masonryx

To all fellow members,
One of my X-ray fish was found floating upside down and this kind of caught me unexpected. I have a 10 Gallon tank with 4 fishes, 3 now. Poor guy has been removed and I quickly did a water test. My nitrate levels appeared to be somewhat high and over 20ppm but not at the highest danger level. nitrite was zero. Everything else seemed normal, but my GH levels were at a high level as well, which usually is for but not this much. Could the high Nitrate levels have caused my fish to die? Or was my fish stressed from being chased a lot by the other X-ray fish I have? He was acting weird past couple weeks hiding, and staying in one spot of my tank instead of swimming. Last question I think I might have been overstocked or running close to it. I had 2 X-ray fish, 2 Lemon Tetras, and a small Pleco, with 4 ghost shrimp. Thanks all for your time.

jdhef

Have you tested for ammonia? With the elevated nitrites, you could be also experiancing elevated ammnia. Especially with a Pleco in the tank. Pleco's are hugh waste producers (which can lead to elevated ammionia and nitries) and I'm sorry to say definitly need a much larger tank.

I wouldn't think that a nitrate level just over 20 would be enough to kill your X-Ray fish.

Also, if you are using test strips to test the water, I would be a little concerned that your levels could be higher than what is showing. Liquid test kits are far more accurate.

Good luck

10gallonmadness

Well, once Nitrates get over 20 PPM they start to become toxic. I would do a 20-30% water change. You said your GH was high? I don't think that would make a difference unless it was extremely high. X-Ray fish generally prefer softer water though. Did you check your ammonia? If so, what level is it. You said you have 3 fish now, but at the bottom you say you had 5 fish with 4 ghost shrimp. Did they all die or are they in your tank right now? If this is the case you are very overstocked. I would move the pleco ASAP.

masonryx

I use JBL EasyTest 5 i 1 test kit. It tests pH, GH, KH, NO2, NO3. I don't think ammonia falls under any of those I listed. My previous water test, indicated a "0" reading for Nitrites, a "50 to 100" reading on Nitrates. As of right now I have 2 Lemon Tetras, 1 X-ray Fish & a Pleco who's small. If the unusually high Nitrate reading didn't kill my X-ray fish than what did? Could it be a high Ammonia presence in the tank? Even though my test kit doesn't provide ammonia results would'nt my Nitrite levels spike if there was a spike in Ammonia? or would that only affect Nitrate? Thanks all.

Diggly

Common plecos have no place in a 10g as they can grow up to 2 foot, they also produce a huge amount of waste, far too much for a 10g. How much was the nitrate when the fish died? over 20 or between 50 to 100?

masonryx

My pleco is about an inch and a half and it doesn't' grow as fast as other pleco's. I know there's a species out there that stays small. But yeah I do agree with you about them producing a lot of waste. My nitrate reading was between 50-100 according to the test strip. I did a 50% water change and I'm about to re-test it. I'm in the process of upgrading to a bigger tank. I don't recall the last I did a water change I usually do a 30-50% water change every week and a half.

jdhef

The more ammonia that your fish produce, the more nitrate you end up with. So having a large waste producer like a Pleco will lead to a large amount of ammonia, turning into a large amount of nitrite, turning into a large amount of nitrate.

In theory your ammonia could be higher than your nitrite level. There may not be enough ammonia eating bacteria to convert all of the ammonia into nitrites, just as apparently you don't have enough nitrite eating bacteria to convert all of the nitrites into nitrates. You obvilosly have nitrite eating bacteria in there since you have high nitrates, but there just isn't enough to keep up.

michaelb323

Orly? I toss mine back and forth from my 10 gallon to my 55 gallon, to my 30 gallon and back again when I need algae control. Smaller or younger pleco do just fine in smaller tanks. In short, plecos do have a place in small tanks, just not ideally.

10gallonmadness

I don't think that's a healthy way for a pleco to live, young or old. Pleco's need a 55 gallon minimum.

masonryx

Ok my nitrates are somewhat high, I've read that you could do partial water changes or add a live plant to control the nitrates? My question is what could be causing the high rise in Nitrate? Is it ammonia? Too much fish in one tank? The pleco?

10gallonmadness

My first guess would be the Pleco.