Yup but the sudden death bleaching and peeling seems a bit extreme for just nitrates. Don't know maybe some pollutant got into the water.That may be your problem that high no3. I know for my tank if po4 goes that hi I start to see problems my sticks will start to look a little different
And nitrates don't match phosphates I have in between 16-30 nitrates now and phosphates .08 don't know what the heck is going on. Doing a 300 gallon water change in between Sunday and Monday and let's see what happens.
You Heard right 300 gallon water change.

