richard7467

ok at what level would you say nitrites really start stressing your fish?

JohnB

well, are you still working on cycling the tank? or was there a water change that brought the ammonia and nitrite levels up?

steveangela1

Nitrites can stress your fish at trace amounts.. I would call it an emergent situation over 1.0 ppm

richard7467

Well I cycled the tank fishless and that finished about three weeks but i noticed the nitrates at around 20 so as the good book says changed 25% water then a day or so later .3 nitrite I have now done 5 more changes but the nitrites still seem to stick at .3!! I treated the water before adding so I shouldn,t have killed off any of the original bacteria...am I experiencing a mini cycle? Do I need to worry? as my fish seem happy enough eating, swimming normally even playing (well thats what it looks like) etc.

Butterfly

Hows your ammonia level? Ammonia changes to Nitrites then nitrites change to Nitrate.
Have you added fish or done anything different?
carol

richard7467

ammonia at zero i added 6 cardinals, should i just let the nitrites sort themselves out dont want to start adding more chemicals and possibly causing more problems. nitrates at 10.

Butterfly

Your tank is just reacting to the fish you added. The bacteria will change the Nitrites to less toxic Nitrates. When adding fish try to add only a couple at a time(even small ones) then you won't have such a spike. Each time you add fish the bacteria has to grow and the ammonia to Nitrites to Nitrates progression is a sign it's growing. Only if theres a huge spike is it dangerous. If you haven't done a water change do one, if you have give it a day or two and check again.
Carol

richard7467

thanks i'll test and change the water again tomorrow

Butterfly

cool! Let us know. a little tip.. after doing a water change wait 24hrs before testing so the water can mix and level out.
Carol

richard7467

will do

richard7467

tested nitrites today they are dropping down to .1ppm so i'll leave the water change til friday as I only changed the water a 3 days ago.

Lucy

Hi Richard,
I wouldn't wait until Fri, I would do a water change today and test again tomorrow.

chickadee

The really serious levels of parameters are:

Ammonia 0.25
Nitrites 1.0
Nitrates 20

Anything below that is livable and the water change can be held off for a day or so but testing should be done daily and when they reach near or at any of those levels, if you have fish, you need to do a good water change.

Rose