10 ppm nitrites for weeks! Help!

[Sanderguy777]

I have 3 tanks that had camallanus worms and treated them with Levamisole. I think that problem is solved, but now the 60g tank has REALLY high nitrites. Nitrites are ok (about 40ppm) but the nitrites are at 10ppm!

I have been doing water changes as much as I can, but they don't even change the ppm at all. The fresh water has no nitrites and few nitrates, and the nilocg ferts I add don't have any either (I thought maybe they would).

Anyway, I'm at a loss and am tired of guppies dying (they were dying of the camallanus before, and now they seem to just be dying from a different thing at the same rate.)

What can I do? I'm not overfeeding them, the cycle might have crashed, but there is no ammonia (0ppm) and I just did a 50% WC the other day and it didn't even budge from 10ppm nitrites. Also, the only fish that are dying off are the guppies. The angelfish, EBAs, plecos, and cories are fine! One angel is a little pale (not showing his stripes), but otherwise they all seem fine!



Anyway, I'm at a loss. Is there something I can add to remove the nitrites? Frankly, with school and work, i just don't have the time to spend doing 100% WCs every day till it's removed. That's not ideal at all, but it's the way it is.

The tank is planted, has fine sand substrate, is like 3 or more years old, and was doing fine before all this camallanus stuff started.

 

[MacZ]

Are measuring mistakes 100% ruled out?

 

[SotaAquatics]

Hmm, so ammonia is 0, nitrates are right within normal levels. I agree with MacZ, perhaps the nitrite test has expired or a bad kit. Did you recently test your tap water for that zero nitrite reading?

 

[Sanderguy777]

Are measuring mistakes 100% ruled out?

I used two separate test strips. Tetra and SJ Wave (recommended by someone on youtube, I forget the name).

Both agree on 10ppm, and both show 0ppm on that water (or less than the lowest ppm that isn't 0). That is as close to for sure as I can get with my equipment.

Hmm, so ammonia is 0, nitrates are right within normal levels. I agree with MacZ, perhaps the nitrite test has expired or a bad kit. Did you recently test your tap water for that zero nitrite reading?

Yes, I did the tap water with both Nilocg macro and another with micro. Both came back as 0ppm (or maybe a little above that but still below the lowest non-zero measurement).

Neither other tank has this issue either. The 55g gets the same food and has about half the stocking as the 60g.

 

[MacZ]

I used two separate test strips. Tetra and SJ Wave (recommended by someone on youtube, I forget the name).

Yeah... And the water of the Nitrate and the Nitrite testing fields did not mix? That's important as they push each other higher.

Teststrips are ok for quick tests of "yes/no" "too much/little at vaguely...", but are by no means any more accurate than that. That's all I myself use them for. They are prone to user error on top of that. So do yourself a favour, as only one species in your tank is having trouble and if it was really nitrites ALL fish would be affected: Get a drip test and do it again to confirm. After that it's necessary to look for other roots to the problem.

Until then, the full emergency template, please. INCLUDING pictures. Otherwise this is just poking around in mirky water.

 

[WRWAquarium]

Can you get a local fish store to check your tank water? Could be quicker than ordering a liquid test and cost nothing too.. Would get an answer too rule out testing errors. Or pick up a liquid test kit.

Agree with emergency template. If this is a huge nitrite spike can you take any media from your 55 gallon filter and put it in this one? Just a small bit to not affect the 55 but may be enough to help the spike in the 60.

 

[MacZ]

If this is a huge nitrite spike can you take any media from your 55 gallon filter and put it in this one? Just a small bit to not affect the 55 but may be enough to help the spike in the 60.

Would be an option, but to be honest, a spike can be ruled out pretty much from the circumstances. The drip test is just to confirm this NOT to be a nitrite spike.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Yeah... And the water of the Nitrate and the Nitrite testing fields did not mix? That's important as they push each other higher.

Teststrips are ok for quick tests of "yes/no" "too much/little at vaguely...", but are by no means any more accurate than that. That's all I myself use them for. They are prone to user error on top of that. So do yourself a favour, as only one species in your tank is having trouble and if it was really nitrites ALL fish would be affected: Get a drip test and do it again to confirm. After that it's necessary to look for other roots to the problem.

Until then, the full emergency template, please. INCLUDING pictures. Otherwise this is just poking around in mirky water.

The SJ Wave ones have the two areas literally about 2 inches apart and I lay them flat so no, the water from one didn't affect the other.

I will try to get the api kit soon, at least the nitrite part. But the SJ Wave strips are for human drinking water testing, so it's probably accurate.

 

[MacZ]

I will try to get the api kit soon, at least the nitrite part. But the SJ Wave strips are for human drinking water testing, so it's probably accurate.

Ok. That's one possible factor out. How do you store them and how old is the package?
Yes I know, it seems pedantic.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Tank
What is the water volume of the tank?
60g
How long has the tank been running?
3+ years
Does it have a filter?
yes, fluval 307
Does it have a heater?
Yes, fluval (150 or 300 watt, I forget. Plenty big enough though).
What is the water temperature?
77.7f
What is the entire stocking of this tank? (Please list all fish and inverts.)
Plants: anubius, crypts, jungle val, Amazon swords.
Fish: two 3" angelfish, 10 or 11 1.5" DBR (rainbowfish), 2 two inch EBAs, 4 2" SAE, some cories (I think 5, but I'm not sure. Some died over the camallanus issue and they hide under the val leaves etc), a 6" sailfin pleco, a 3" clown pleco, a 3" bristlenose pleco, and about 20-25 guppies (another died today!).

Maintenance
How often do you change the water?
About 1x per 2 weeks
How much of the water do you change?
About 50%
What do you use to treat your water?
Prime
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water?
Fine sand substrate, so I usually just change water, or at most hover and pick up the top layer of sand (which then goes in the bucket cause it is too light to get out if the current).

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish?
Yes
What do you use to test the water?
Tetra and JS Wave strips
What are your parameters? We need to know the exact numbers, not just “fine” or “safe”.
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 10ppm
Nitrate: 40-50ppm
pH:

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish?
Every other day
How much do you feed your fish?
At most a tablespoon of tetra flakes, but usually, and recently, only a couple pinches of NLS cichlid pellets. Occasionally some shrimp pellets (also, this is the same as the 55g that isn't having the problem)
What brand of food do you feed your fish?
Do you feed frozen?
No
Do you feed freeze-dried foods?
No

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish?
Since I used them to start the tank cycle 3 ish years ago.
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms?
About 2 or 3 months ago the guppies started dying off and then I saw swollen anal regions on the EBA and concave bellies on the guppies and thought they had camallanus worms, treated that with Levamisole from Charles Harrison (both this forum and he said the photos of the EBA looked like camallanus, though they STILL do 3 weeks after the whole regime of Levamisole treatments...). I eventually did a water test and saw that the nitrites were sky high and have been doing large WCs for the last few weeks trying to lower them (though it never does go lower, even thought the tap water has none!).
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms?
See above
Have you started any treatment for the illness?
50-75% WCs
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase?
No
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all?
Stress ich and the EBA still have swollen anal regions. (The guppies have stress ich, the EBA only have the anal issue, and the blushing angel isn't as contrasty in his stripes, but the other one chases him a little, so that might be the issue there. )

Explain your emergency situation in detail.
(Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

Read above. All I have been ABLE to do to this point is the WCs. Did one of the 100% WCs I did kill the cycle and the tank is recycling? If the nitrite ARE high, how come no other fish species is even bothered? Should I euthanize the guppies and let the others just do their thing since whatever the problem is doesn't affect anything but the guppies?
Include pictures

Ok. That's one possible factor out. How do you store them and how old is the package?
Yes I know, it seems pedantic.

Tetra ones in their bottle.

Sj ones come in zippered baggies with 10 strips per. Each bag is sealed and needs to be cut open before you can get the strips out of the bag (the zipper can then be zipped closed and the next ones in that bag are "safe" from moisture other than humidity you let in my opening it).

 

[MacZ]

All I have been ABLE to do to this point is the WCs. Did one of the 100% WCs I did kill the cycle and the tank is recycling?

Definitely not. You can technically do a constant waterchange (there are fishrooms that basically do this) and it is no problem. The bacteria are in the filter, not the water column.

If the nitrite ARE high, how come no other fish species is even bothered?

That's my point all along, they should be bothered very much. At 10mg/l (=ppm) of Nitrite your tank should be whiped out already, no matter what. Most fish drop dead at 2-2.5mg/l at the latest. 10 is not survivable.

As only the Guppies are affected, maybe you have a livebearer specific problem. Do you know your pH, GH and KH?

As it's not completely clear: Did you repeat the Levamisole after 2 weeks? If so, you might be dealing with not only Camallanus or a resistant strain.

That's all I can think of. It's late at night.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Definitely not. You can technically do a constant waterchange (there are fishrooms that basically do this) and it is no problem. The bacteria are in the filter, not the water column.


That's my point all along, they should be bothered very much. At 10mg/l (=ppm) of Nitrite your tank should be whiped out already, no matter what. Most fish drop dead at 2-2.5mg/l at the latest. 10 is not survivable.

As only the Guppies are affected, maybe you have a livebearer specific problem. Do you know your pH, GH and KH?

As it's not completely clear: Did you repeat the Levamisole after 2 weeks? If so, you might be dealing with not only Camallanus or a resistant strain.

That's all I can think of. It's late at night.

I did repeat the treatment after 3 weeks (I think it was like 3 or 4 days after that exact date of 3 weeks, but I did do it.)
I'll reply with ph etc. I did a test strip and forgot about it LOL

I did repeat the treatment after 3 weeks (I think it was like 3 or 4 days after that exact date of 3 weeks, but I did do it.)
I'll reply with ph etc. I did a test strip and forgot about it LOL

Ph: 7.8
Kh: 180ppm
Gh: 300ppm

See what you think, but it looks like the nitrite is down to 5ppm... obviously still stupid high, but not AS bad.

 

[Sanderguy777]

I might be able to take some water in for a test tomorrow, and at least order the kit.

It's frustrating though since every time they get sick in buried in homework. Seems like the get sick based on my stress levels (I can just see them scheming: "ok, he looks really stressed today. Flo, go get the makeup!" LOL)

 

[Sanderguy777]

Not sure what this reading is, but it's not in the safe zone! (Definitely did this according to the directions and my kit says it expires 2026, so it SHOULD be accurate).

 

[WRWAquarium]

Looks about 2ppm to me from pic.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Looks about 2ppm to me from pic.

It looked a little darker in person (like maybe between 2 and 5 or a little past that). In any case, nitrites at a level where all fish should be showing distress, but only the guppies are actually going off.

 

[WRWAquarium]

Guppies can be pretty weak fish genetically.

Regardless, the liquid kit is proof enough nitrite is way to high and will affect all fish soon enough.

I would do first a 75% water change followed by daily 50% changes and dosing of prime/ test every 24hrs. That and adding media from a spare tank filter is possible to bump up your good bacteria that are struggling with the bioload.

Logically nitrites must be lowered by such extreme water changes. It may take some time but they will drop back to 0.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Guppies can be pretty weak fish genetically.

Regardless, the liquid kit is proof enough nitrite is way to high and will affect all fish soon enough.

I would do first a 75% water change followed by daily 50% changes and dosing of prime/ test every 24hrs. That and adding media from a spare tank filter is possible to bump up your good bacteria that are struggling with the bioload.

Logically nitrites must be lowered by such extreme water changes. It may take some time but they will drop back to 0.

They have been this high for several weeks, no other fish have even looked stressed. If nitrites are as bad as everyone makes out, all the fish should be dead, or at least very unhappy.

Also, how did the tank suddenly go from just fine, to 5-10ppm nitrites? I didn't add fish or anything.

 

[Sanderguy777]

Does anyone have any idea what is going on in this tank?
Or what I can do to help it? Is the API nitrisorb stuff any good, or is there something else?

 

[Sanderguy777]

I'm asking here what the best method to fix it is. I can try to do a 100% WC, but I CAN'T do WCs every day, I have too much else going on.

Would nitrasorb help? or fritz zyme 7 restart the cycle and get me past this?

 

[Coradee]

Threads have been merged. Members can help you best if you keep all the information in one place rather than jump from thread to thread, they can also more easily see what questions have already been addressed.

 

[Charlyc]

At least 75% water changes every day until they are at 0 no magic wand. The tank is at mid cycle. I would add Seachem stability every day also 5 mils per 10g after water change.

 

[Sanderguy777]

At least 75% water changes every day until they are at 0 no magic wand. The tank is at mid cycle. I would add Seachem stability every day also 5 mils per 10g after water change.

The tank is like 2 or 3 years old and has nitrates too (about 30-40ppm).

Should I just try a 100% WC or will that shock them?

 

[Charlyc]

Your Nitrates should go down with the water change but not being fully cycled you have to keep up with the water changes until all zero

 

[Sanderguy777]

But it has been this way for weeks! And the tank is established, so it makes no sense that it would just fall off and do nothing to nitrites all of a sudden.

But you recommend seachem stability over tss or fritz zyme?