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I keep having the same problem over and over. First off I have a 10gal. tank with a pelco and red zebra. I have had them for over a year now. I keep putting new fish in and they all seem to be dying the same way. There tails disappear and then there body seem to swell up and turn this white color. I quick buying some fish for a time but my red zebra (named "BLUE" seemed lonley. I know his is aggressive but he is not the problem. We have hard water here in Houston, TX but we bought a filter. The fish I bought this past weekend died in about 1 hr. of putting him in the tank. He lost all color and turned white. I test my water and everything is fine except the nitrate level it is at 200. I have done partical and full water changes throughout various fish additions, but I really think it is the water. What can I do. How do I get the nitrate level down? Could I have a fungus in my tank?

Please help. Blue needs a friend.

first, what kind of pleco is it? common plecos get 2 feet long and need about a 75 gallon tank to not be stunted.

I think that the reason that your fish are dyeing is because your nitrates are at 200, safely your nitrates should not go over 40.

-Vincent

I agree with Vincent. Your nitrate reading is way too high.
20-40ppm is the safe range for nitrates.

Plecos grow to about 15cms and that tank is way too small for it. I also think the red zebra is too large for that tank.

To reduce nitrates continue gravel vacs but i think your fighting a losing battle. If you did a complete full water change you may have also lost all your good bacteria that was in the tank.

Can you post all parameters. Someone in here might be able to provide some valuable information for you.

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

my pelco and red zebra are not the problem. They have both out lived all other fish I have ever had in my tank. They were my 2nd and 3rd fish I have ever bought. I have bought over 10 fish throughout the year and they all seem to die( within a range of 1hr. to 2months) What I am asking is howdo I get the nitrate level down. When I have done the water changes they level goes down to safe 20-40ppm. But within 2days it goes back up.

As for my pelco(slober) he has grown to 13.5cm. My red zebra (Blue) is 5cm long and 2.5cm wide.

I have a few guppies in the tank those are the ones dying of whatever is wrong, I had some painted glass before, and 2 sunburst that lasted 4months. They had some offspring which died once I put them in the 10 gal.

Forgot to say Welcome to FP!

The only way i know of lowering nitrate is through water changes..deep water changes. You may want to consider 50%
Also have you tested the nitrate reading of your tap water?

i think you should look at the stocking of your tank. i realise you have had these fish for a while but they really need a bigger tank and are more than likely contribuing to your high nitrate reading.

What are your other parameters?

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

I did a 75% water change tonight a big difference.

Nitrate: 40ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Total Hardness(GH): 75ppm
Total Alkalinity (KH):120ppm
pH: 7.2

The guppies have really perked up although I lost 2 more tonight making a total of 4 loss today alone.

What do the older fish have to do with the nitrate level?

Thanks for the Welcome, I really wish I didn't have to come though but thank GOD you are here to educate me.

Just tested my water source and the Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
Hardness: 150
Alkalinity:180
pH: 7.2
So I see it is something in the tank.
Is it the fish waste that brings up the Nitrate?
You see I am a trouble shooter at work but fish are another ballgame all together.

nitrate is the bacterial breakdown of ammonia .. ammonia is created by fish waste, overfeeding and anything dying and decaying in the water.

so your fish are creating too much waste (especially plecos which ive heard can be big poopers) which turns to ammonia..
do you have an adequate size filter on the tank?


i hope im getting this all right.. someone feel free to correct me!

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Big fish=big waste=high nitrates. Too big of fish in too small of tank causes too high of nitrates. Same with too many fish. Then fish die unless you do lots of water changes. Incidentally changing that much water at once probably caused some fish to die. While high nitrates are bad fish cannot handle fast changes. If you lower the nitrates all at once the change will cause dead fish even though in the end it is better to have low nitrates. You need to lower them over several days doing daily 25% water changes. 50% might have been ok but is pushing it if they haven't had water changes recently.

The 2nd problem with keeping big fish in small tanks is stunting. Stunting is a painful process that happens when a fish does not have room to grow. It is quite cruel and will lead to the fish dying many years before it's lifespan is up. While your fish may have been in there a year it is not uncommon for plecos to live 10years. Your pleco will not live that long though if kept in such a small tank. It will be unable to grow and get stressed. Stress will weaken it and it will get sick. Then it will likely die in less than 5years often they don't even make 3years when if you had cared for them properly they could have lived 10+. That's like if you died before you turned 18years old instead of living to be 70 or even older because you were kept in such bad health conditions by your parents. The same applies to other large fish and even small fish when you put too many in a tank.

Hardwater is not your problem. I've got what is usually termed liquid rock water and I keep all sorts of fish species just fine. My tanks though do not have fish that grow bigger than the tank or nitrates above 10ppm. 200 is an instant death sentence to any fish you add to that tank. You can't just toss in fish and watch them for years to come without doing any work. Aquariums require maintenance through filter cleanings, gravel vacs, and water changes at least every other week if not weekly.

I think it's time to upgrade to at least 75 gallon tank

-Josh

sham is right.

If you do not want to have a larger tank you could possible take your fish to your LFS and see if they will swap them for a school of tetras or guppies or something similiar.
Even if your LFS doesnt compensate you for them think of how much better their lives will be in a bigger tank and im sure they will be grateful to you for it

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Truth doesn't always win friends but it influences them

Thank all of you for the great advice. I will use it and get a bigger tank. My daughter loves (slober) the pelco, so getting rid of him would make her sad. I have wanted a larger tank but wanted to make sure I could do it before I invest anymore.

Thank You to all of you.

Hi,
Along with all that has been said about the size of the
tank, I must also comment on tank maintenance. Tanks with
nitrate readings of 40 and over desperately need regular,
weekly, tank maintenance. Around 10-20% of the water
should be changed every week. Along with those water
changes, the non planted parts of the tank should have
the gravel vacuumed, with a gravel vacuum right down to
the bottom glass. The non planted areas should be mentally
divided into four sections and each week a different
section should be cleaned. That way, over a month, the
entire tank is cleaned, and each section has three weeks
for the bacteria colonies to recover.

In your case, with those fish in that small a tank, you
should be changing water a couple of times a week and
vacuuming the gravel once a week.

Given the nitrate reading, and the death of new fish
(the old fish have grown accustomed to the "soup" ) ,
you have what is called "OTS" or Old Tank Syndrome.

Here is a link that explains what that is, how it occurs,
and what to do to resolve the problem:

http://www.bestfish.com/oldtank.html

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Sorry to say something compeletly different than all the others here (hope I don't offend anyone), but the way you describe what's happening to your fish, it seems more like a disease than like a problem with the water.. You say that the tail disappears and that their body swells up and turn pale? It might be fin rot (don't know if that's the correct term in english). Does it look a little bit like this when they loose their tail?


If so, then you can cure it with an antibiotics.

EDIT: you can find some more information on fin rot http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/finrot.htm

**Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life**

Yes it may be fin rot. But what caused it? It is still probably linked back to the water condidions. http://www.geocities.com/shtinkythefish/diseases/finrot.htm

Anyway, I hope things improve in your tank soon. Good luck.

Cheers
TW

You know what caused the fin rot - poor water
conditions.
The tank is highly overstocked. This is the
reason that the nitrAtes are so high.
To reduce nitrates you need frequent water changes.
Frank has suggest 10-15% weekly, I would say thats not
even anywhere near enough. I would recommend a minimum of 35-50% weekly.
Also, adding live plants to the tank can help too.
Plants like Hornwort, Anachris, Cambomba, and Ambulia are nitrAtes sponges. They will eat it up rapidly.

When youre doing water changes are you using a gravel vacuum to suck the gravel clean?



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