Nitrite Issue

[Natasha74]

Hello!
 
I have a bit of a nitrite problem - I test my water daily and it is showing raised levels of nitrite each time.  There is no ammonia, ph is fine too.  I did two water changes yesterday, yet it is still showing raised nitrite.  Do I just need to keep changing the water?  The water is crystal clear, I have a fluval U3 filter, tank is 125l.
 
Any advice?
 
Thanks

 

[the_lock_man]

A bit more info needed, please.
 
Are you still cycling the tank, and how long has the tank been set up?
What are you using to test - strips or liquid drops?
When you say "raised", what is the actual level, in ppm?

 

[NeonBlueLeon]

Do you have any fish in the tank right now?  It sounds like you're in the middle of cycling a tank.  Info about the nitrogen cycle can be found here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/271928-the-nitrogen-cycle/

 

[Natasha74]

I am still cycling the tank - i'm using a nutrafin test kit with liquid drops and when I compare against the chart on the back of the leaflet, its coming out at the 3rd (light raspberry) colour when I would be much happier if it were on the second one... sorry for the lack of numbers, the leaflet is down stairs and the water is no longer in the test tube!


Nitrite has been stable for over a week or so - it was very slighty raised a few days ago, but was came right down with a 20% water change.  This morning it's higher than it's been for a while, although no new fish have been added and the gravel regularly hoovered during the water change.  if that info helps?


the only thing that has changed in the last week is the addition of 25 baby neon swordtails who are currently floating around in their little box....19 born and rescued on Monday, and the rest born and rescued yesterday and the day before...but they can't pee and poo that much can they???

 

[the_lock_man]

I am still cycling the tank - i'm using a nutrafin test kit with liquid drops and when I compare against the chart on the back of the leaflet, its coming out at the 3rd (light raspberry) colour when I would be much happier if it were on the second one... sorry for the lack of numbers, the leaflet is down stairs and the water is no longer in the test tube!


Nitrite has been stable for over a week or so - it was very slighty raised a few days ago, but was came right down with a 20% water change.  This morning it's higher than it's been for a while, although no new fish have been added and the gravel regularly hovered during the water change.  if that info helps?


the only thing that has changed in the last week is the addition of 25 baby neon swordtails who are currently floating around in their little box....19 born and rescued on Monday, and the rest born and rescued yesterday and the day before.

 
I think that's your trouble - if I remember correctly, the 3rd shade of pink on the nutrafin is 1ppm. If you change 20% of the water, you will be left with 0.8ppm, which isn't a big enough difference to show up on the test.
 
Remember, too, that fry may be small, but they still produce ammonia, so that is a significant increase in the bioload on an already overstretched bacteria colony!
 
The way forward for you is much larger water changes. Let the maths guide you - you need to keep the levels of ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm at all times. So if your test shows you have 1ppm, you would need to change 75%, just to get the level to the maximum. But of course, once you done that change, the level will slowly start to go upwards again, as more ammonia is produced by the fish, and converted by the A-bacs. So you would probably need to do another change an hour or so later.
 
So, what I recommend is to do as much of a change to get you to something like 0.1ppm. If you have a level of 1ppm, then you need to do a 90% change. If your level is only 0.5ppm, then something like 75% will suffice. That will give you that breathing space to allow levels to rise, until you are next able to check.
 
Have a read of the green link in my signature area, that will give you a bit more background info.

 

[Mamashack]

It depends how high the nitrItes are. I have platies which are similar to swordtails and after every birth, the nitrItes wobbles a bit, but only a tiny bit - maybe 0-0.25ppm. Always do the water changes and keep a close eye on the levels daily until it disappears altogether. It may just be the increased bio-load. Even tho the fry are small they will be eating small amounts and using their gills to breathe so that will increase the load somewhat.


Ooops we posted at the same time TLM! lol
Oh heck what's happened to the font size!! It suddenly went tiny!

 

[Natasha74]

I am still cycling the tank - i'm using a nutrafin test kit with liquid drops and when I compare against the chart on the back of the leaflet, its coming out at the 3rd (light raspberry) colour when I would be much happier if it were on the second one... sorry for the lack of numbers, the leaflet is down stairs and the water is no longer in the test tube!


Nitrite has been stable for over a week or so - it was very slighty raised a few days ago, but was came right down with a 20% water change.  This morning it's higher than it's been for a while, although no new fish have been added and the gravel regularly hovered during the water change.  if that info helps?


the only thing that has changed in the last week is the addition of 25 baby neon swordtails who are currently floating around in their little box....19 born and rescued on Monday, and the rest born and rescued yesterday and the day before.

 
I think that's your trouble - if I remember correctly, the 3rd shade of pink on the nutrafin is 1ppm. If you change 20% of the water, you will be left with 0.8ppm, which isn't a big enough difference to show up on the test.
 
Remember, too, that fry may be small, but they still produce ammonia, so that is a significant increase in the bioload on an already overstretched bacteria colony!
 
The way forward for you is much larger water changes. Let the maths guide you - you need to keep the levels of ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm at all times. So if your test shows you have 1ppm, you would need to change 75%, just to get the level to the maximum. But of course, once you done that change, the level will slowly start to go upwards again, as more ammonia is produced by the fish, and converted by the A-bacs. So you would probably need to do another change an hour or so later.
 
So, what I recommend is to do as much of a change to get you to something like 0.1ppm. If you have a level of 1ppm, then you need to do a 90% change. If your level is only 0.5ppm, then something like 75% will suffice. That will give you that breathing space to allow levels to rise, until you are next able to check.
 
Have a read of the green link in my signature area, that will give you a bit more background info.

sorry I should have said - that 20% change was a few days ago - I did two water changes yesterday, totalling about 50% to 60% - morning and evening.    Looks like I need to do the same again today then?
 
Also - will it be helpful for me to chuck in a handful of gravel from my other cycled tank to boost the bacteria along?

 

[the_lock_man]

I would say so, yes. When fish-in cycling, the bigger the better, really, but obviously there are practicality issues to consider.

 

[Natasha74]

right - off to do the first change then - thank you so much - will add some gravel from the other tank too - it can't hurt...can it?

 

[Mamashack]

No any mature media you can put in there can only help the new tank as long as there aren't any health issues in the other tank. If you can get some filter media from someone else it would be even better with the same proviso!

 

[the_lock_man]

right - off to do the first change then - thank you so much - will add some gravel from the other tank too - it can't hurt...can it?

 
Definitely. Every little helps!

 

[Natasha74]

Ok - just changed 60% of the water, perhaps more - my maths is terrible.  Also stirred in a large handful of gravel  from my fully cycled tank - (checked the nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and ph of that tank first - all perfect)
 
Accidently tipped over the baby's tank when I was siphoning, so had to spend an hour catching baby fish again - think there's still some left in the tank but there's plenty of places to hide and i'll keep and eye out for them.
 
checked the nitrite after water change - its gone down to pale pink - still not the lowest setting but i'll do another water change tonight and see how that gets on.  Off to get some more biological media for my fluval u3, as it didn't come with much - i'm going to fill the box right up and see if that helps and buy a couple of moss balls too.