High Nitrites, Safe Nitrates And Ammonia Please Help

[mkcinfolsom]

Hey Everyone,

I am needing some help...I have 10 fish in 20 gal freshwater tank (2 platys, 3 mollys, 3 black finned tetras, 1 catfish and 1 plecosumis)...live plants (in good health), reverse osmosis water and use Nutrafin bacteria "stuff"...

My water tests are always good EXCEPT Nitrites are always on the verge of stress...I have done 3 water changes over the weekend 1 30% and 2 50% water changes...

1 day after my 2nd 50% water change (Monday Feb. 14th water change) my water reading was as follows:

NITRATE: 25PPM
NITRITE: .8PPM
ALK: 90PPM
PH: 7.0

Can someone help me and let me know what else I need to do to get Nitrites to normal levels...I appreciate any help thatis given...My Fish person is stumped too and she suggested i type in a forum...Sorry for the long post, I just want to make sure all information is supplied...Michael

 

[TheDarkGoby]

Welcome to Tropical Fish Forums!

Ok, just afew things.

All tetra need to be kept in a group of at least 6. Plecostomus can reach a size of over 2' long (yes, I have seen it with my own eyes), which would become far too big for a 20g Long (recomended 75g minimum). What kind of catfish do you have? Corydoras are schooling fish, and many other cats get too big for a 20g.

I would just keep up with slowly doing water changes. I am too tired to calculate stock, but if you go to ##150###.com, you can see what percentage your aquarium is stocked at.

Hope this helps. Post back and lets see if we can figure out the cause of the Nitrites.

-TDG

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

What is the tank's ammonia reading?
Are you using a liquid test kit, or test strips and how long do you reckon you have had them?

If you have not done so recently, you could try doing an intensive vacuum of the tank floor, after removing all furniture. You may have some bad "dead spots" where food or poop is building up, perhaps even a dead fish (although I'd imagine counting your ten fish is very doable). You could also try giving your filter sponges a gentle rinse in some water removed from the tank, to remove any rotting food and detritus.

 

[karin]

How long has this tank been set up? It appears that the bacteria needed for nitrite processing are not in a large enough colony to process the waste from your fish. You need to be checking ammonia as well. If either nitrite or ammonia are above zero you are damaging the fish and will eventually have dying fish.

It sounds like you are doing a "fish-in" cycle. Read about this in the New Freshwater Tank section of this forum. At the top, under beginner resources, you can read about cycling and the "fish-in" cycle.

Good luck