Cannot get nitrites down

I think it is completely reasonable that if you cut the food by 1/2 that the nitrites would not increase. You DO have some of the bacteria in your tank that convert ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate, just not enough yet to process everything as quickly as necessary. Now it is just a waiting period, testing and water changes will help keep your fish safe.

 

:;cogm susitna!! yes as she says, patience is the virtue here...tough to learn them sometimes tho

 

how are the readings as of today?

As of 11:00am cst Ammonia 0ppm Nitrite 1ppm (has been 2.0ppm or more every morning for the last two weeks) Nitrate just under 10ppm, not quite 10, but darker than 5ppm.

 

great...almost there !!

 

just keep it up.. it takes a lot of patience!! I thought I was going to loose it w/ my 55 when I was getting it cycled for my first fish.... finally it was cycled.. (I did fishless)... then... adding new filters and new fish at the same time I went through a minI cycle... patience! all I can say! It will be worth it! My nitrite, ammonia hasn't been above -0- (knock on wood!) in weeks actually almost a couple months!!!

 

just keep it up.. it takes a lot of patience!! I thought I was going to loose it w/ my 55 when I was getting it cycled for my first fish.... finally it was cycled.. (I did fishless)... then... adding new filters and new fish at the same time I went through a minI cycle... patience! all I can say! It will be worth it! My nitrite, ammonia hasn't been above -0- (knock on wood!) in weeks actually almost a couple months!!!

PATIENCE...I knew I forgot to buy something when I was at the pet store yesterday!

I know I know......I'm not a very patient person unfortunately. I am working on it though. This cycle thing is definitely helping.

 

My tank's nitrite also doesn't fall for quite sometime. I'd just do 25% water change everyday and just wait for miracle to happen. And when miracle happens, the nitrite drop drastically to 0. So don't worry about it. Just wait for the bacteria to establish.

 

I am having the same problem in a 3 month old tank. Glad I found this post as patience isn't my virtue. My cory's are doing great though and act as if nothing is happening! I will keep up my daily maintence until they drop!

 

I'm sure your fish will appreciate your effort PATIENCE...

 

Hello all, hope I worked the right forum to join!
So I started a 55 gal freshwater tank about 4-6 weeks ago.
Let it run for a week, I then added fritz turbo start 700, waited three days then ran a test with the API master kit. The readings were as follows.
Ph 7.6
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrites 0.0
Nitrates 5.0
After testing I went the next day to the LFS
I added 1 gourami
1 bristlenose
All levels were good
A week later I added 6 corys
It's been a week or so now since anything was added.
I tested last Friday and my ammonia was a little high, and my nitrite is also now purple.
For the past three days iv been doing 50 percent water changes. I tested today iv got the ammonia down but by nitrite hasn't changed.

Do I keep doing water changes?
Thanks!

 

That's quite a high stocking (and I'm an overstocker) for a cycling tank. It can take weeks to get nitrite down. Have you tried tetra safestart or something similar? can you get some media from a cycled tank?
Yes, keep changing the water. It's not going to speed up the cycle, it just keeps nitrites under control.

 

I would do back to back water changes until your nitrite gets down. I don't think you are overstocked for a 55 gallon. Also check to see if you have anything rotting likes plants or wood.

 

Well I did just add a piece of drift wood last week, so just keep doing water changes then? Thanks for the insight!

Also I have zero love plants I'm going artificial for the time being

Only additives iv used was the turbostart 700 at the beginning and with every water change I use the fritz ammonia and chlorine remover for the new water going in the tank. Iv also tested the tap water for nitrites and it is 0.0

 

Your tank hadn't even started cycling. Everything is going to be spiking and reading high for the next few weeks until the BB grows. Youll need to test daily and do water changes as needed until its cycled. Don't add anymore fish for at least a few weeks, and then only add a few at a time at the most (depending on what type).

 

So much for trusting my lfs, and yeah from what I had already read on various forums I wasn't going to add anymore fish for quite some time . What readings show that the tank is cycled? I'll see if I can't find some established tank media

 

You need to show 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. Nitrates will read all over the place, anywhere from 5-80 or more. But having 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites is key, and it can't be 5 days after you started, it has to be weeks after you started.

 

I waited for probably ten days or more before adding any fish. I went off of what the lfs told me. Wasn't my own doing lol but thanks for the advice Duane. I'll keep doing my testing and water changes thanks for all the tips everyone!

 

Also how recommended is safestart and what will it do for me. Will it help my fish to stay healthy throughout the cycle?

 

Ive never used anything other than fish to cycle my tanks. I literally know nothing about using bottled stuff.

 

You're gonna need to do back to back water changes until you get your nitrite as close to 0 as you can. Probably gonna need to do several 50% water changes today. 24 hours from when you do your last water change, add a bottle of Tetra Safe Start Plus, add the whole thing. Make sure the bottle you get is the correct size for your tank. For 2 weeks don't do any water changes or water top offs. After 2 weeks test your water and you should be cycled.

 

never had a problem with the levels in my tank and nothing has changed with the amount of fish etc. But suddenly my nitrates have soared and all the fish are gasping at the top of the tank. I treated with fin rot as it looked like this could be the problem and have being doing water changes for the past 3 days but my nitrate levels just won't lower. Any ideas?

 

I would continue to do water changes and get a bottle of Seachem Prime, it would protect your fish from the high nitrate levels.

 

Tank size
Stocking
Parameters of tank water
Parameters of tap water
These answers will really help to figure this out.

 

I haven't heard of these symptoms of nitrate toxicity. I have had some radically high levels in a tank I rescued, and all I ever saw were symptoms of stress (some lethargy, dark eyes in guppies, etc.) Tank parameters will help a lot, as it sounds more like ammonia toxicity to me.

 

Your ammonia/nitrites are at zero? What size water changes are you doing, and how frequently? What are your readings before and after the water changes?

 

What are the exact water parameters? What size water changes were you doing?

I'd do one large 50% water change if nirtates are above 20ppm. If they're above 40ppm do 2 50% water changes. If they're above 80ppm do 2 60% water changes with an hour inbetween them and do 2 50% the next day

 

I would start out by testing your tap first of all.

Nitrate levels are determined by the bio-load of your system: how much you feed, how many fish in the system, and how often you take those nitrates out as they accumulate.
Look at these factors:

Take out Nitrates---Water Changes: buy a water test kit if you don't have one or, if you do, test water weekly and change water as often as needed to keep nitrates under 20ppm . ( this may mean you need to do several water changes back to back throughout week.) Are you routinely cleaning gravel, maintenancing filter, etc...

Bio-load- as fish get bigger they eat more and bio-load increases on your system.
How many fish do you have in relation to tank size? Do you have enough biological media in your filter?

Feeding: How much are you feeding?

 

It sounds more like ammonia or nitrite toxicity or injury from improperly performed water changes.

Nitrate just isn't that toxic. Studies have shown that adult fish can tolerate very high levels. Eggs and fry are much more susceptible as are smaller organisms such as amphipods. Nitrates discharged into nature can be harmful at low levels but most aquariums are not dependent on the food chain.

The last time I took my fish to the vet at UC Davis (perhaps the world's #1 veterinary school), the subject of nitrate came up and I was told to try to keep nitrate under 150 ppm. I tested my nitrate at around that level at least once when I was putting off a major aquarium overhaul. My fish were fine.

 

Tank size
Stocking
Parameters of tank water
Parameters of tap water
These answers will really help to figure this out.

Ammonia 0 nitrates 3

Ammonia 0 nitrates 3

9 guppies 6 of which are babies and one ghost shrimp

 

Ammonia 0 nitrates 3

Did you mean NitrIte? Because Nitrate level of 3 is really not a big deal.

 

keep nitrate under 150 ppm.

That is a really overarching statement that doesn't look at the specific needs of most tropical fish that we have in our closed system aquaria.
I can guarantee that if I let my nitrates rise to 150 in my discus tank they will succumb to illness ( most likely bacteria that they would normal be able to combat) in a very short time.Nitrates this high for South American fish would be lethal. Cichlids, tetras, corydoras, angelfish--- some of our most popular fish in the hobby could not take the high nitrates you or, for that matter, the UC Davis veterinarian say are fine. The fish wouldn't die right away, but, through stress from the nitrates, will die from opportunistic infections/parasites.

 

Y

Did you mean NitrIte? Because Nitrate level of 3 is really not a big deal.

Yes nitrite

I

Your ammonia/nitrites are at zero? What size water changes are you doing, and how frequently? What are your readings before and after the water changes?

ammonia 0 nitrites 3

Sorry let me expand as best I know/can.
I have a 40litre tank with 9 guppies 6 are smaller babies (2 generations so some slightly bigger than others) and one ghost shrimp.
Ammonia is 0 Nitrites is 3 (was 5)
The first day I did a 50% water change and treated for fin rot as the two fish that died looked like they had it. The next two days I have done 30% water changes.
The nitrite came down from 5 to 3 after first water change but is now staying at 3.

 

Sorry let me expand as best I know/can.
I have a 40litre tank with 9 guppies 6 are smaller babies (2 generations so some slightly bigger than others) and one ghost shrimp.
Ammonia is 0 Nitrites is 3 (was 5)
The first day I did a 50% water change and treated for fin rot as the two fish that died looked like they had it. The next two days I have done 30% water changes.
The nitrite came down from 5 to 3 after first water change but is now staying at 3.

3ppm nitrite is high like you suggested. I'd do a 60% waterchange and wait for an hour and retest. You should be around 1.5ppm nitrites at this point. Do another 50% water change (which should bring you down around 0.5 - 0.75ppm. Then do another 50% tomorrow to bring it down to .25ppm. Then monitor daily and do a 50% water change whenever it exceeds .25ppm until your tank recycles.
Dose with prime to help detoxify the nirtites

What's your nitrate at?

Pristine water quality goes a long way and can help heal fins

 

I would change the title of the thread from nitrates to nitrItes--- it is what is causing confusion to those who are responding.
NitrItes this high are extremely deadly.
The fish are at top of water-gasping for air because high nitrItes causes what is called "Brown Blood Disease," which is a condition marked by the inability of oxygen carrying blood cells to carry oxygen to tissues, organs, brain of the fish. This begins to happen in quite low concentrations of nitrIte and becomes exponentially worse in higher temperatures.
It also causes seizures from neurological damage.
Need to immediately do water changes! ASAP!

 

Tahnk you tokiodreamy and Discusluv.
I was worried about doing more than one water change a day as had read I should leave it 24hrs but if this is safe to do than I shall do another later as was only a few hours ago.

Is there a test kit people reccomend as I'm not sure mines the best.

 

Studies have shown that Amquel/Prime don't actually detoxify nitrite or nitrate. Chloride competitively inhibits nitrite uptake by the gills though so "aquarium" salt is helpful.

Besides changing water, I'd also suggest reduced feeding and a deep cleaning.

 

Studies have shown that Amquel/Prime don't actually detoxify nitrite or nitrate. Chloride competitively inhibits nitrite uptake by the gills though so "aquarium" salt is helpful.

Besides changing water, I'd also suggest reduced feeding and a deep cleaning.

I did add some aquarium salt and cleaned although it's always very clean as I maintain it

 

Is there a test kit people reccomend as I'm not sure mines the best.

The API master kit tests for pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and is often recommended here.

Don't worry about too many water changes. When I was doing (an inadvertent, because I didn't know any better) fish-in cycle, I was doing twice daily 50-70% water changes, to keep the water parameters at decent levels. At least you have a small enough tank that it shouldn't be onerous to change out 5 gallons of water at a time.

 

Is there a test kit people reccomend as I'm not sure mines the best.

API master water testing kit.

 

Thank

The API master kit tests for pH, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and is often recommended here.

Don't worry about too many water changes. When I was doing (an inadvertent, because I didn't know any better) fish-in cycle, I was doing twice daily 50-70% water changes, to keep the water parameters at decent levels. At least you have a small enough tank that it shouldn't be onerous to change out 5 gallons of water at a time.

Thank you. I have the API separate tests for nitrite and ammonia but not PH