[aprildawn]

hi, just added 3 new peacocks to my tank & the ruby red is at the top of the tank with its head down. all other fish are fine. all water parameters are fine but nitrate is 40 ppm. i have that amount coming out of the tap. any ideas?they have been in the tank about an hour. he just started doing this about 20 mins ago

 

[GTZ]

Not sure I understand 'head down'. He's vertical pointing at the floor?

 

[benny71]

Your tap water has 40ppm nitrate? Wow, I've never heard of that before.

Have you ever had problems before? If 40ppm is the absolute lowest your nitrate can be, then your fish are almost definitely being poisoned.

 

[Jammos]

my Tiger Barbs do this...I assume because they are scared of my Africans! so I would think it is stress of some sort.

 

[DJRansome]

The others are picking on him, or he is afraid of them. What other fish are in the tank?

It's probably fine for a couple of days unless you see injuries. Might sort itself out.

I'd report your nitrates to the public water department. I Googled "potable water nitrates" and got this from a Wisconsin site:

State and federal laws set the maximum allowable level of nitrate-nitrogen in public drinking water at 10 milligrams per liter (10 parts per million). These laws apply to all city and village water supplies and are used as an advisory for private wells.

I would use bottled water (test it too) for part of your water changes. Otherwise it will be nearly impossible to keep the level at 40ppm which is the maximum safe level.

 

[aprildawn]

i have been using nitrate filters (don't remember the name). i tested my nitrates yesterday after i noticed the problem & my nitrates are now 5ppm. and the behavior stopped shortly after i posted this. i think that it was just stress from shipping. i will get ahold of my local water department about the nitrates in the tap water. thank you

 

[Nina_b]

Glad to hear it seems to be resolved.

 

[benny71]

5ppm? Wow, what a difference a filter makes. :thumb:

I've never seen or used one of these before...Would it be possible to hook one up to a siphon and just reuse your nitrate enriched tank water?