Newbies With High Nitrite And Nitrate Level In My Tank

[frenchfishkeeper]

hi there
i really need some help from anyone to tell me how could i reduce my level of nitrate/nitrite in my tank because they are so high
4 weeks ago i bought a fluval roma 125.i left the water to cycle for 2 weeks and everything was all right.
the nitrate level was 20 and the nitrite level was 0.2.
so i start to introduce 5 live plant in my tank and after a couple of day the level of nitrate/nitrite was still the same.
i went to the fish shop and in the space of 10 days i bought
3 lemon tetras
2 American flag fish
8 rummy nose tetra
2 gold/marble veil tail angel fish
1 peperred corydoras
1 albino corydoras
1 loxozonus corydoras
1 julli corydoras
2 green tiger barb
1 Siamese fighting fish
2 dwarf gourami
i test the water of my tank every day and it seems to start to rise up slowly but nothing really alarming
when i spoke with the shopkeeper he say to me it was normal because of the live plant and the 24 fish and it should lower with time
but since a week now the level of nitrite went up to 6 and the nitrate went up to 100 which is absolutely unacceptable for my fish
i did some partial water change every day since and add some NUTRAFIN CYCLE each time and each time the level kept rising up and i don t know what to do anymore to reduce them
all my fish seems to be all right but i do know for fact the water quality is really bad for them which annoyed me extremely because i love all of my fish and i ll be really disappointed if i lose any of them
please could anyone let me know what s going so wrong in my tank and what should i do
thanks for my fish and me in advance

 

[amandalynn]

I would say it is due to adding all those fish at once. Do a fairly large water change and continue monitoring the nitrite/nitrate levels.

 

[Piltdownpaul]

I would change 10% of your water daily-this has worked for me in the past

 

[Mikaila31]

Your tank is in the middle of cycling. Leaving it sit for two weeks doesn't do anything and the nutrafin cycle doesn't really do anything. I would follow the directions in this thread, you will need a ammonia test kit as well. During the cycle you want to keep ammonia and nitrite at .25ppm or below. Water changes are the best way to reduce nitrite and ammonia, you can do 50% water changes to get the levels down. You should also pick up some Prime to help deal with the ammonia. I also suggest returning some of the fish, the rummies, angels, and gouramis are sensitive fish and most likely won't survive the effects of the cycle. Here is another link that explains how your tank cycles.

Also getting some filter media from a already cycled tank will help A LOT in speeding up your cycle. You can sometimes get this from friends or family if they have a tank, or from LPS. There are also many members on here willing to donate mature filter media. If you are able to get a hold of some make sure it stays wet, and just add it to your filter.

 

[milly the fishkeeper]

it sounds to me you weren't patient enough
a lot of new fishkeepers don't give there tanks long enough to mature and buy a lot of stock the tank water cycle can't cope so the water perimeters rise
too many fish too much feeding the tank should of been left to mature for i would say about 6 weeks instead of 2
don't rinse the filter media under a running tap use a bit of tank water to clean the filter media

 

[fry_lover]

as already said....

water changes, water changes, water changes if you want to reduce the suffering of your fish / potential damage and also longer term damage to them through such high nitrite levels.

forget 10% a day though (no offence to dude who said that) thats no where near enough Nitrite infested water is getting changed with 10%

Nutrafin Cycle does NOTHING in my experience, and that includes me testing with using it experimentally on some tanks. It wont do any harm, keep adding if it makes you feel better, but i dont think it will up to much despite it greats claims

Best bet is to get some mature media for your filters, but its a long shot if you dont have another mature tank a friend who has one? As already said

EDIT: this should be in the emergency section of the forum, you might get help faster

EDIT: dont freak too much about the nirtrate levels, that will no way be as much as a problem as those nitrIte readings. The nitrate can be slowly reduced as you go, it wont kill your fish or even harm them if its been a gradual build up

 

[fry_lover]

Your tank is in the middle of cycling. Leaving it sit for two weeks doesn't do anything and the nutrafin cycle doesn't really do anything. I would follow the directions in this thread, you will need a ammonia test kit as well. During the cycle you want to keep ammonia and nitrite at .25ppm or below. Water changes are the best way to reduce nitrite and ammonia, you can do 50% water changes to get the levels down. You should also pick up some Prime to help deal with the ammonia. I also suggest returning some of the fish, the rummies, angels, and gouramis are sensitive fish and most likely won't survive the effects of the cycle. Here is another link that explains how your tank cycles.

Also getting some filter media from a already cycled tank will help A LOT in speeding up your cycle. You can sometimes get this from friends or family if they have a tank, or from LPS. There are also many members on here willing to donate mature filter media. If you are able to get a hold of some make sure it stays wet, and just add it to your filter.

I have to say, i think this is a great response from this guy Mikaila31, helpful, straight to the point

I am suprised no fish has gone to fishy heaven in that tank, i am not mocking you, just saying, good luck with it

 

[frenchfishkeeper]

Your tank is in the middle of cycling. Leaving it sit for two weeks doesn't do anything and the nutrafin cycle doesn't really do anything. I would follow the directions in this thread, you will need a ammonia test kit as well. During the cycle you want to keep ammonia and nitrite at .25ppm or below. Water changes are the best way to reduce nitrite and ammonia, you can do 50% water changes to get the levels down. You should also pick up some Prime to help deal with the ammonia. I also suggest returning some of the fish, the rummies, angels, and gouramis are sensitive fish and most likely won't survive the effects of the cycle. Here is another link that explains how your tank cycles.

Also getting some filter media from a already cycled tank will help A LOT in speeding up your cycle. You can sometimes get this from friends or family if they have a tank, or from LPS. There are also many members on here willing to donate mature filter media. If you are able to get a hold of some make sure it stays wet, and just add it to your filter.

I have to say, i think this is a great response from this guy Mikaila31, helpful, straight to the point

I am suprised no fish has gone to fishy heaven in that tank, i am not mocking you, just saying, good luck with it

thank you so much everyone from my fish and me for your help
you made me understand where i made a mistake.
tomorrow first thing i going to my local fish shop and buy all the necessary medication and equipment i need to finish the cycle in my tank with the fish and hopefully everything will be all right
as solon as it s done and the level are back to normal i will let you know
thanks again for your help