Help High Nitrite

[antmatz]

first off, I thought I had followed the advice on these forums quite well, so thanks so far.

I have been fishless cycling for around 4 to 5 weeks, and although I had a stall, due to low ph, a 50% wc kick started it.
after getting vitually zero for ammonia and nitrite, I thought it was time to take the jump. That was yesterday around 2pm, uk time.

I have a biorb life 60, and brought 6 no. Neon and 3 small male guppy.
whilst the fish still fortunately are ok, and swimming well, I'm testing the water to find nitrites are off the scale

to try to mitiate this I did a 50% wc yesterday only an hour after fish were in.
it was still off the scale after this, so I did another 50% wc immediately after.
still the readings were high?

I fed them in the early hours, and the fish all reacted well to the food.
I have done another test for nitrite this morning and it is high.
a further 50% wc this morning, then a retest and nitrite is still off the scale.

I am at a loss, and don't want to harm these fish.
can anyone advise?

thanks in advance

 

[Clarousel]

When you say "off the scale" what are the numbers for the readings? How's your ammonia?

I'm may be wrong but maybe your fishes are giving too much waste for the filter to cope. High nitrites means a lot of ammonia has been converted by the beneficial bacteria but your other beneficial bacteria is unable to change that to nitrates.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

You said your readings were 'virtually 0'... they need to be completely '0', continuing to be so for a 'Qualifying Week' AFTER your first set of 'Double 0's (Ammonia and NitrIte).

Continue to test and WC, maybe twice daily if needed. I see you had a PH issue during your cycle, i had this aslo as i live in a very soft water area... i have had to add crushed coral into both my tanks to keep the PH at a stable 7.2.. maybe worth looking into when your cycle is complete.

I would wait for Kittkat or Waterdrop to comment on what to expect next, but regular W/C's are your best friend at the moment.

Regards,
Terry.

 

[antmatz]

When you say "off the scale" what are the numbers for the readings? How's your ammonia?

I'm may be wrong but maybe your fishes are giving too much waste for the filter to cope. High nitrites means a lot of ammonia has been converted by the beneficial bacteria but your other beneficial bacteria is unable to change that to nitrates.

the nitrite reading is quite dark purple
ammonia is 0 - 0.25 ppm

prior to putting fish in readings were 0 for both ammonia and nitrites.
I had seen both the ammonia spike, and nitrite spikes, and the only blip was when ph dropped.

currently in the middle of 80% wc so I ll see if that affects

 

[Clarousel]

Hm I'm not sure what the pH issue meant but seeing as you have ammonia in your tank, I'm thinking that your cycle wasn't complete and so your fish are adding too much load for your filter to cope.

Like mentioned, keep doing WCs. You may want to reduce feeding as well.

 

[antmatz]

thanks for the help.

80% water change after the earlier 50% has helped.
brought nitrite down to 0.25ppm, ammonia is still 0-0.25, bit difficult to tell if it has a slight tinge of green. Ph 7.4 which is basically my tap water.

guess from here I ll monitor closely and water change as necessary.
I assume I was a little quick to jump in, I don't think the filter is too far off, as all the signs were ok prior to adding.

though my cycle was nearly done, but daily dosing of ammonia changing back to 0 daily, then stalled. I researched on here and checking my ph, it had dropped to 5. This caused my cycling to stall. 50% water change kick started it again, that was what I was reffering to about the blip in the cycle.

thanks again

 

[KittyKat]

Basically, cycle isn't done, so do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 ppm as possible and never let it reach 0.25 ppm. Do 95% water changes if you have to, but make sure that the new water is temperature matched to the old water.

Feed no more than once every 3 days and if possible, add some undemanding stem plants as these are able to use up some ammonium.

How much ammonia were you putting in during the fishless cycle and how many hours later were the double 0 readings?

 

[antmatz]

Basically, cycle isn't done, so do water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite as close to 0 ppm as possible and never let it reach 0.25 ppm. Do 95% water changes if you have to, but make sure that the new water is temperature matched to the old water.

Feed no more than once every 3 days and if possible, add some undemanding stem plants as these are able to use up some ammonium.

How much ammonia were you putting in during the fishless cycle and how many hours later were the double 0 readings?

thanks for the help.

I do temper the new water going in, to match temp.
I was daily dosing around 3ml of ammonia, which raised my ppm to 4, which it was clearing to 0 in less than 24 hours.
once my nitrite spike finally dropped to 0, I only had 0 when testing daily even though I was dosing, this was when I thought it was complete.
I'm wondering if my stall has knocked it.

either way I'll heed the above advice, and hopefully not lose any fish :'(

thanks

 

[KittyKat]

No, it hasn't: you added fish when the bacteria could *barely* process 4 ppm of ammonia. The point of the qualifying week is that the difference at the end is that 4 ppm of ammonia can be processed comfortably. Without those 7 days, almost everyone sees the same problem you now have. In theory, there can be 4* more bacteria in the filter at the end of the qualifying week than at the start, although 2-3* is more likely.

Also, for full stock, we recommend 3-5 ppm of ammonia in 12 hours, not 24. This also didn't help when you added the new fish.

Just keep up the water changes!

By the way, what is your pH? And do you know KH/GH readings?

 

[Tizer]

no mention of dechlorinating your water, unlessi missed it.

 

[antmatz]

sorry late responding.

yes, all water dechlorinated using tap safe.

I did another 50% wc late yesterday afternoon, to try and get the .25 reading to zero.
I can confirm back to double 00s

tested again earlier still 00s so all good.
will test again later.

ph is 7.4
I don't think I have facility for kh or gh?

sorry, my fish are 3 tiny male endlers, and not guppies as stated first.
all fish seem to be happy still, so fingers crossed.

thanks for the help.

 

[KittyKat]

ph is 7.4
I don't think I have facility for kh or gh?

At 7.4, the ammonia is on the more toxic side, but the tank will cycle quicker than at lower pHs. I think it is relatively safe to assume that your KH (carbonate hardness) and GH (general hardness) are favourable for Endlers, given the pH. Both can be tested using test kits, same as everything else.

 

[antmatz]

thanks

need to get a test kit for those.
tested just now and still have double zeros. My ph has elevated to nearly 8 which is concerning me, but afaik is not as worrying as elevated ammonia or nitrite.
my tap water is usually 7.4

this may seem strange but my results were good before putting the fish in sat early afternoon.
could I have inherited nigh nitrite level from lfs?

I know the simple answer is probably irrelevant, as a properly cycled filter should have dealt with this?

 

[KittyKat]

need to get a test kit for those.
tested just now and still have double zeros. My ph has elevated to nearly 8 which is concerning me, but afaik is not as worrying as elevated ammonia or nitrite.
my tap water is usually 7.4

Well… personally, I find the KH and GH test useful, but almost no one uses them. The only time I can definitely say that they're part of the "compulsory set" of test kits if the tank in question experiences pH fluctuations or crashes.

It's not worrying in that a set pH is fine for most fish in the short term, but changes in pH (and hardness) can kill fish. Is tap at 7.4 after the water has sat in a glass for 24 hours?

this may seem strange but my results were good before putting the fish in sat early afternoon.
could I have inherited nigh nitrite level from lfs?

No, it isn't strange that your filter was able to process a small amount of ammonia into nitrate in 24 hours. You can't have "inherited" a lack of bacteria Your nitrite spike is only the result of your filter not being able to support that many fish.

The way to avoid this problem is to do a qualifying week with double zeros at the 12 hour point after dosing, not 24 hour point.

I know the simple answer is probably irrelevant, as a properly cycled filter should have dealt with this?

Yes, there should not be problems like this if fish are added to a cycled filter.