In A Panic! Nitrites Overboard And Fish-In

[FishFanatic04]

I'm freaking out so if nothing else, that qualifies this as an emergency. Just cried my way through my second 95% water change on my 46g. My poor fish hardly could swim upright. I did a water change less then 7 hours ago..possibly 6. My nitrites were off the chart both times.

I tested my tap just to be sure and there was 0. SO the good old bacteria are working hard and killing my fish in the process. They have red gills though they are lively and eating well. I am using Prime which I'm sure helps somewhat along with 2-3 water changes a day... what the heck can I do?

this fish-in cycle is courtesy of my local petsmart and been going for about 4 weeks. It was smooth sailing until now, my water changes were controlling the ammonia (I have 1ppm in my tap and its never been above that)

This is awful. I cry everytime I look at my poor fish. I feel like a big mean moron. Why don't they tell you to fishless cycle at the stores. They knew about cycling enough to tell me that 4 platies would HELP. ugh! Any advice? I don't have anyone here who can watch them for me in the temp.


edit: I'm double or triple dosing the prime as the bottle says that can help with an overload of nitrite.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

It should lock up of the nitrites for at least 24 hours. Just keep with the water changes. It will end soon.

 

[FishFanatic04]

ugg. thanks..just gave em all a bite of a pea...lucky they will eat them from me...don't want to foul the water any worse then it is. Thanks for the reply...I felt calmer right away.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

If it makes you feel better, I just did a fish in cycle with two 7 inch tiger oscars. I did water changes 3 times a days sometimes. Not to mention i siphoned the tank of poo quite a few times a day too. It sucks, but it will get better. do yu have any friends with mature tanks that can give you some media?

 

[FishFanatic04]

I'm the only person I know who keeps fish I would have found some media by now otherwise. I already put some extra sponges into my filter so hopefully if this cycle ever finishes I'll have my own that I can move around.

 

[Man of fish]

I'm the only one I know that keeps fish too except 2 other kids but 1 knows nothing and the other just traded his 5 gallon set-up for a 37 gallon tank and a very old external filter so I don't have any mature media to my disposal. (1st guy throws away his media and didn't care when I told him that started his cycle over.)

 

[FishFanatic04]

Hope this cycle ends soon. Any guess on how long the nitrites usually spike? Its been 6 days at least of off the chart craziness.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

It depends. Mine lasted 4 days, but I used mature media from my other tanks.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Well Bummer. Maybe only few days left. Luckily I'm getting so good at water changes. Didn't spill a drop on the last one (this morning I dazed off and overflowed my bucket again)

I'm the only one I know that keeps fish too except 2 other kids but 1 knows nothing and the other just traded his 5 gallon set-up for a 37 gallon tank and a very old external filter so I don't have any mature media to my disposal. (1st guy throws away his media and didn't care when I told him that started his cycle over.)

good thing we have this forum

 

[Man of fish]

Halaluhah for that.

 

[snazy]

Depending on the fish you have, you can use aquarium salt temporary to make the nitrites less toxic to the fish. Prime is ok, but if your nitrites are too high it maybe detoxifying just a tiny bit of them only.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I have 4 platies. Would I be able to do that with them? Is there a way to use kosher salt...Kinda strapped on cash for a couple days and by Monday, I hate to see the state my fish are in.

 

[snazy]

Platies will be just fine with salt. But you have to use one that doesn't have iodine and anticacking agents. Surely a supermarket would have some marine simple salt for nearly nothing.

Make sure you don't just dump the salt in the tank, but melt it with a bit of tank water first. I am not sure how much salt for nitrites, but standard dose is 1 table spoon per every 5 gallons. You can also add it gradually not to stress the fish, like half of tablespoon per 5G today and another half tomorrow, but I have personally put that amount at once with no issues whatsoever exactly when I was cycling with fish.

 

[Tizer]

stick with the water changes to dilute the toxins, salt is just a cheeky short cut which really just makes for more work for yourself and something else to worry about.

 

[snazy]

Salt is proven to detoxify the toxicity of nitrites for fish and will not harm them in short term, but may safe the fish in a nitrite spike like that. And if there are only platies in it, once the tank is cycled, regular water changes will eventually get rid of it.