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Re: phosphate harmful to fish/discus???

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: phosphate harmful to fish/discus???
From: George Booth <booth at hpmtlgb1_lvld.hp.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:53:08 -0600
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 27 Aug 1997 15:48:16 EDT." <199708271948.PAA08290 at acme_actwin.com>

> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 1997 10:44:41 -0500 (PDT)
> From: Le Minh Duy Tran <minhtran at basil_stthom.edu>
> 
> I would like to ask the list if high phosphate levels are harmful to 
> fish, especially discus.  I use Discus buffer (SeaChem) to lower the pH 
> in my tank.  It is high in phosphate.  I know that these high phosphate 
> levels produce alot of algae, but algae is not harmful to the fish, right?

Anything can be toxic in very high concetrations, but I suspect it is
safe if you are using it as recommended. 

> When phosphate is high, what other elements of the water chemistry is 
> high (or low), what is going on in the water. 

You may find that high phosphates may interfere with some water tests.
For example, if you try to use the CO2/KH/pH tables to determine CO2,
high phosphates will cause the Tetra KH test kit to read too high.
This will make your CO2 values appear higher than they actually are.
Also, it seems high phosphate values affect the LaMotte CO2 test kit,
also causing higher readings. 

George

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