how often can I do water changes?

[suaveflooder]

Came home to my fish acting funny. Checked the water and :shocked:!!!! My nitrates are through the roof! I did a 50% water change a couple min ago (about 7:30pm January 27th) and I'm going to check the water again in an hour or so. My question is this. My Kole Tang is going downhill fast. Laying on his side at the bottom. Is he done? How often can I do a water change? I would like to do another one tonight before I go to bed.

-60 gallon tank
-57lbs of liverock
-carbon filter
-Remora skimmer
-80lbs livesand
-korilla 1, and 2
-very small puffer, small clown, kole tang, urchin, cleaner shrimp, blue damsel.
-tank has been set up almost a year.....

Thanks guys!!!!

[NGN8DOGG]

I wouldnt do another one tonight.

[suaveflooder]

Serious? Well, suck. What do I do about the tang?

[nahtanoj]

pray...

[467echo]

what are all of your water params? 50% is a pretty big water change, I'd wait a day or two and do maybe a 25% change. Have any idea why your nitrates are so high?

[suaveflooder]

pray...

HAHA! No what I wanted to hear!:cry:

[suaveflooder]

what are all of your water params? 50% is a pretty big water change, I'd wait a day or two and do maybe a 25% change. Have any idea why your nitrates are so high?

everything was fine about 2 weeks ago. The only reason I can think of it being so high is because I've been feeding the fish every day to keep the kole tang eating. He is new and now it looks like he is going to be the one to die :(. My nitrates have always been a little high...about 20-30 ppm, but nothing crazy. They were at 160 when I just checked them before the water change. :bashing head:

I know 50% was a lot to do (and in all honestly it was more like 30-40% of actual water (I did 20 gallons), but the nitrates were soooooo high!!

[467echo]

20-30 is pretty high, but 160? that doesn't seem right. If that is the case all your fish might be dead. If you dont have a fuge already, you might want to think about setting one up to export your nutrients. Is your skimmer working good?

[suaveflooder]

Here is my thought process. I know you guys/girls will tell me if I'm way off. I did the huge water change right off the bat. I was going to check parameters about an hour later (10 min from now) to give the chance for all the water to mix.

If I am lucky it will be down about 80ppm (probably higher) which is still SUPER high! This is my problem. Do I shock the fish with another water change and hope that they live, or do I leave the nitrate SUPER high and know they will die in a day or so.....

I would wait about 6 hours and do another 5-10 gallon change. The idea would be to get the nitrates down as quickly as possible with as little stress as possible. Stress is going to happen no matter what. Do I pick the better of two evils?

[suaveflooder]

20-30 is pretty high, but 160? that doesn't seem right. If that is the case all your fish might be dead. If you dont have a fuge already, you might want to think about setting one up to export your nutrients. Is your skimmer working good?

No refugium. And as far as the fish being dead....they are headed that way :( I think the skimmer is working okay. It's a Remora......not much to adjust.....

[suaveflooder]

Just did a check. I'm right around 80ppm (8:45pm, January 27th). Still high, but much better. What now? Wait?

[nahtanoj]

how is everything looking? any better? 80ppm is quite high still.
how is your water temp? and how close can you match new water? i don't think another say 10-20% water change will affect your fish, there are people that do a 90% change a month and have amazing tanks. you just want to match overall params as close as possible to limit stress.
good luck.

[DaveMorris]

The more important question is what caused the high nitrates to begin with? You can do ten 100% water changes tonight and it won't make a bit of difference tomorrow until you figure out what is causing the problem. As far as the fish go, I would pull them out of the tank and put them in another QT tank or big container with new water, heater, and powerhead.

[suaveflooder]

how is everything looking? any better? 80ppm is quite high still.
how is your water temp? and how close can you match new water? i don't think another say 10-20% water change will affect your fish, there are people that do a 90% change a month and have amazing tanks. you just want to match overall params as close as possible to limit stress.
good luck.

Tang is still "breathing." Has spurts of "okay" swimming followed by a long time on the bottom on his side.

I think around 1am or so, I will do another smaller water change. See if I can get the Nitrate down to within a reasonable range. Everything else is doing fine....just the kole is doing really bad (probably because he is so new)

Water is staying within a couple degrees every change. DKH is being checked as well as salinity. Other than nitrates, everything is staying constant. Anything else I should be checking?

[suaveflooder]

The more important question is what caused the high nitrates to begin with? You can do ten 100% water changes tonight and it won't make a bit of difference tomorrow until you figure out what is causing the problem. As far as the fish go, I would pull them out of the tank and put them in another QT tank or big container with new water, heater, and powerhead.

agreed with the nitrates, but for now, I just need to get them down. I have no other big container. I do have a 2 1/2 gallon bucket. Will that work? I need the 5 gallon bucket to do the water changes......

[socalaly]

Suave where are you located? maybe you can borrow someones? I had this same problem a few weeks ago... but being 80 the highest... did wcs ever few days and changed my carbon and its lowered now.... When was the last time you changed your carbon??

[suaveflooder]

Suave where are you located? maybe you can borrow someones? I had this same problem a few weeks ago... but being 80 the highest... did wcs ever few days and changed my carbon and its lowered now.... When was the last time you changed your carbon??

I'm in mission valley. Carbon was changed the same day I got the tang. He's still kicking right now, but I honestly think the he is done :( If he makes it through the night he will be okay, but I honestly don't think that he will..... he might not even make it to the next water change

[socalaly]

well Im in tierrasanta and i have a 5 gallon bucket you can borrow...but idk if that to be stressful for the tang? but let me know.

[suaveflooder]

well Im in tierrasanta and i have a 5 gallon bucket you can borrow...but idk if that to be stressful for the tang? but let me know.

what do you think? he is on the bottom right now with good flow. flapping his fins a bit? should I just put him in perfect water? wouldn't it do the same thing as far as stressing him out if I just do another water change? I'm totally lost. Thanks, man for the offer. I might just take you up on it.

[jt_milstead]

Dude get this fish in a QT if you can....You will need a heater,filtration, and some sort of air stone...He needs to get out of the nitrates, and get oxygen...

[suaveflooder]

Dude get this fish in a QT if you can....You will need a heater,filtration, and some sort of air stone...He needs to get out of the nitrates, and get oxygen...

That's what I needed to hear. I'm going to go set one up right now. tank settled at about 60ppm after that huge water change..... so better. Off to get him out of there.....

[suaveflooder]

well, it's 11:40 and he's pretty much done. I've separated him from the tank, but I think the damage is done. I'm expecting him to die within the hour. The rest of the fish look GREAT! All starting to get much more active, thankfully. So...I will probably lose one. Sad, he was my favorite.

[Namaste]

No refugium. And as far as the fish being dead....they are headed that way :( I think the skimmer is working okay. It's a Remora......not much to adjust.....



You should think about setting up a refugium... they help a bunch.. good luck with the tang.. hopefully he makes it...

[Jessy]

For future reference I personally wouldn't fear big water changes. If you're water is bad, get it out of there. It is however, imperative to have the temp, ph, salinity, and all the other parameters spot on with the tank to not cause further problems. Your sand and rock will retain a nice amount of good bacteria to help condition the new water. Dave is right, you do need to find out what is causing the NO3. To get to 160 you had to have been dumping food in. I would highly doubt that is the sole source unless you have no waste export at all. I had an issue with my tank regularly having nitrates of 60ppm even with regular 20% water changes weekly. I found a rotting bag of ceramic beads in the back compartment after I upgraded to a bigger tank.

I have a 150 gallon that probably holds about 120 gallons of water. I just did a 37 gallon water change last night and another 45 gallon water change today. Less than 18 hrs apart. My tank is showing only signs of improvement and nothing negative from the large influx of new water.

Good luck and sorry to hear about the tang.

[jt_milstead]

So what was the outcome????

[Blaze]

dang man that sucks,mad.good luck.

[suaveflooder]

tang died around 12. He fought for a long time and then finally kicked it. I cleaned everything up and went to bed. Nitrates are at 20ppm. Hight, but better than the 160 or so I started with. I move in a month, so no replacement for now. I will have to wait. For now, I'm going to keep an eye on the tank and make sure everything stays on the up and up.

[suaveflooder]

For future reference I personally wouldn't fear big water changes. If you're water is bad, get it out of there. It is however, imperative to have the temp, ph, salinity, and all the other parameters spot on with the tank to not cause further problems. Your sand and rock will retain a nice amount of good bacteria to help condition the new water. Dave is right, you do need to find out what is causing the NO3. To get to 160 you had to have been dumping food in. I would highly doubt that is the sole source unless you have no waste export at all. I had an issue with my tank regularly having nitrates of 60ppm even with regular 20% water changes weekly. I found a rotting bag of ceramic beads in the back compartment after I upgraded to a bigger tank.

I have a 150 gallon that probably holds about 120 gallons of water. I just did a 37 gallon water change last night and another 45 gallon water change today. Less than 18 hrs apart. My tank is showing only signs of improvement and nothing negative from the large influx of new water.

Good luck and sorry to hear about the tang.

Did a lot of reading last night and came to a similar conclusion. One page even suggested a 75% water change with super high nitrates. Oh well. I know now, I guess. Still disappointed that I lost the tang

[suaveflooder]

It's been a little over 24 hours and my nitrates are at 20ppm or so. I'm going to let the tank settle for a couple days. And do another 20 gallon water change. but for now, everything is going well. Fish are happy and swimming a TON more.