Im Showing Nitrite, Why?

[Angel98]

Tested my water this morning and its showing 2ppm of Nitrite! Ammonia is ok that's 0ppm. Is there any reason for this? I did a water change a couple of days ago and vac'ed! Replaced the water with declorinated water of course! Any help? What shall i do?

 

[LisaLQ]

Is it the tank in your signature? If so, it's probably because you're quite overstocked. What kind of plecs are they? If they're common plecs, I'd return/rehome them asap, as they get too big and will make too much mess for your tank, therefore putting too much strain on your bioload (those and maybe the frog are probably the culprits). Even without them you're very heavily stocked, but it will definitely help.

How long has the tank been set up?

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[The-Wolf]

you are having a mini cycle.
you can add some bactinettes or tetra safestart if available in your area
failing that try a chemical called amquel plus.

another way of dealing with the NO2 is small frequent water changes
say 10% a day untill it is back to zero.

to prevent this happening again
when you next vac your gravel don't do too much in one go
leave at least 50% untouched and do that bit on the following vac

 

[Angel98]

Think i will try doing 10% water changes everyday then

I have 2 Common plecs, 1 is very very small! I know i have to re-home them, i was just a beginner (well still am) when i bought them so i didnt know that much!

The tank was set up about 2 weeks before Xmas

Thanks

 

[Angel98]

What plecs can i get that dont grow big? Would i have to mail order?

 

[The-Wolf]

30 plecos under 8 inches
HTH

 

[Angel98]

Thanks

 

[Angel98]

Tested my water again this morning, it's gone back to its normal colour? Weird or what cus i havent done anything apart from feeding them a tiny tiny bit of food lastnight, maybe i was over feeding a bit or i didnt clean the test tubes properly or something!