatter fancy goldfish that were in there.

Maybe 10 gallon tanks just aren't really large enough to do much.

Thanks for the plant reccommendations, I'll shop around today.


If they are still young then it shouldn't be much of a problem with overstocking as they are not that big yet. I have never owned them, but the literature that i could find and some of the ones I have seen in pet store, suggest to me that they can get closer to 3 inches. That was why I was suggesting that it might be overstocking.

I would take Hobbs suggestion first. Vacuuming the gravel of excess waste should help out a lot. Plants will work, but not near as much as directly removing the waste from the water column.

Good luck.

[Lady Hobbs]

There are no goldfish in the tank. Only the 5 Barbs.

I have read that a good rule for stocking an aquarium is to have no more than one inch to one gallon. There are 5 barbs that are less than one inch, and in aquariums they grow to about 2 inches. Cutting it kinda close. I also know that barbs do best in groups of 5 or more, so I was doing my best to accomodate them. I know there are problems with that rule, since a 10 gallon tank dosn't actually hold 10 gallons of water, but I didn't think it would be quite like this. I figured they'd produce much less waste than the two much larger and fatter fancy goldfish that were in there.

Maybe 10 gallon tanks just aren't really large enough to do much.

Thanks for the plant reccommendations, I'll shop around today.

Boy.....I was confused from the get-go! LOL Goldfish have such heavy waste that I'd be surprised if this wasn't enough bio load for the barbs but this may be the case. I also think the 10 gallon is enough for the barbs as long as nothing else gets added to the tank or they reproduce. It may not be a lot of room but I think it will suffice.

If you did a lot of cleaning when you switched the tank over to barbs, this may have caused a spike in your bio-load, as well.

[Willyleigh]

I assume that you changed the water temperature when adding the barbs, and this sudden temperature may have killed some of the bacteria, it will however reproduce very quickly to full capacity.