Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The system cycled, I would put a couple(2) teaspoons of ammonia in (which with my ~20gallon system 1/2tsp would raise the levels considerably) and before the day is up both ammonia and nitrites would be zero. pH is now around 7.5. water is crystal clear with no odor. The system runs non stop 24/7 and has an exceptionally large aeration stone. I have the GB full of small Lettuce, Spinach, and Tomato's, they're still pretty small. Everywhere I read everyone says that nitrate isn't a problem until it's very high, they deem ~120ppm as toxic. Mine is around 40ppm. I put 4 comet goldfish and two have died while the others act completely fine. They act like they have a swim bladder infection in that they float to the top and have trouble with buoyancy but they die within hours of showing severe symptoms. For now I've set up a 5.5gallon aquarium so I can get them out of the system. From all my tests it would appear that the high levels of nitrates are somehow to blame. Maybe they compromised their immune system so maybe an infection they were fighting spread rapidly? I'm fairly lost and feel like crap this has happened, any ideas?

I ran an aquarium for years with much higer nitrates than 40.
My tester showed 40 as a maximum, and after a 30% water change, the tester still showed 40.
Nitrates of 40 are n't going to hurt fish. Nitrates cause long term organ damage anyhow, not short term.
Water temperatures are important, don't shock your fish when you add them
Hardeness of the water can be important, so slowly add the fish tank water to the bag of fish over about 20 minutes, before releasing them.
What did the fish tank you have used to be? any chance of trace poisons?
did you use clear or cloudy ammonia in your teaspoon test?
do you have air in your tank?

The water is city water that was aerated for a long time and treated so it has no chlorine or anything in it and also properly salted for freshwater fish. I took about 45min to acclimate them to the water in the tank before releasing them. When I was adding ammonia to cycle the system it was pure ammonia and water, no surfactants or scents. Over the last three days I've had two die, one every day after the first day. Like I said they acted like they had a swim bladder infection so after the first one I thought maybe it was just a sick fish. When I got them from Petco the person did ask if they were for feeding or pets so I figured they just weren't the healthiest fish to begin with. The two that are left act completely normal and swim around a lot.

Something wrong with the fish methinks. You have done all the right stuff.

There is no way they can get stuck to the pump at all? I have had fish get stuck to pumps during a cycle, then released at the end. Usually they are not really healthy after that.

Not sure who gave you taht asvice, and perhaps it might be true of some exotic "ornamentals"....

But it's jsut not true for "freshwater" fish... the lowest nitrate level I've been able to ascertain from extensive research.... is about 400-500ppm... for bluegill.... most other fisf, and researchers... suggest levels below 500ppm are quite acceptable... perhaps not preferable... but acceptable...

I would highly suspect your fish were unhealthy from the beginning... indeed, I probably wouldn't buy fish from the "average" aquaria shop.... and in general... I wouldn't listen to anything they have to say... particularly in regard to freshwater fish... and aquaponics...

I got 120ppm from somewhere on the web. I'll have to check yellowpages and find a real fish shop nearby to source fish from. The other two seem to be listing to the side slightly so maybe they all have a swim bladder infection or something either way I'll find a shop, terrible thing to watch them go like that.