Question On Nitrites

[sheeno]

Hi all,
Brand new to the site and i'm hoping you guys can answer my question.

I have a 65lt tank that was running fishless for 8 days with Stress coat and stress zyme products as instructed by LFS guys.

On day nine i added a couple of plecs and 5 neon tetra's, also as instructed by LFS.

Everything seems fine and the fish are bimbling about quite happily but.......

The Nitrite levels are between 0.25ppm to 1.0ppm

The thing is that i did a 25% water change on day 12 and a 50% waterchange on day 13

The Nitrite levels are still the same..thinking about getting something like Nitra zorb but i'm unsure...

Help please

 

[mark.w.jones]

Your high nitrite levels are a worry and unfortunately will not get lower and remain steadily at 0 for a few weeks as your tank is still cycling at the moment. Anything above 0 is bad for your fish. All you can do is daily (or ever other day) water changes of around 20% obviously with dechlorinated water. Keep measuring your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels every day until the ammonia and nitrite drop off to zero. When you reach this point you have a cycled tank capables of coping with the fish you have in there. Wait until you reach this point before adding more fish and even if you do only and 2 / 3 and leave them for a few weeks to allow new bacteria to establish

In the meantime read all the pinned articles at the top of this forum and next time you start a new tank consider fishless cycling. Dead easy to do, especially with media from an established tank.

With regard to your stocking. Neons are quite weedy and flakey. Dont be surprised if you lose a few in the next couple of months. Also what species of plec do you have, it has major bearings on what else you can add?

 

[zoekin8yg]

not much you can do as you have the fish in there now, but in future consider a fishless cycle http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...&hl=methods

 

[sheeno]

I really wanted to do this properly and i feel i have been sold some duff information by the guys at the shop....

What about this Nitra zorb product..i dont mind splashing the cash if it means helping the little buggers..

 

[zoekin8yg]

I brought some of it today to test in a tempory tank, it wont hurt to try it

 

[@ombomb]

On day nine i added a couple of plecs and 5 neon tetra's, also as instructed by LFS.

Find a new fish shop.

Forget the nitra zorb, the fish you have are not suitable for the tank, rehome them, do some research on more appropriate fish, start again witha proper fishless cycle.

 

[zoekin8yg]

On day nine i added a couple of plecs and 5 neon tetra's, also as instructed by LFS.

Find a new fish shop.

Forget the nitra zorb, the fish you have are not suitable for the tank, rehome them, do some research on more appropriate fish, start again witha proper fishless cycle.

Why dont you think the fish are suitable? I know they arent for fish cycling but his tank is fine as far as I can tell for tetras?!

Ive just put the nitrasorb in my tempory betta tank will let you know if it works in the morning

 

[n3ont3tra]

What type of Plecs did you get? Could you post any pics if you don't know?

 

[PaPeRo]

Hi all,
Brand new to the site and i'm hoping you guys can answer my question.

I have a 65lt tank that was running fishless for 8 days with Stress coat and stress zyme products as instructed by LFS guys.

On day nine i added a couple of plecs and 5 neon tetra's, also as instructed by LFS.

Everything seems fine and the fish are bimbling about quite happily but.......

The Nitrite levels are between 0.25ppm to 1.0ppm

The thing is that i did a 25% water change on day 12 and a 50% waterchange on day 13

The Nitrite levels are still the same..thinking about getting something like Nitra zorb but i'm unsure...

Help please

Did you test the Nitrite level before or after you added the fish? What about ammonia levels?

Also alot of people are not aware that after using Stress Coat to condition their tap water, Ammonia appears from the breakupof Chloramine into Chlorine and Ammonia. Of course this will mean you're basically adding food for the bacteria through the water changes hence the Nitrite level staying the same.

 

[@ombomb]

Why dont you think the fish are suitable? I know they arent for fish cycling but his tank is fine as far as I can tell for tetras?!

Ive just put the nitrasorb in my tempory betta tank will let you know if it works in the morning

Neons are extremely delicate fish, they ideally should be in a larger tank and definitely shouldn't be added until the tank is mature.

Virtually all plecs will grow too big for a 17G and even if by chance they're bulldog plecs, two is too many for the tank.

 

[zoekin8yg]

we've got neons in out 60L they are perfectly fine. although our tank is mature

 

[sheeno]

Thanks for the advice guys,
took what Papero said and thought id change the declorinator.

Did another 50% water change tonight and added a declorinator called fresh start by interpet.

I tested the water before water change and it was :

Nitrites= 1.0ppm
Ammonia= 0.50ppm

After the change :

Nitites= 0.25ppm
Ammonia 0.25ppm

So i guess the change is working but i'm still concerned.

If this continues how long till i should expect to start losing fish? Or is that a "how long's a piece of string" kind of question?

 

[andyt_uk]

more like how long is a peice of elastic
the conditions are not ideal, but there is a chance you wont lose any fish, not to say they wont be harmed in some way

someone above suggested a new LFSi'd go so far as to say fine a new fish store even if its not so local, any decent LFS staff would not advse on stocking before a tank is cycled properly

more like how long is a peice of elastic
the conditions are not ideal, but there is a chance you wont lose any fish, not to say they wont be harmed in some way

someone above suggested a new LFSi'd go so far as to say fine a new fish store even if its not so local, any decent LFS staff would not advse on stocking before a tank is cycled properly