HELP! Is my nitrate too high?

[Firestorm]

The lights on the tank went on, and while feeding the fish, I confirmed that all fish was accounted for. Saw my oto, saw all five SAEs, saw all five lyrerail sword girls, both male platies, my blue platy. And although I am not entirely sure of the exact number of my sunset platy females (since they all look the same, all born and raised in this tank), the amount visually looks about right.

Did 10 gal water change today (my tank is 40 gallon breeder with a thick substrate), water pre-treated with Prime on Friday (not Hikari Ultimate, as I did before). Added one pump of Thrive to help my plants a bit through this rough times. The fish looks a lot better. There are still a few female platies that have clamped dorsal fins and flash, but overall, things are looking a lot better.

Probably will continue with my plan to do another 10-gal water change on Wednesday and another one on Friday. On Wednesday, will also add one pump of Thrive for plants. But on Friday, will not add Thrive. Instead, will dose again Hikari PraziPro, just in case. Fingers crossed.

 

[Firestorm]

UPDATE: It appears that Hikari Ultimate was the issue, so back to Prime I go.

 

[*Ci*]

Out of curiosity , what led you to that conclusion?

 

[Firestorm]

Out of curiosity , what led you to that conclusion?

Switching back to Prime and observing changes.

 

[*Ci*]

Switching back to Prime and observing changes.

Ok, obviously
But what specifically? You added prime instead after a water change and the fish immediately perked up and unclamped?
I’ve used Ultimate before and never noticed anything amiss, which is why I’m interested. Pehaps a bad or expired batch?

 

[Firestorm]

Ok, obviously
But what specifically? You added prime instead after a water change and the fish immediately perked up and unclamped?
I’ve used Ultimate before and never noticed anything amiss, which is why I’m interested. Pehaps a bad or expired batch?

I added Prime directly into the tank, and the symptoms improved. I since have done two more 10-gal water changes (the tank is 40 gal) with water treated with Prime, and (knock on wood) the symptoms are now very minor. Planning on doing another 10-gal water change on Friday, and hoping that things will continue to look better.

I used Hikari Ultimate for probably close to a year (for sure longer than 6 months), and did see some occasional flashing right after water changes. However, in the past, I usually aged water for 1-3 weeks, as I was lazy with water changes (I only started keeping on top of water changes after I started injecting CO2 and thus use fertilizer, <3 months ago). But this time around, when I started doing changes with water only aged 24-48 hours (after dichlorination with Ultimate), the whole hell broke loose. My gut feeling was all along about the water, and looks like it was correct. So, definitely back to Prime now. Will continue to do 10-gal water changes 3x/ week for right now, and will continue to monitor closely.

 

[Burr740]

If youre "aging" new water for 16-20 hrs or more before the wc you dont need any dechlor

 

[Freshflora]

If youre "aging" new water for 16-20 hrs or more before the wc you dont need any dechlor

I believe you still need to use dechlor if you have chloramine because it won't evaporate? which i believe is used either instead of or with chlorine in most places in the US now

 

[Firestorm]

If youre "aging" new water for 16-20 hrs or more before the wc you dont need any dechlor

Back in the day, when I just got into the hobby (1992, still back in Russia, where I am originally from), dechlorinator was not a thing. So, I've done my share of natural evaporation (chloramines were not used in Russia, at least not back then). In order to properly dechlorinate water, one needs to have the water out in an open bucket for a week OR you can run an air stone in the bucket (which agitates water speeding up chlorine evaporation), and then the water is good to go in about 3 days. As for chloramine, my understanding is that it does not evaporate.

 

[Count Krunk]

If you're committed to the hobby then it makes 1000% sense to get your own rodi unit. Then make your perfect water

 

[Firestorm]

If you're committed to the hobby then it makes 1000% sense to get your own rodi unit. Then make your perfect water

Sadly, it's not an option for me, in any foreseeable future. So, tap will have to do.

 

[Count Krunk]

What makes you think that?

 

[Firestorm]

What makes you think that?

At this point, my husband will probably kick me out together with the RO technology as he already says that I turned the house into a fishy junkyard... which is kind of true, with empty tanks stored in the living room, QT tanks in the living room every now and again... every single storage space in the house (which are not many) is "junked up" by fish stuff. My husband is not into the hobby, and just about to lose his sh*t about it (and so are my two teen kids) .

Plus, aquarium is my way of self-care. And if it becomes "too much" (too difficult, too scientific, too complicated, too STRESSFUL), then it will defeat its own purpose, you know. So no, definitely not happening.

 

[Yugang]

it’s probably best to keep all the info in one thread.

I am reading your threads @Firestorm and agree with @*Ci* suggestion to start one dedicated thread for your tank. If you would summarise all information that you know, have it in one thread, we can build a much better total picture and be more helpful answering questions, or solving problems.

I also suspect from what I read that your CO2 is not yet as good as you want it to be, and that can be the cause of a lot of issues. If you like, shoot me a PM, or address it in your journal, and I'll help you as much as I can with that one.

 

[Firestorm]

I am reading your threads @Firestorm and agree with @*Ci* suggestion to start one dedicated thread for your tank. If you would summarise all information that you know, have it in one thread, we can build a much better total picture and be more helpful answering questions, or solving problems.

I also suspect from what I read that your CO2 is not yet as good as you want it to be, and that can be the cause of a lot of issues. If you like, shoot me a PM, or address it in your journal, and I'll help you as much as I can with that one.

My other posts are no longer relevant as the sudden symptoms of distressed fish were caused by Hikari Ultimate. Fortunately, everything normalized when I switched back to Prime, and all fish ended up making through. As the result, I would be happy to delete those, but can't figure out a way to do it.

I am still deciding on fertilizer as Thrive seems to be working better for GSA than my plants. That really is my only active dilemma at the moment.

 

[Firestorm]

Thank you so much to everyone who supported me through this sudden very distressing rollercoaster of symptomatic fish. The whole thing was very scary and very unusual. Definitely, one of those moments that made me want to rehome the tank for free and never do it again.... it was that distressing. The good news is that the symptoms completely resolved with switching back to Prime, and fortunately, every single fish is accounted for--they all made it!

 

[Burr740]

I believe you still need to use dechlor if you have chloramine because it won't evaporate? which i believe is used either instead of or with chlorine in most places in the US now

Yeah thats my bad guys. Its been 25 years since I sat water out and I didnt even think about the whole chloramine thing

 

[Firestorm]

I thought I'd update this post of mine. Hikari Ultimate was indeed the cause of this short-lived nightmare. I switched back to Prime, and things have completely normalized and stayed normal since. Thankfully, no fish losses. Thank you so much everyone for the support.