did a water change. nothing changed...

ok so i had a fish die yesterday and i tested my water and it was

ph 8.0
ammonia .25 heres your sign.....
nitrite 0
nitrate 20

so i did a water change today. and now its

Ph 7.8
ammonia .25
nitrite 0
nitrate 40

it got worse!!!! if it only gets worse then why in the world did i do it in the first place?

 

Check the water you replaced with. If it got worse, you could be using bad water!

 

Test your source water. Are you using tap water or RO/DI? Did you stir up the substrate at all during the change?

 

i use RO from the store. thats the best i can get. i didnt stir it up much. i tried to hit the rocks with it.

 

still, you should:

just bc the store claims RO doesn't mean its filters, etc. are up to par.

 

agreed, my RO unit was giving me some phosphates. had to replace the cartridges ahead of schedule. local water quality was harsher as of late

 

could have something still dead in there or bad water patience young grasshopper lol

 

How big of a water change?

 

5 gallons

 

trust me...you will want to test your RO water you get from the LFS for junk before you add it to your tank. You also want to check that it is just RO and not saltwater. And if you ever get saltwater from there you MUST check the SG

The short time I worked at the LFS I saw some "interesting" things. Someone added too much salt and SG was at 1.060 , someone forgot to add salt to the water at all and people who thought they were getting salt water had plain RO water

Plus remember that membrains and resin are quite expensive, and are often not changed as frequently as they should in store settings.

It is just good practice to ensure the quality of any thing you place in your tank