Ph and nitrate levels

Question
QUESTION: Christy,

I have a 10 gallon tank and I only have one fish left all others have died. This fish has been by himself for about 3 months.    My pH level and nitrate levels are both high.  The pH level is 7.8 and the nitrate level is 80 or maybe a little higher.   I have tried the Low pH and also a buffer.  I have changed the water twice now (25%) and nothing seems to work.   The water I put back in my tank has been treated so that the levels are good but once mixed into my tank water it  is still high. What are your suggestions on correcting this problem.

ANSWER: Hi Sandy
What kind of fish is it?

Are you on well or city water?

Christy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have city water.  I am not sure what kind of fish it is.  It is black and yellowish/orangish stripes.
ANSWER: Hi Sandy
Here's a few links, are one of these the fish you have?
This one is called a banded leporinus, when they're younger, they tend to look more black sometimes:

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile1.html

This one is called an auratus:

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile52.html

Zebra Danio

http://www.badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile54.html


Just trying to figure out what type of fish you have, because that may be the problem.  Also, how often do you regular change the water, and how much do you change each time?

As for the ph, I recommend leaving it alone.  It's not bad.  Most fish can tolerate a ph from 6.0-8.0 just fine.  Those chemicals usually end up not working, and if they do work, it's only temporary, and the ph ends up rising or crashing dramatically-which can stress/kill the fish rather quickly.

Christy


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: the fish is a tiger barb

Answer
Tiger barb...ok.  That's good, I was hoping it wasn't going to be a fish that grew huge.  Like I said, the ph is fine for it.  So just leave that alone.  

Just keep doing water changes every few days till it starts dropping.  That's really the best way to remove nitrates.  You could also try testing your tap water, sometimes some nitrates will show up there, more common in well water, but sometimes it occurs in city water.  But it shouldn't be reading that high in the tap water.  There's laws and regulations on that, not sure exactly how much they can get away with though.

Christy