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is it possible to have high ammonia, high nitrites and hi nitrates all at the same time Why2007-11-24 23:37:46

In a fish tank?

Answers:

Yes generally this is a sign of over feeding, over stocking, stocking to fast or/and under filtering. In a normal tank food into the tank is converted into ammonia (eaten,or not eaten doesn't matter). The bacteria convert ammonia rapidity to nitrite, than bacteria nitrites rapidly to nitrates. The nitrates simply build up in the tank, and need to be remove by removing water from the tank. Nitrates are only toxic in large amounts.

If you rapidly add fish it will take a while to build up enough bacteria to convert the ammonia in the tank. Then you'll build up nitrites as bacteria that convert them build up. Ideally a tank should have no reading for nitrites, and ammonia the are very toxic.

Consider:

1)Number of fish 1 inch of fish per gallon. Double this for lare bodied fish like gold fish.

2)Fish should be fed once a day what they can eat in a minute or 2.

3)Don't add more than 1 fish per 5 gallon per week.

At this point you should be doing a 20-30% water change via a gravel vacuum every day until the ammonia, and nitrite levels stop rising.

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Well, fish waste, water PH, and decaying fish food can all contribute. I am not sure what kind of fish you have. I had obsessed with getting the PH of the water correct and I could never find a good balanced. I bought a test kit etc..I eventually stopped making the tank a chem experiment and I had better results.

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You need to be sure you are making 25% partial water changes at least weekly to remove these chemicals. I also added Aquarium Salt to the new water & an ammonia remover. To get this under control, I had to do 25% partial water changes daily for a week.

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Yes because the tank hasn't cycled or you've disrupted the biological filter and killed off the good bacteria (like if you cleaned the tank too thoroughly).