High Nitrite Killing my Tiger Barbs

[UBigBobby]

Hi all, I'm new here, and from Buffalo, NY.

I've got a 10 gallon freshwater with a power filter, housing 1 African albino Dwarf Frog, and 3 Tiger Barbs. I set the tank up 5 days ago, and at that time it was home to 2 Comet Goldfish, 1 American Longfin, and 3 Tiger Barbs. Since then I have removed and rehoused the goldfish due to the Tiger Barbs' nipping issues and the fact that goldfish just aren't good community fish anyway. Also added the frog at this time. I'm aware Tigers aren't the BEST starter fish, but I gave it a shot.

Anyway, thanks to "Cycle" this bacteria enhancing product to speed up your cycle, Amonia levels are on their way down (they're 0.1). Today though, the barbs began acting strange. They began to crowd in the corner together and hover with their heads tilted down. They then lost most all of their orange coloration. I first thought Ammonia, so I had a local shop test it for free. Ammonia was 1.0 and pH was about 7.4. So that was ruled out. Next I thought low dissolved oxygen. My filter circulaated the tank water rather well, but I was willing to try anything, to combat this and possibly Ammonia I replaced 25% of the water, and dechlorinated. Still, very little change. The fish move a but more after the water change, but theyr are still pale and 75% of the time hover with their heads tilted down.

Then I found this site, and thanks to the great info on in the appropriate forum I found that Tiger Barbs cannot handle Nitrite very well, and as a warning sign of rising Nitirite they do...well exactly what mine are doing. This is the only logical explanation for their behavior. I'd like to do all I can to save them as they are really a great fun fish and I plan on building a semi-aggressive tank around them. Is there anything I can do to reduce the Nitirite levels without upsetting the cycle too much. I'd rather keep the cycle on track AND save them...but I don't know if I can have both.

Any suggestions? I'm hessitant to try and chemicals. The fish still chase each other, but are much less active and as I've said, are colorless and hover facing down.

BTW the tank is a constant 82 degrees.

Thanks

 

[UBigBobby]

Quick question, as time passes from the 25% water change, (its been about 3 hours), things seem to have gotten a bit better, 1 fish is close to normal color, and one of the other 2 are getting their oragne back slowly. They are being more active, but still do the hovering nose down thing. Should I do a 25% change ever day, or every other day until the cycle finishes possiblly? Just an idea

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i'd turn down the heater ASAP. most tropical fish prefer temperatures around 76-78.

the best thing you can do to help your fish through the cycling process is perform daily water changes. start out by changing ~15% once a day. if things are still looking kinda rough, swap to ~10% twice a day. if there's still no improvement, increase to ~15% twice a day.

 

[UBigBobby]

i'd turn down the heater ASAP. most tropical fish prefer temperatures around 76-78.

the best thing you can do to help your fish through the cycling process is perform daily water changes. start out by changing ~15% once a day. if things are still looking kinda rough, swap to ~10% twice a day. if there's still no improvement, increase to ~15% twice a day.

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I don't even bother having my heater hooked up. I live in the attic with no AC. This has been a hot summer in buffalo with everyday being 80-95 degress seemingly...90+ today. So the water is warm becuase its so hot up here. I keep the cover off and a fan on it to keep it as 82, and it stays pretty steady. Luckily the temp is supposed to do down to 70 by the end of the week, finally some relief. It's the hottest summer here since 1952 i believe.

 

[Bignose]

If the shop tested your ammonia and there is any at all, the cycle is only beginning. Since you are doing it with fish in there, it is going to take several weeks. Both ammonia and nitrite at any level are toxic, so you will have to check very frequently.

Water changes are the best... add the dechloinator, set the water sit in a bucket in the room so the temps are the same, and you can do almost as large of a water change as you want. In fact, the larger and more frequent, the better for your fish.

You may want to go get a test kit of your own so that you do not hove to run to the shop every time you need to know what is in your water. And, Murhpy's law states that your fish will get sick late Friday night before a holiday weekend when the shops will be closed, so having the tests at hand are invaluable.

There are a few things that can smooth the process for your fish. First would be to go and purchase a few live plants. Something nice and easy and quick growing like some hortwort would be great. Most aquatic plants prefer to uptake ammonia from the water to grow and of course, if the plant is taking up ammonia, then the fish won't be hurt by it. Secondly, if there is nitrite and only nitrite, adding a little salt helps nullify the effects of the nitrite. Thirdly, you could purchase some ammonia-adsorbing zeolites from the fish store, or an ammonia-locking chemical like AmQuel+. But, both of these seal away the ammonia making it unavailable to the cycling bacteria, so it only puts a band-aid on the problem, not a solution. Most long-time fish keepers only use those for emergencies.

So, my suggestion is frequent water changes and to purchase live plants. You have to keep the levels of ammonia and nitrite as close to zero as possible and until the cycling bacteria grows to a sufficient level, these toxins will just build up.