Faye Rod

First - I apologize that I am cycling with fish. Due to ignorance. And I haven't been able to find Bio Spira at any of our LFS. So I am testing and doing 25% water changes - every day sometimes twice a day. Lots of work but it is starting to pay off and I am relieved that the info I have read here has helped me to get to this point - I trust you!

So....my info is updated - Tank set up 8 weeks ago (a couple of beginner mistakes needless to say) Today: ammonia 0 nitrite 1.0 before 25% waterchange and .5 after nitrate 5.0 for a week now

I think I'm in the final stretch - I've read that salt is not good for freshwater aquariums but it is recommended on another site when nitrites are between .5 and 1.0 (1/2 oz of salt per 1 gallon and increase aeration). What is the reason for that? And should I turn up the temp while the nitrites are spiking?

I have 1 pleco, 2 guppies, and 6 cherry barbs in a 55 gallon tank.

Blub

COBettaCouple

I've never heard of using salt when nitrites are up. Partial water changes is the way to deal with it and using Prime for the tap water conditioner.

Faye Rod

The site is http://freshaquarium.about.com/ There is a link to get charts where you can plot your water test results for ammonia or nitrite and advice under the chart. I've noticed that fishlore responses always recommend against adding salt to freshwater aquariums and just wondered. In one of the About articles salt is recommended to treat nitrite poisoning in a tank?

To be truthful - one of the reasons I'm asking is that a friend recommended adding salt when I first set up my tank. Although the pH is 8.2 the water is treated by the community and is very soft. So right after I added salt the 10 tetras (victims of my ignorance for sure) died. This was before I was paying attention to the nitrogen cycle and they had lived in the tank for a week - no ammonia or any parts of the cycle had occured yet. I'm sure the pH contributed to their demise since they are not listed as one of the hardier fish. Anyway.....I have a container of salt and will never add it again.