Extremely High Nitrites, Even After 95% Water Change

[katha]

Hey all. I posted here a few days ago and can't seem to find the last post. Basically, I work in a pet shop and did a fishless cycle with the help of an aquatics expert. After that was done, I gradually added fish to both tanks (a 10 and 20). A week or so after adding my fish, my nitrites spiked over night. Dip sticks showed levels at 5 ppm for both tanks and I only got to test my 20 G with a master kit which showed:

Ph: 7.5
Nitrate: 80
Nitrite: 5
Ammonia: 10

So, I did a 95% water change, rinsed off the filter, and vacuumed my gravel. The water at my house comes from a well and the PH is super high as well as the hardness, so I used about 60% bottled spring water and 40% distilled (same as I used the first time I filled up the tank). About 3 days after the huge water change, my reading are just about the same. Someone at work told me to change the gravel out, but I have a feeling everything will spike again.

I took everyone out of the 10 gallon tank and moved them to my 20 gallon when I did the water change because the nitrites were sky high in the 10 G too. I have two 10 gallon tanks cycling so I can move everyone into those and redo the 20 gallon. I put some stuff in that's supposed to detoxify the nitrites... but I have no idea what to do in the meantime. Ahfdjhlk; please help!

Also, my dalmatian molly had about 20 fry (and I put them in their own tank) and now her scales look kind of strange like they're sticking out a bit, could it just be because she shrunk back down to her normal size? I'll try and add a picture if she'll stay still.

 

[katha]

Oh, also, it was Prime that I added to the water.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Test strips are not very accurate, so the sooner you can get liquid test kits instead, the better.

You need to pretty careful with your mixing of spring water and distilled water at water changes, doing hardness tests on the tank and new water to get pretty much the same amounts, quick changes will not be good for the fish at all.

What are the stats of your tap water? Your Molly will acually thrive in hard alkaline water, depending upon the other fish you have you might be taking needless risks (and spending more money) on bottled water that there is no reason to use.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Did u clean the filter in tank water or fresh from the tap ?

 

[Staxx]

id also test the tap water just to make sure. some water does contain nitites and so on.

 

[minnnt]

Stiring up the substrate by vac-ing it can cause a nitrite and nitrate spike. Just be careful when cleaning that you don't do it too much. I very rarely touch the substrate.

 

[katha]

The numbers I posted were from a liquid test. I have never put tap water in that tank because the ph of my tap water is sky high as well as the hardness. Trust me, if you knew how bad the water at my house is, you wouldn't use it either. The well gets treated with bleach so I wouldn't use it. I vacuumed the substrate after taking out fish and changing most of the water. The Molly died this morning and now my black Molly has a fluffy white spot that polled up on his fin over night. I have a dwarf gourami, neon tetra, three guppies and three mollies.

 

[hogan53]

The numbers I posted were from a liquid test. I have never put tap water in that tank because the ph of my tap water is sky high as well as the hardness. Trust me, if you knew how bad the water at my house is, you wouldn't use it either. The well gets treated with bleach so I wouldn't use it. I vacuumed the substrate after taking out fish and changing most of the water. The Molly died this morning and now my black Molly has a fluffy white spot that polled up on his fin over night. I have a dwarf gourami, neon tetra, three guppies and three mollies.

 

[hogan53]

Hi
I would try and get some mature filter sponge from a mature aquarium.
Squeeze some of it into the aquarium to seed the tank substrate.
Put the rest in your filter.

Test kits are not reliable...do a large water change.
Don't worry to much about nitrate...nitrite is more the problem.
Plants will use the nitrate as a fertilizer.

If you can remove most of the fish to another mature aquarium.
Cheers
hoggie

 

[4seasons]

You said you cycled the tank before adding fish. Just exactly what did you do to cycle the tank and how long did it take?