If you're not doing water changes, look into how to slowy acclimate them to fresher water. "Old tank syndrome" is what sone people call your situation: new fish wouldn't likely survive but your current fish have been accustomed to it for as long as you haven't changed the water so nitrates are building up- my understanding is that a sudden water change that's too large may shock your fish. This happened to me with an angelfish once :(
Still have another 3 years on them. I might take the water to a nearby lfs just to double check.
Haven't lost a fish in months and haven't had any aggression at all. Tank is always at 28 degrees Celsius.
No water change in 6 months with 35 cichlids? No way that test is correct, unless you have a ton of plants eating all the nitrate. Definitely try again but shake that nitrate bottle like the other guy said
Hit that bottle (gently) off your counter/sink a few times as you shake it. You really want to knock all the potential sediment on the bottom of it around to mix it up well enough to test correctly.
I'd say more like smash it on hard wood or a wall beam and really slam the bojangles out of it. I used to get bad readings due to not being vicious enough with the bottle. My bottle is almost empty now but the two shoulders on it and the bottom corners are completely dented in.
More info, our big 250L tank sprung a leak so we had to put all our cichlids into my smaller tank. Theve been in for 2 months and the tank has been running almost 2 years with around 20 cichlids inside. Only have to water change every couple of months. No plants, only slate rock.
Filter is a fluval 300
It used to have around 10-15 because my fish bred so i had to use it as a breeding tank when it wasn't a hospital tank. There was about 10 in when i put the remaining fish in after my tank leak.
Even at that stage, i rarely had to do water changes.
I was sold the jack and Texas being told they were African cichlids, just from a different lake lol. never had aggression problems though and my jack definitely didn't grow as much as he should
That might be the case - there is a truck ton of it in the filter.
Here is a photo of the tank minus a bunch that have been moved to another tank.
https://imgur.com/a/9JhvDpA
Stock full of the rock type ones, pretty much took out the filter pads to make room and then added a DIY version of them back in.
I haven't actually cleaned the filter since I bought it probably a year or two ago.
Never had any issues with water clarity or smell.
It’s somewhat unusual in home aquariums, and it’s never good advice for novices, but proper filtration and surface agitation ***can*** help negate water changes.
Since someone's already covered expired reagents, make sure that you're doing your Nitrate reagents in the right order. That's a very common mistake because for some reason they decided that the dark/light label shading bottle identifiers should be opposite of the ammonia ones.
Next, the Nitrate reagent bottle two solution can crystalize and adhere to the bottle, so the first thing you should is give it a couple of sharp knocks against a hard, flat surface.
Last, you *really* need to shake bottle two for a full 30 seconds like it stole money from you. Like you're trying to convince it not to destroy the world.
If you've got 35 cichlids in a 150l tank and haven't water changed in six months that nitrate test should be off the charts. And you *really* need to be doing more water changes than that.
I'll go do another water test now and shake that baby hard. Will come back and let you know.
Here is a photo of the tank minus a bunch of cichlids that i moved out temporarily.
https://imgur.com/a/9JhvDpA
I guess I should ask if you have a sump with an algal scrubber or a nitrate coil because those can chew up a ton of nitrates.
But if you have that many cichlids in a tank that size, it'd be like having 20 dogs in a 10 by 10 room and never taking them outside for 6 months and saying 'guys, i'm not finding any urine or feces in the carpet'. I just don't know how it's possible. And you're not rocking fry/juvies either, that's a tank full of breeding size Malawi fish
Test kits gotta be bunk. 150l isn’t big and 35 cichlids is a lot. There’s no way.
I'll have to buy a new one tomorrow and see what a new one says. I don't ever do water changes and just top up the water once it drops a little bit.
If you're not doing water changes, look into how to slowy acclimate them to fresher water. "Old tank syndrome" is what sone people call your situation: new fish wouldn't likely survive but your current fish have been accustomed to it for as long as you haven't changed the water so nitrates are building up- my understanding is that a sudden water change that's too large may shock your fish. This happened to me with an angelfish once :(
Yeah or if you have a good LFS (not Petco etc) maybe have them test it, the liquid kits can be finnicky
You've probably already checked, but are the test reagents still OK? Not expired, etc?
Still have another 3 years on them. I might take the water to a nearby lfs just to double check. Haven't lost a fish in months and haven't had any aggression at all. Tank is always at 28 degrees Celsius.
That's a nice run, mate. I truly hope those kits are on point. Best wishes
No water change in 6 months with 35 cichlids? No way that test is correct, unless you have a ton of plants eating all the nitrate. Definitely try again but shake that nitrate bottle like the other guy said
I'll give the nitrate bottle a shake, but there are no plants or substrate in the tank.
Hit that bottle (gently) off your counter/sink a few times as you shake it. You really want to knock all the potential sediment on the bottom of it around to mix it up well enough to test correctly.
Shake your nitrate #2 bottle much much harder
Will do and try again.
And he means beat it like packing a pack of cigarettes so pat it on your palm while shaking
I'd say more like smash it on hard wood or a wall beam and really slam the bojangles out of it. I used to get bad readings due to not being vicious enough with the bottle. My bottle is almost empty now but the two shoulders on it and the bottom corners are completely dented in.
This , i agree 1000%
More info, our big 250L tank sprung a leak so we had to put all our cichlids into my smaller tank. Theve been in for 2 months and the tank has been running almost 2 years with around 20 cichlids inside. Only have to water change every couple of months. No plants, only slate rock. Filter is a fluval 300
Do you have a deep sand substrate ?
We're you thinking that a deep enough substrate might create an area for anaerobic bacteria to colonize and eat the nitrates?
Yes I have two tanks, where I’ve managed to have this going on, but not sure it’s possible with an overstock cichlid tank.
No substrate in the tank at all. Never had any.
You either have a deep bed or a ton of plants. I have a betta tank that is heavily planted that never shows anything over 5ppm nitrate
I don't have any substrate at all, it's always been a hospital tank so never had anything other than a tree ornament inside.
How many fish do you usually keep in there. I know it changes cause it's a hospital tank. But roughly. And what kinds?
It used to have around 10-15 because my fish bred so i had to use it as a breeding tank when it wasn't a hospital tank. There was about 10 in when i put the remaining fish in after my tank leak. Even at that stage, i rarely had to do water changes.
Hmm what kind of fish
African Cichlids. Here is a photo: [https://imgur.com/a/9JhvDpA](https://imgur.com/a/9JhvDpA) I have a bunch of the normal fish in a seperate tank.
african cichlids, plus texas, plus JD lol. dudes running good!!
I was sold the jack and Texas being told they were African cichlids, just from a different lake lol. never had aggression problems though and my jack definitely didn't grow as much as he should
I've kept S.A. and Africans together. No issues.
If you have a lot of biological media in your filter packed together then it can actually get rid of nitrates.
That might be the case - there is a truck ton of it in the filter. Here is a photo of the tank minus a bunch that have been moved to another tank. https://imgur.com/a/9JhvDpA
What media do you have in your filter?
Stock full of the rock type ones, pretty much took out the filter pads to make room and then added a DIY version of them back in. I haven't actually cleaned the filter since I bought it probably a year or two ago. Never had any issues with water clarity or smell.
It’s somewhat unusual in home aquariums, and it’s never good advice for novices, but proper filtration and surface agitation ***can*** help negate water changes.
Quit lying ive seen your tank there are only 34 fish in there.
Since someone's already covered expired reagents, make sure that you're doing your Nitrate reagents in the right order. That's a very common mistake because for some reason they decided that the dark/light label shading bottle identifiers should be opposite of the ammonia ones. Next, the Nitrate reagent bottle two solution can crystalize and adhere to the bottle, so the first thing you should is give it a couple of sharp knocks against a hard, flat surface. Last, you *really* need to shake bottle two for a full 30 seconds like it stole money from you. Like you're trying to convince it not to destroy the world. If you've got 35 cichlids in a 150l tank and haven't water changed in six months that nitrate test should be off the charts. And you *really* need to be doing more water changes than that.
I'll go do another water test now and shake that baby hard. Will come back and let you know. Here is a photo of the tank minus a bunch of cichlids that i moved out temporarily. https://imgur.com/a/9JhvDpA
I guess I should ask if you have a sump with an algal scrubber or a nitrate coil because those can chew up a ton of nitrates. But if you have that many cichlids in a tank that size, it'd be like having 20 dogs in a 10 by 10 room and never taking them outside for 6 months and saying 'guys, i'm not finding any urine or feces in the carpet'. I just don't know how it's possible. And you're not rocking fry/juvies either, that's a tank full of breeding size Malawi fish
Water changes are over rated