Nitrites Extremely High! (5Th Week Of Cycle)

[homgra]

Hey guys I'm just wondering what I can do to get my nitrites down, I do water changes nearly every other day, and only feed my fish twice daily. I seem to have some algae growing on the back of the tank, as well as on some of the fake plants.
 
My current readings :
ammonia 0-.25ppm
nitrite : at least 5ppm read dark purple on api kit
nitrate : 20ppm

 

[Mamashack]

to TFF, homgra, sorry you're having these problems. You've come to the right place to get help.
We could do with some more information - about the tank including dimensions, the equipment you have in it, whether you cycled the tank before adding fish, what fish you have and in what numbers, what % of the water you are changing, whether you are adding a chlorine/chloramine remover.
 
Whilst your numbers are high I'd certainly cut feeding your fish to a very small amount once every 3rd day to stop the numbers getting much higher. That's an extremely high nitrIte reading and leads me to believe you haven't cycled the tank. If you have cycled it something has gone badly wrong.
 
NitrItes are only marginally less toxic to fish than ammonia so you'll have to continue with the water changes preferably 50% daily if you can manage it. It's definitely a good idea to test your tap water to see what figures you get with that. Usually ammonia and nitrItes are 0, but it's always useful to know the nitrAte level and the pH if you've got that handy.
 
The algae may be caused by prolonged lighting so tell us how long your lights are on each day too, please.

 

[Xzavier247]

To keep the levels down
 
Water changes 25-50% daily IF there is fish
Feed once a day (fish can go 20 days without eating)
Nitrates aren't as toxic as nitrites, But having a few live plants or even moss balls would help maintain the Nitrate levels.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You rarely need to change water for nitrites during cycling. There is a much better way that will protect the fish and will get your tank cycled much faster. Please read this article http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/433778-rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il/
 
The important thing to understand about nitrite when it gets inside a fish is that there is little one can do to  remove it. This happens naturally over a day or two. The most effective method for handling nitrite is not to allow it to get inside. Trying to do this with repeated water changes is the least effective method since there will be a nitrite buildup which causing nitrite to enter, then one does a water change to lower nitrites which rise back up. This means the fish is exposed to nitrite for extended periods. because the nitrite levels are lower from water changes, the completion of the cycle is extended. By using chloride, which blocks the nitrite from entering the fish, the cycle can move ahead at its best possible rate and finish fairly quickly. Plus any stress new fish experience from repeated water changes is avoided.
 
I also take exception to the description of nitrite as being only marginally less toxic than ammonia. NH3 is the toxic form of ammonia and it begins doing harm at a concentrations of .05 ppm or less for some things. Nitrite, on he other hand, can be tolerated at much higher levels. 1 ppm of nitrite is 20 times the concentration of NH3 at .05 ppm. On an API set of test kits one ppm of ammonia is converted into 2.5 ppm of nitrite. Chloride can block the effects of nitrite, there is almost nothing that does that for ammonia- salt will provide a small amount of relief but not enough to help with the typical ammonia levels encountered during cycling.