Malaysian Trumpet Snails and Aquabella tank additive

One of my tanks has been going since last August without a water change. "Aquabella bio-enzyme water treatment" does work. The water is clear, the filter needs less cleaning, PH is stable and ammonia levels are nil.

What I do see is that gunk on the gravel is built up a little and becomes really obvious when the tank is rearranged. Yesterday, I moved all of the fish into another tank and 24 hours later there are so many MT snails stuck to the glass of the original tank! I know that they feed off of uneaten debris but OMG!

Is there a type of fish that can help me keep the numbers down? Right now I have a 55 gallon tank with a bazillion snail in it and no fish. The PH is about 7.5, but that could be adjusted.

Could I ask what your nitrate readings are with the Aquabella and no water changes since August. Very curious about that. Sounds like the snails have been working OT.

I love Malaysian trumpet snails!

That said, assassin snails may do the trick; they certainly work for me. But first and foremost, quit over-feeding

I've used aquabella before to help clear up green water and it did work.

Welcome to the world of maintenance free fish keeping. I'd be willing to give it a shot.

Where do you buy this from?

Donna, the nitrate is about 160 ppm. I knew it was high but recently learned that it isn't an issue with fresh water. Maybe that isn't true? If it is something to address, all of my tanks are high, even the ones I gravel vac weekly. The water is so acidic where I live, the PH needs constant boosting in spite of aragonite and those big white rocks. The Aquabella tank stays put, of course.

Deniz, I have gotten it from their website. It is also available from drs foster and smith at an introductory price.

I feed very little and only once a day. I welcome any imput or advise about feeding.

Aquabella does sound a bit too good to be true. But it does what they say it does (except for the nitrates, nitrites are very low.) I still have to stop my husband from changing the water in that tank. He can't believe it, still.

Simone.Augie wrote:Donna, the nitrate is about 160 ppm. I knew it was high but recently learned that it isn't an issue with fresh water. Maybe that isn't true?

  

Water change now! I don't know who told you that nitrates aren't a problem in freshwater, but they're wrong.

Simone.Augie wrote:Donna, the nitrate is about 160 ppm. I knew it was high but recently learned that it isn't an issue with fresh water. Maybe that isn't true?

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Nitrates should never be that high. 30ppm will generally start affecting growth and can damage the nervous system. Some fish are very sensitive to nitrate levels, while hardier fish can withstand several hundred ppm. Nitrate poisoning tends to be a slow death in fish, so it's not always readily apparent what happened.

That being said, I'm gonna agree with pbmax here, and do a handful of small partial water changes.

That's way high for nitrates and there shouldn't be any nitrites at all.  It doesn't seem like that additive is working the way it claims? Even if it did, I don't think I could ever go a year making my fish stay in the same old water.

bronzefighter wrote:Nitrate poisoning tends to be a slow death in fish, so it's not always readily apparent what happened.

I compare to parents that smoke in the house with children.

Would like to plant that tank though. Plants would explode consuming all the nitrates. Sounds like the substrate is all primed and ready to grow heavy roOters!

Here's an article on "old tank syndrome" which I believe would be the situation you would find your tank in at this time.  As the article states, this doesn't have anything to do with the age of the tank but does have to do with the age of the water in the tank and the parameters they are at.  I think this is probably a good article for information.  The water change part is the hard part...some say go slow, some say get it fixed right now.  Going slow will take forever (try the math)....today I change 30% of the water out, I wait one week and change 30% more... the original changed out water has now had time to become dirty water and my effect from the 30% change is minimal...but as some point out, too drastic of a change can also cause problems.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

When I was really new with my fishkeeping I once had a tank that had crept up to 80ppm on nitrates (this was when I did not understand how the nitrate test worked and kept getting a 0 reading because I was doing it wrong).  The tank was terribly underfiltered and overstocked.   To correct the problem, I did a 50% water change on day one, on day 3 I did a 30% water change, on day 6 I did a 50% water change, and on day 9 I did a 30% water change.  It took a while at this rate.  I also added more filtration. I was able to get the nitrates down and all the fish survived without ill effects (these were cichlids not small tropicals like tetras or threadfins).  This was part of the reason I became such an overfiltration, scheduled maintenance, and scheduled waterchange person with my tanks.

There is a lot of information available on nitrates and nitrate removal on the web.  As far as I know there is "no" miracle product that will totally clear nitrates from the tank water and even if there was, water changes serve another purpose.  They replenish many minerals and trace elements if you are using tap water, they lessen the chances of fish illness due to less stress in the fish themselves caused by poor water quality, they reduce other illnesses like fungus and parasite problems, and finally think like its you....I wouldn't want to drink or bathe in water that had not been cleaned in a year so why would my fish want to live in water like that.  Fresh water is a critical component of healthy aquariums.

One other link that might be of help (I can't find the one to the big article that I have and the one I used to determine water change schedules for my tanks) but this one will work and help some I think to give you an idea of what happens to your water over time and how to effectively change out the water on your tank

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Found the link for the article I was referencing...the chart in this link is an excel spreadsheet but it works pretty well and I think it is probably more right on than the above quick calculator. Eye opening stuff really.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Anyway, in the end no criticism here or from me as we all continue to learn about our hobby and how things work.  It's a process for all of us.

With your levels so high, I will pass on this system. I agree with all the other posts. The nitrate levels are important to keep low but 160ppm. No thanks.

I did the nitrate test using the test tube method, following the directions. It's too high at 40 ppm but that's probably because I did feed too much and don't always trim my plants regularly.

There were 9 3-4" fish in there. Now it's empty and I will drain it and start fresh. Does anyone know if nitrates are building up in the filter sponge? I have just been rinsing it out. Maybe a new one would help. If I go back to doing 20-30% water changes everything will be as my other tanks...Nitrates at 20 ppm.

Less food! Better maintenance! Thanks guys!

Nitrates build up over time as beneficial bacteria convert fish waste from ammonia into nitrite then further into nitrates.  The same happens for other decaying organic matter as well (dead plants, dead fish, dead snails, etc.).  Plants help remove nitrates from the water, some moreso than others (floating plants are particularly adept at this).

In some heavily planted tanks, especially high tech tanks with CO2 supplementation, the tanks can totally consume all available nitrates in the tank. In most cases, however, it becomes necessary to do regular water changes to remove them. Purigen can also help slow down the formation of nitrates by binding up organic matter before it is converted by beneficial bacteria.