A question about NITRATES.

[ZEROPILOT]

Sorry to any of you that better understand this issue. But I need help.
I have two 1,600 gallon(ish) fish ponds. One of them has one large Jaguar Cichlid. The other has 4 large Midas Cichlids.
They are both filtered by 950GPH pumps feeding spray bars and media filters of my own design.
The fish all eat pellets. Not feeders.
Yesterday I found a dead Midas. A water test shows only a trace of ammonia. Just a trace of nitrite. But about 20ppm of NITRATE.
My first thought was Nitrate poisoning....These ponds have been operating so smoothly that I've gotten very lazy a out testing the water much. Other than PH.
But could the high NITRATE level just be from the dead fish?
The other pond shows no Nitrate, also with just a trace of Nitrite.
Since there is no real ammonia or Nitrite, just high Nitrate, I'm confused.
Also, are my 950gph pumps up to the job?
Should I have at least 2x the pond capacity per hour?
My third pond is a 1,400 gallon a d uses a 2,000 gph pump. The pond is full of Koi and has been working perfectly.
Now I'm thinking that I need to have all 3 ponds running on pumps of 2,000 or more GPH

Thank you.

 

[JRS]

Sorry to hear about the fish. I think it might be possible it is from the dead fish since nitrates are the end of the ammonia cycle. Lots of food and infrequent filter cleaning can also increase nitrates. This article has some good points: http://www.tfhmagazine.com/freshwater/feature-articles/keeping-up-with-nitrate.htm

 

[Faebinder]

With the hot weather, I wonder if your pond balance was off.

Do your ponds have filters that can handle that pond size? Do they have bogs to consume the ammonia? how many inches are those fish? These are l factors.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Your nitrate is no where high enough to kill a fish. In a mature pond you shouldn't ever see ammonia or nitrite. If you do something off.

As already stated we need to know more about your ponds.

 

[Blueeyes]

I have a question about nitrates I have a 900 gallon koi pond with one koi and five goldfish and I've been having a nitrate register between 40 and 80 for the last month probably. My concern is that the plants are starting to die back because of fall or at least not growing as vigorously in the Bog I do have to stop feeding them daily I think that might be what's leading to my problem. Water changes are not practical for me because my water has high nitrite which we'll just convert to more nitrate. Any suggestions or ideas welcome am I on the right track with the feeding LOL pretty sure I am.

 

[Lisak1]

I'd suggest you start a new post @Blueeyes - you may get more responses that way.

 

[CometKeith]

Sorry to any of you that better understand this issue. But I need help.
I have two 1,600 gallon(ish) fish ponds. One of them has one large Jaguar Cichlid. The other has 4 large Midas Cichlids.
They are both filtered by 950GPH pumps feeding spray bars and media filters of my own design.
The fish all eat pellets. Not feeders.
Yesterday I found a dead Midas. A water test shows only a trace of ammonia. Just a trace of nitrite. But about 20ppm of NITRATE.
My first thought was Nitrate poisoning....These ponds have been operating so smoothly that I've gotten very lazy a out testing the water much. Other than PH.
But could the high NITRATE level just be from the dead fish?
The other pond shows no Nitrate, also with just a trace of Nitrite.
Since there is no real ammonia or Nitrite, just high Nitrate, I'm confused.
Also, are my 950gph pumps up to the job?
Should I have at least 2x the pond capacity per hour?
My third pond is a 1,400 gallon a d uses a 2,000 gph pump. The pond is full of Koi and has been working perfectly.
Now I'm thinking that I need to have all 3 ponds running on pumps of 2,000 or more GPH

Thank you.

Hi Zeropilot. Sorry you lost your fish. I don't know much about Cichlids other than how to pronounce their name but I was wondering if you found any disease on the fish. My personal opinion is that maybe 90% of the people on this forum don't have enough water circulation and dissolved O2 in their ponds. If you find a dead fish with no obvious signs of disease then a very likely culprit is poor dissolved O2. Also if you found the fish in the morning it's likely it died from lack of dissolved O2 because this dips a lot in early morning hours. Honestly I would have around triple of the water circulation than you currently have. Good luck with your ponds!

 

[Stephen Noble]

Sorry to any of you that better understand this issue. But I need help.
I have two 1,600 gallon(ish) fish ponds. One of them has one large Jaguar Cichlid. The other has 4 large Midas Cichlids.
They are both filtered by 950GPH pumps feeding spray bars and media filters of my own design.
The fish all eat pellets. Not feeders.
Yesterday I found a dead Midas. A water test shows only a trace of ammonia. Just a trace of nitrite. But about 20ppm of NITRATE.
My first thought was Nitrate poisoning....These ponds have been operating so smoothly that I've gotten very lazy a out testing the water much. Other than PH.
But could the high NITRATE level just be from the dead fish?
The other pond shows no Nitrate, also with just a trace of Nitrite.
Since there is no real ammonia or Nitrite, just high Nitrate, I'm confused.
Also, are my 950gph pumps up to the job?
Should I have at least 2x the pond capacity per hour?
My third pond is a 1,400 gallon a d uses a 2,000 gph pump. The pond is full of Koi and has been working perfectly.
Now I'm thinking that I need to have all 3 ponds running on pumps of 2,000 or more GPH

Thank you.

I have a question about your two cichlid ponds: Is the Jaguar living by itself in the 1600 gallon pond? And the Midas living by themselves in their 1600 gallon pond? If so your bioload is low and that is good. If that is correct, then here is my opinion: Your ammonia spike is either from something dead like an animal (not your fish) or something else has interrupted the biological cycle. Your nitrate reading of 20 is fine. I would investigate to see why you have any ammonia in that pond. It has to be a dead animal or perhaps a garden hose dumping water into the pond. A dead animal can foul the water enough to kill weak fish. Just my two cents worth.