Nitrite Nitrite Nitrite!

[inveritas]

Hello,

I just did a test on my small 5G tank and got these results:

• PH 7.2
• PH high range 7.3
• Ammonia 0.5
• Nitrite > 5 (off the charts)
• Nitrate 10ppm

I have already done a 50% water change but it's not doing enough - it's not my tap water because I tested that as well. What should I quickly do before my fishes start dying? I've added extra doses of Prime hoping to reduce the toxicity for now.

Thanks!

 

[techen]

Your filter looks uncycled. You must remove that ammonia with a large waterchange or you run the risk of your fish dying.

 

[inveritas]

Your filter looks uncycled. You must remove that ammonia with a large waterchange or you run the risk of your fish dying.

I just did another 75% water change and the Nitrite is still >5...it was 0.25 in the bucket right before I added it to the tank!

 

[techen]

Your filter looks uncycled. You must remove that ammonia with a large waterchange or you run the risk of your fish dying.

I just did another 75% water change and the Nitrite is still >5...it was 0.25 in the bucket right before I added it to the tank!

I didn't mean change water for your nitrite, It was more for your ammonia which could have killed your fish right away. In terms of Nitrite are you testing it right? Is your test kit faulty? Seems strange that your Nitrite would be off the scale after a 75% water change

 

[inveritas]

Your filter looks uncycled. You must remove that ammonia with a large waterchange or you run the risk of your fish dying.

I just did another 75% water change and the Nitrite is still >5...it was 0.25 in the bucket right before I added it to the tank!

I didn't mean change water for your nitrite, It was more for your ammonia which could have killed your fish right away. In terms of Nitrite are you testing it right? Is your test kit faulty? Seems strange that your Nitrite would be off the scale after a 75% water change

Yes, I am using 2 different kits, Waterlife and API showing the same results. The Nitrite spiked the moment the water was transferred to the tank. I'm starting to suspect it might be the gravel.

 

[techen]

Your filter looks uncycled. You must remove that ammonia with a large waterchange or you run the risk of your fish dying.

I just did another 75% water change and the Nitrite is still >5...it was 0.25 in the bucket right before I added it to the tank!

I didn't mean change water for your nitrite, It was more for your ammonia which could have killed your fish right away. In terms of Nitrite are you testing it right? Is your test kit faulty? Seems strange that your Nitrite would be off the scale after a 75% water change

Yes, I am using 2 different kits, Waterlife and API showing the same results. The Nitrite spiked the moment the water was transferred to the tank. I'm starting to suspect it might be the gravel.

What kind of graval is it? Cause it must be something crazy to do that to your nitrite

 

[inveritas]

Your filter looks uncycled. You must remove that ammonia with a large waterchange or you run the risk of your fish dying.

I just did another 75% water change and the Nitrite is still >5...it was 0.25 in the bucket right before I added it to the tank!

I didn't mean change water for your nitrite, It was more for your ammonia which could have killed your fish right away. In terms of Nitrite are you testing it right? Is your test kit faulty? Seems strange that your Nitrite would be off the scale after a 75% water change

Yes, I am using 2 different kits, Waterlife and API showing the same results. The Nitrite spiked the moment the water was transferred to the tank. I'm starting to suspect it might be the gravel.

What kind of graval is it? Cause it must be something crazy to do that to your nitrite

It was from the LFS and looks like this:

I've had one casualty to the Nitrite (I think), but so far the other 4 fishes seem unaffected by it (been going on for 3 days).

 

[techen]

If the gravel is from the LFS, It's HIGHLY unlike to be that. I'd push it to say your filter is really not cycled and can't handle th fish load. Could be wrong of course.

 

[Zikofski]

your doing a fish in cycle now, i presume your filter has had something wrong that is causing this to happen, count your fish has one gone up into your filter or one missing and you have not seen it yet?,

if you can get your hands on this its a UK product i think i got it from maidenhead aquatics when i have exactly the same problem, i did a 75 to 100% water change, and then litray pored this stuff into my filter over the bio balls and foam pads and by next morning everything was fine , ALSO make sure you doing the test right, probably not this but sake the living hell out of the bottles first and ensure you are doing it right, if so then keep doing water changes untill it drops 5G tank so shouldn't be much of a problem to keep doing water change every hour if need be, unlike my 330L tank haha

again i used this product http/fishkeeper.co.uk/site/product/colombo-bactuur-gel

and it worked for me to re cycle the tank

 

[inveritas]

your doing a fish in cycle now, i presume your filter has had something wrong that is causing this to happen, count your fish has one gone up into your filter or one missing and you have not seen it yet?,

if you can get your hands on this its a UK product i think i got it from maidenhead aquatics when i have exactly the same problem, i did a 75 to 100% water change, and then litray pored this stuff into my filter over the bio balls and foam pads and by next morning everything was fine

, ALSO make sure you doing the test right, probably not this but sake the living hell out of the bottles first and ensure you are doing it right, if so then keep doing water changes untill it drops 5G tank so shouldn't be much of a problem to keep doing water change every hour if need be, unlike my 330L tank haha

again i used this product http/fishkeeper.co...mbo-bactuur-gel

and it worked for me to re cycle the tank

My filter seems fine and there's nothing stuck in it, and I've been to 2-3 LFS these couple days but did not come across that product. In Asia where I'm from we don't even have Tetra SafeStart or Stability, just really shady "bacteria" in generic bottles The tests are fine on my tap and conditioned water, but results spike RIGHT AFTER I poured it into the tank (crazy, I know right)!

 

[snazy]

For a start, do several water changes in a row and get ammonia and nitrIte to 0, then test regularly to see how fast it rises and do as many large water changes as needed to bring it back down.

 

[inveritas]

For a start, do several water changes in a row and get ammonia and nitrIte to 0, then test regularly to see how fast it rises and do as many large water changes as needed to bring it back down.

I just did another 80% change, and tested immediately after. Nitrite was still >5ppm. Did a retest on the tap water which showed 1ppm (rather high ain't it?). Ammonia after the change was 0.5ppm.

Should I take my fish and filter out of the tank and clean everything (100% WC?) I suspect that uneaten food beneath the gravel is being converted into Ammonia too fast and there aren't any bacteria to chew on the converted Nitrites yet.

 

[Zikofski]

yes gravel is a pain when it comes to this, you can do this if you can facilitate this, fine a big enough tank for them, put the same filter and stuff in that tank, i would give your gravel and good clean that will help take it out and clean it again so to speak that is what i would do, if you can invest for the future is sand this will lessen this problem in the future,

at the end of the day sounds like you are over feeding your fish and should cut down on the feeding if the food is falling between the gravel and decomposing,

1ppm in your tank water is a little high but there is nothing you can do about that really, just check over night that once you do have say 0ppm or 1ppm in your tank after a water change check it goes down over night, il be honest i am amazed how your fish are still alive being in greater than 5ppm haha i lost a fish when i had about 4ppm

100% water change would be great, it cant do any more damage that what you already have , again like snazy said keep doing water changes until it reduces to at least 1ppm of your tap water if you still have >5ppm after a 100% water change then there is either something wrong with your tap water or testing kit, can i ask you using hot water to fill it up or boiling cold water? as my hot water coming out of my tap is around 4ppm where as my cold tap is 0ppm don't know why this is i guess its caused by something within the hot water tank

i preheat my water in a wheelie bin but for you, you could just partially boil some water mix with cold to get the right temp

 

[inveritas]

yes gravel is a pain when it comes to this, you can do this if you can facilitate this, fine a big enough tank for them, put the same filter and stuff in that tank, i would give your gravel and good clean that will help take it out and clean it again so to speak that is what i would do, if you can invest for the future is sand this will lessen this problem in the future,

at the end of the day sounds like you are over feeding your fish and should cut down on the feeding if the food is falling between the gravel and decomposing,

1ppm in your tank water is a little high but there is nothing you can do about that really, just check over night that once you do have say 0ppm or 1ppm in your tank after a water change check it goes down over night, il be honest i am amazed how your fish are still alive being in greater than 5ppm haha i lost a fish when i had about 4ppm

100% water change would be great, it cant do any more damage that what you already have , again like snazy said keep doing water changes until it reduces to at least 1ppm of your tap water if you still have >5ppm after a 100% water change then there is either something wrong with your tap water or testing kit, can i ask you using hot water to fill it up or boiling cold water? as my hot water coming out of my tap is around 4ppm where as my cold tap is 0ppm don't know why this is i guess its caused by something within the hot water tank

i preheat my water in a wheelie bin but for you, you could just partially boil some water mix with cold to get the right temp

To be honest I'm quite amazed at how my fish are alive too, I've 2 Neons, a Silvertip Tetra and a CAE in my tank now. One died yesterday, I assume due to the Nitrite levels. I've used 2 brands of test kits and they both show consistent results, unless I have something in my tap water that screws with the tests.

I'll look into sand, but right now I need to get the tank cycled before anything I use room temperature water mixed with Prime - I heard that boiling water removes the minerals needed for fish, is that true?

Thanks for helping out!

 

[Zikofski]

hmm okay i have not herd of that with boiling hmm, be interesting to know if that is true i only used it one or twice when i had my small tank not in my big tank but room temp water should be fine then

your welcome hope your able to find out the problem and fix it soon before more loss