How to deal with nitrite?

[AmyKieran]

I had my water tested on Wednesday just went, ammonia was 0, nitrite was 0.25-0.5. Nitrate was 5. I performed a 30% water change on Wednesday then I have been adding ammonia and nitrite digesting bacteria every day since Wednesday and after testing today nitrate is 0, ammonia is 0 but nitrite is still 0.25-0.5. Advice if I should worry or not? And how to combat this issue?

Thanks

 

[Essjay]

When there are fish in the tank, any reading of nitrite is unsafe. Unlike ammonia, there is no non-toxic form. The usual remedy is water changes whenever there is a reading above zero.

The bottled bacteria may or may not work for nitrite depending on which brand you have. Dr Tim's One & Only and Tetra Safe Start are known to have the correct species of nitrite eaters. Many others have nitrite eaters which need high nitrite levels to grow, and at the low levels seen in tanks they do not survive.
If you are not using Dr Tim's or Safe Start, maybe get one of those.

Or use salt. The second part of this deals with how to use salt during fish-in cycling.

Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part Il

Part II SO YOU STILL WANT TO KEEP CYCLING WITH FISH? If you are determined to ignore the above advice in Part I and still think you want to proceed with a fish in cycle, then you need to be aware of the information presented below. SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT AMMONIA Ammonia in water exists...

www.fishforums.net

 

[AmyKieran]

When there are fish in the tank, any reading of nitrite is unsafe. Unlike ammonia, there is no non-toxic form. The usual remedy is water changes whenever there is a reading above zero.

The bottled bacteria may or may not work for nitrite depending on which brand you have. Dr Tim's One & Only and Tetra Safe Start are known to have the correct species of nitrite eaters. Many others have nitrite eaters which need high nitrite levels to grow, and at the low levels seen in tanks they do not survive.
If you are not using Dr Tim's or Safe Start, maybe get one of those.

Or use salt. The second part of this deals with how to use salt during fish-in cycling.

Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part Il

Part II SO YOU STILL WANT TO KEEP CYCLING WITH FISH? If you are determined to ignore the above advice in Part I and still think you want to proceed with a fish in cycle, then you need to be aware of the information presented below. SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT AMMONIA Ammonia in water exists...

www.fishforums.net

I’m using waterlife bacterlife ammonia and nitrite, how often would you suggest doing water changes? And how much? Aswell as how often to test?

 

[Essjay]

That may well contain the wrong nitrite eaters. I would see if you can find Tetra Safe Start.

Ideally you need to teste every day and do a water change whenever the reading is above zero. The volume to change depends on the reading - the higher the reading the bigger the water change.
Or follow TwoTankAmin's method and use salt.

 

[AmyKieran]

That may well contain the wrong nitrite eaters. I would see if you can find Tetra Safe Start.

Ideally you need to teste every day and do a water change whenever the reading is above zero. The volume to change depends on the reading - the higher the reading the bigger the water change.
Or follow TwoTankAmin's method and use salt.

Okay would you say 30% is suffice or more?

 

[Essjay]

It depends how high nitrite is. It should be zero. If it's 0.5 ppm a 50% water change will reduce it to 0.25 ppm which is still too high. A 30% water change will lower it to 0.35 ppm. It needs to be below the lowest colour on the chart after a water change.

 

[AmyKieran]

It depends how high nitrite is. It should be zero. If it's 0.5 ppm a 50% water change will reduce it to 0.25 ppm which is still too high. A 30% water change will lower it to 0.35 ppm. It needs to be below the lowest colour on the chart after a water change.

Straight after the water change? So test before and after the water change?

 

[Essjay]

I would test before and after for the first time - before will tell you how high nitrite is and after will tell you if the water change as large enough. Once you know how much you need to change, you don't need to test after.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Read the nitrite info in the article linked.

When nitrite enters a fish it binds to hemoglobin and prevents oxygen from being able to bind to the same place which is where it would normally be. So the fish suffocate even though there is plenty of oxygen in the water.

Once inside a fish nitrite takes 24 - 48 hours to works its way out. However, as long as there is nitrite in the water, there will still be nitrite inside the fish. The one thing that can counteract this is Methylene Blue. But it will stain everything in a tank and you would need to research the proper dosing.

Fortunately, chloride in the water, in the right concentration, effectively prevents the nitrite from enter the fish and binding to the hemoglobin. Even more fortunate is we all have tons of chloride in the very salt we put on our food. Yes, you can actually use table salt to treat fish. Neither the very small amount of iodine nor anti-caking agents is there in enough concentration to matter. Your fish would be pickled before that happened. But if it makes you feel safe look for kosher salt which should not have these additives.

It is often said that kosher salt contains no additives. And indeed, because its crystals aren't flat-sided cubes like shaker salt's, they don't tend to stick together and don't generally need shaker salt's anti-caking additives. But read the labels. Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt has no additives, but Morton's Coarse Kosher Salt contains a tiny amount--limited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to less than thirteen ten-thousandths of 1 percent--of the anti-caking agent sodium ferrocyanide. Even though that's a totally different chemical from poisonous cyanide, the label lists it by its less frightening name, yellow prussate of soda.

The article to which you were linked provides detailed step by step directions for using salt. The amount needed is extremely low.

 

[AmyKieran]

I would test before and after for the first time - before will tell you how high nitrite is and after will tell you if the water change as large enough. Once you know how much you need to change, you don't need to test after.

I did as you said, I actually tested before and had 0 nitrite but I did the water change and treat with more bacteria anyway, should I still test for the next couple of days?

 

[Essjay]

Yes, just to make sure it stays at zero.

 

[AmyKieran]

Yes, just to make sure it stays at zero.

Okay and if it doesn’t? Carry on with water changes?

 

[Essjay]

Yes.
Or salt.

 

[AmyKieran]

Yes.
Or salt.

Okay thankyou