Nitrites! Buttloads!

[severina]

Ok...so I had a nitrite spike in my tank, right? I changed 50% of the water...of course the level was reducued by half...and I kept on changing 20% of the water for a few days. Then I skipped a day...and now the nitrites are back up to 5/10 ppm (can't tell..its somewhere in between.) What's going on here!? What did I do wrong? My fish are all ok...still alive and everything (6 rosies and a pleco.) Maybe just a little cold since I broke their heater doing the first change (yeah I forgot to unplug it..) I bought a new one from petsmart but it doesn't seem to work. I'm just really frustrated here becuase I dunno what the problem is.
Why isn't good bacteria forming in my tank? Its been running for a month with fish in it with no problems. I even put in Cycle for a bit (then ran out.) I haven't put any medication into the tank..so I just...I dunno.

 

[black angel]

How many gallons is the tank and how many fish and what types do you have. What is the filter you are using as well.
With the water being cold have you got a thermometer to check the temperature? It takes the cycle longer if the water isnt warm and if it gets below a certain level then you will see high nitrites but thats usually with really cold water and unless you fill with cold tap water it shouldnt happen.
Also if you are overstocked or the filter isnt big enough then the tank just wont cycle properly. What test kit are you using and how old is it. Do you add anything other than dechlorinator?
If you havent got a thermometer then please get one to check how the temperature is.

 

[severina]

Its a 55 gallon and I've got an aqua tech filter for a 60 gallon, I have 6 rosyreds and a pleco as I stated (I had 3 corys in there but they couldn't take the cold so I took them out and put them in my betta tank). My digital thermometer isn't picking up the temp for some reason. I put one tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons and I just bought the test kit a week ago, its called quick dip.

Just checked with my thermometer from my other tank, and its 55F. Jesus, poor babies.

Forgot to add, my filter has bio fibers.

 

[black angel]

Basically you have a cold water tank and the rosyreds will be ok with that. I think the cycle is going really slow because the temperature is so low. If you had it fully cycled then that temperature could easily have caused it to cycle again as the bacteria died off.
If the heater you got isnt working then try turning the knob to the right and if it doesnt click on then I would take it back and get another. Just remember to only have it switched on when its in the water.
You dont need the salt either.

 

[severina]

Well....I actually got the heater to work, so I'm slowly raising the temp. So how do I go about getting rid of the nitrites in the warmer water?

 

[Vegan Peaches]

There are products to "lock" it, but they really aren't needed. Once the temp goes back up, the bacteria will do their jobs again. Do a daily water change to keep Nitrite levels down until the bacteria can do it alone ^^

 

[severina]

Damn it...thats gonna suck. But I'll do it. 20% sound good?

 

[Vegan Peaches]

20-25% every day should be good as it will remove a good portion of the nitrites without stressing out the fish too much.

 

[black angel]

Try to keep them around 1 or just below and then eventually the filter should on its own get them to 0.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would just like to add its a really bad idea to use salt with catfish like plecs, it can harm them quite badly as their skin cant handle it well- stupid(but important) question: Are you using dechlorinator in all the water that goes into the tank?

 

[Torrean]

How quickly are you raising the temp? more than 2 or so degrees farenheit in a day is a bad idea. If I have to change the temp I usually go 1 degree every other day. The lock chems mentioned earlier should not prevent the cycle btw. They change the form of the ammo into something that doesn't hurt fish in small quantities but it can still be consumed by the bacteria (if we are thinking of the same product.) So if you really can't get your cycle going I would invest in some of Ammo-lock and NI-lock if they make it I've never seen an NI-lock. They will however give you false readings so frequent water changes are still a good idea. Good luck =)

 

[severina]

Umm...the temp has already been raised about 5 degrees..so...thats going to be my bad. But the fish seem quite happy about it. *shrug* Maybe they are super fish. Also...I'd rather not use any "locking" chemicals...just because they confuse me, but I think I'll go invest in a big bottle of "Cycle", along with water changes.

I've had my pleco in slightly salted water since I got it and he's doing great, also, the water at my work (where I got him) had salt in it too. If I did a water change without the salt, would that be too much of a shock for the fish? How would I go about removing the salt from the tank?
For the love of pie...yes I use dechlorinator.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Many commonly sold plecs out there are extremely hardy, but salt will still harm them just as much as any other catfish, if you have been regually using salt i would start to lower it by doing a 20% water every 2days- salt is only a med, and unless you have brackish or semi-brackish fish, should never be used long term with freshwater fish; its would be like us drinking 9pints of beer and suffering from serious sunburn everyday, it knackers out their protective slime coat, damages their liver/kidneys and causes alot of general stress. So is not a good idea.
You should only use salt if you are treating such deseases as finrot or fungus really, its good at killing alot of skin parasites out there, its also beneficial on mollys as they need alot of minerals and vitamins in their diet, particually salt, to stay healthy in a freshwater enviroment, but you need to put you freshwater fish first if you are doing a freshwater tank .

 

[black angel]

The amount of salt 1 tablespoon for 5 gallons is only giving you .1% or just below it in salinity, and though wont affect the fish doesnt help them either as that level is just a tonic for stressed fish. To remove it just do a small water change each day or two and dont add the salt, none of the fish will miss it