maggie

i was just wondering how long it takes for the nitrite spike to go away? its been about two weeks since my nitrites started to spike. they have been getting higher every day. yesterday they were at 2 so i did a water change, and today i checked and its up to 5! is that normal considering i did a 30% water change just yesterday? am i doing something wrong?

also i noticed something a bit odd when i do water changes. the water gets cloudy and the intake tube and water run off 'slide' get this white film over them. it goes away after a few hours but i'm assuming that is not a good thing. to top things off one of my guppies has sprouted some cottony fluff on its mouth. is it likely that the cause is the nitrite spike?

Luniyn

Stress is normally the reason fish get infections or diseases as their immune system is weakened. And high nitrites would be a cause of stress. At this stage I would be doing 20% water changes at least every day if not 2 times a day just until they get under control. You could also use a product like Prime or Amquel+ to help keep them from being toxic to the fish. Also if you want to keep the levels down for right now then slow down the amount of food you are feeding your fish. The high level of ammonia in the tank (even if the test reads 0, that just means that it's all being eaten, not that there isn't any being produced in the tank) is what is causing your high level of nitrite. The good bacteria eat the ammonia and then their waste is nitrite. So if you limit the amount of food in the tank then that won't cause any ammonia, and the fish will produce less waste which will also produce less ammonia. In return you will get less nitrite being produced. As far as length of time it tanks, unfortunately that varies drastically between one person and another. The fact that you are getting a big spike does mean that you are well into that phase of the cycle. It will soon taper off and then one day it will just be gone. Keep up the water changes and you will be good to go.

As far as the fish with the cotton looking stuff, I'm not an expert in treating disease so I will leave that to the more experienced. Sorry I couldn't be of more help in that regard.

maggie

thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely start limiting the food a bit. i just did a 70% water change to get the big 5 down so hopefully this will help keep it under control. now on to the fluff

Carillon

It could be columnaris, which is a bacterial infection that causes cottony white growths around the mouth among other possible symptoms. Treatment is usually an antibacterial. Apparently the sulfas are effective, though I've also read erythromycin, maracyn I and II, tetracycline, and kanamycin. Seems like everyone has a different opinion on what works best!

As any antibacterial would seriously mess up your cycle at this point, I'd highly recommend treating in a quarantine tank (with no carbon in the filter, naturally) if you decide to medicate.

0morrokh

Put the Guppy into a separate q tank and medicate with pretty much any general anti-bacterial medication--one of the Maracyns, Tetracycline, Triple Sulfa, Jungle Fungus Clear, etc. I'm not sure if there's any particular med that's best for mouth fungus...let's see if anyone else knows. For a lot of bacterial diseases in the early stages it doesn't matter much what you treat with.

The infection was caused by the stress of the high nitrites. If your nitrites are up to 5 (which is extremely toxic), you need to be doing daily 50% water changes at least.

I would not add anything to the water, like Prime or Amquel+, at this point, because they will only stop the progression of the cycle. If you ever stop using the product, you will get another nitrite spike because there will be nothing to remove it anymore (if you remove it with chemicals, then the bacteria that would normally convert it to nitrates won't grow).

Since you are cycling with fish, the whole process can take quite a while, probably 6 weeks to 2 months or longer. Just hang in there, and the nitrites will start going down eventually.

Oh, and when you see cloudiness that is a bacterial bloom. Something in the water change (maybe you disturbed the bacteria in the filter or gravel, or maybe the new water added extra nutrients, who knows...) triggered a sudden growth of bacteria. This is very normal while cycling a tank and nothing to worry about. It should stop happening once the tank is cycled.

Well, hope this helps and hopefully I covered everything. Let us know how the tank and Guppy are doing.

Luniyn

Just wanted to point out that this isn't correct. Prime and Amquel+ do not remove ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate from the tank. They simply bind up the toxic parts of those chemicals so that they can't hurt the fish. The bound up chemicals still need to be eaten by the good bacteria so the cycle is not slowed down at all. If you stop using Prime or Amquel+ nothing different in the tank will happen. It will not cause a spike to occur just because you stopped using either one. If a spike occurs it will occur even if you are using Prime or Amquel+, its just that it will have a much smaller chance of actually hurting your fish. You still need to do water changes to get it under control, and the good bacteria will still have plenty to eat to grow and complete the cycle.