need help?need someone to guide me abt my problem?

[tahir69]

Firstly let me explain what had happen. most of my fishes all die, some got this whitespot before they die..currently, i left with 1 velvet damsel and green mandarin. after i have search all details in this forums, i change my water, half of my 3 ft tank and now my water parameter is

ph - 8.0

nitrite - 0 if i am not wrong

nitrate - 40

1) first thing i want to know, how long do i have to wait before the nitrate goes down.

2) then another problem, my skimmer,a Jebo power by 1200l/hr powerhead, has been giving out foam, too many that spill out from the cover.

can anyone help me, it feels like giving up after so much happen?

[Kalib]

So nitrite is 0 or not? You have to be very sure of this. Don't giveup just yet.

Anyway, lemme try to help you out.

1) Nitrates should not drop naturally unless you have a functioning DSB/Plenum/Denitrator/Macroalgae refugium or any other NNR etc. Water change is probably the more effective method of controling nitrates if you don't have any NNR.

2) Has foam been spilling out previously? Did you adjust the skimmer recently?

I think the production of so much foam is due to all the wastes in the water.

[Vinoth]

Dont give up soon.

Nitrate is end product of the nitrogen cycle. You can reduce the nitrate by keeping refugium, DSB or denitrator etc. But if yours is FOWLR setup, then fishes will be able to tolerate it. But you should try to keep the nitrate level as low as possible.

Ich is common disease. Mix the food with garlic and feed to your fishes. It will improve your fish resistance towards parasites.

How about your ammonia level? Is it safe.

I am not sure about the skimmer. May be you can try to reduce the water level and see.

[ReDDeviLs]

hey bro dont give up.. this is a test.. stay calm..

2weeks ago my no3 went up very high because i washed my filter media with tap water... killed all bacteria..

did a 20% water cahnge and than a 50% water changed.. things seem to be better for me already..

since u have done water change.. give it a week or few days to see if the no3 drop..

do u have a refugium?

[tahir69]

ok.. guys tks, for yr info, the nitrite is 0, my ammonia is safe..its a sump tank only, no refugium. what i am scare now, is whether my ph will drop again and some other things happen. i have not adjust the skimmer after the water change...but the foam building up making me more worry as more unthinkable things going to happen.

[ReDDeviLs]

is the skimmer in the sump?

[tahir69]

yes, my skimmer is in the sump tank

[trader_best]

the overflowing of foam in the cup can be adjusted by the air valve...

try adjusting it to a minimal level...

jus my 2 cents

[tahir69]

have try adjusting the air valve, tks bro, currently the foam still buildup but its not like previously.. ok hopefully it will stay that way...another thing is that mine, nitrate is at 40, and ph goes down to 7.8, after check yesterday...anyway that this nitrate can be reduce..coz there this lfs, show me this bottle nitrate minus' to lower down the nitrate. is the true?

can someone confirm this?

[jd_n]

Dont give up soon.

Nitrate is end product of the nitrogen cycle. You can reduce the nitrate by keeping refugium, DSB or denitrator etc. But if yours is FOWLR setup, then fishes will be able to tolerate it. But you should try to keep the nitrate level as low as possible.

Ich is common disease. Mix the food with garlic and feed to your fishes. It will improve your fish resistance towards parasites.

How about your ammonia level? Is it safe.

I am not sure about the skimmer. May be you can try to reduce the water level and see.

Nitrate is not the end product of a nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen gas is. Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate > Nitrogen gas. To counter nitrate, vinoth and the rest had oreadi mentioned. In the meanwhile, u can try AZNO3 to counter ur present nitrate....heard pretty good review on it though i dun use them. Or u can do more frequent water changes. Nitrate level shd be kept as low as possible. To me 5ppm is consider high.

As mentioned ICH is a common fish disease and it can be prevented. If u have fishless now or if can. Remove all ur fishes and have ur tank go fishless for at least a mth to break the ICH cycle. After tat perform water changes (preferably salt mix coz LFS NSW may house ICH if their fish had it) and u can intro fishes with care.

All new fishes shd go thru proper quarantine and observation for as long as up to a mth in a quarantine tank. This is also the period where u try to get ur fish to feed and if it were not to make it due to hunger. It can still be easily removed frm ur qurantine tank rather than ur main tank.

During this period, observe if fish developed white spot. If do, u can do hyposalinity or copper based treatment but watch the dosage and becareful not to have copper in ur main tank. Continue leaving ur main tank fishless until no fish developed white spot. Water from main tank must be used for quarantine tank. Nxt, place ur fish in a holding container in the main tank and observed for a few days - a week for any sign of white spot. If not, u can release the fish into main tank else remove fish for treatment.

In the meanwhile, garlic soaked food will be good for ur fish.

U measured ur pH using electronic or chemical testin (color comparism)? Try using electronic for more accurate measurement but do note pH vaires during the day. U can use Seachem reef buffer to raise ur pH.

And as for ur skimmer, u have to fine tune it till the foam reaches juz below the base of the inverted 'funnel'.

[trader_best]

I am also using AZ-NO3 now....not bad, my NO3 level has been reduced...

[Vinoth]

AZ-No3 is good for short time. According to the reviews here, it does reduce the nitrate. If i am not wrong, you need a good protein skimmer for AZ-No3 to be effective. Correct me if i am wrong.

You have to deploy permanent measures so that you nitrate level will be in acceptable range.