getting high nitrite readings

My nitrite readings are in the high range... about 2-3ppm. this has just happened the past week since I added my 2 bamboo shrimp, a moss ball, and lucky bamboo. I took out the bamboo and did a 50% water change after getting my readings. The test strips I use do not read ammonia but the nitrate level was between 0-20ppm on the strip. I plan on getting the API master test kit soon so I can get more accurate results. any ideas on why this would of happened? I took the bamboo out yesterday. Would I be cycling? I used safestart at the beginning of starting my tank and it all was fine until I added the shrimp. I haven't had a fish die and none of them look stressed

 

How long has your tank been set up? Did you accidentally overfeed a lot that could have caused an ammonia spike? Maybe the shrimp caused the spike?

 

my tank has been going for about a month and a half. I don't know if it was over feeding because wouldn't the readings have shown up before the shrimp? It might be the bioload of the shrimp. I really don't know. i'm just confused on why this happened

 

Have you been feeding the shrimp a lot? They are filter feeders so if you are they may not be eating the food and it may be rotting on the bottom. A month and a half is still a very young tank so I am not too surprised about the spike. What was the last time you added fish before the shrimp?

 

All I have been giving the shrimp is what is in my tank. they look happy and healthy. both are red to dark brown with the white stripe down their back. all my fish were added the same time. about a month ago after adding safe start to the tank and everything was doing fine with them. I know that I have to clean the gravel because I haven't done that at all. Would the poop in the gravel have anything to do with the spike?

 

When did you last do any filter maintenance? Have you replaced any filter media recently?

Make sure no one is missing.

I recommend daily water changes with Seachem Prime or Kordon AmQuel + and NovAqua + as both product lines make water safe for fish and help to detox the waste. No less than 50% water change with a 25% deep gravel cleaning, especially under hardscape items where debris likes to collect.

Good luck.

 

I rinsed my filter out 2 weeks ago? should I be changing the filter or just rinsing it in old tank water?

 

No, you did the right thing. I always ask because many blindly follow the manufacturer's directions and throw the media out.

Your tank is cycling again. Not sure why though. Unless the media was over cleaned.

If you haven't been doing gravel vacs then debris may have collected. This can cause unstable parameters.

 

Ok I feel a little better. I am going to get a gravel vac as soon as I can get to the store and do a change and vac.. probably won't be till later today. now I have to tell my mom that I don't need a new filter cartridge... that will take 40 minutes of arguing with her. woo. I feel bad for the fish though that they have to endure this

 

There will come a day where the cartridge would need to be replaced. When water is no longer able to flow through the media easily, then shove a 2nd cartridge into the filter for a couple of weeks. This will allow the bacteria to colonize on the new media before being tossed.

Depending on your filter, I have replaced all my cartridges with oversized sponges from the dollar store. The sponges are very easy to clean and will trap any debris the filter picks up. They work great and last for years!

If you do not have a gravel vac and have only been dipping out water, it may be possible that there is enough fish poo and other debris that is now decomposing and causing the bad water parameters. A gravel changer helps to keep the gravel clean as well as changing out the water.

Good luck.

 

Thanks for all the help. this was almost close to therapy to me and calmed me down from a complete redo of my tank... I feel like new mom always thinking the worst when it really isn't that bad

 

So I got my API test kit and I found the culprit (or what I believe is the culprit) to my issues. My tap water has really high ammonia readings and i'm guessing that I am basically overfeeding the bacteria the ammonia which causes a jump in nitrite... and that the nitrite bacteria isn't coping right now and has to grow. So now I am using filtered water to change my water (takes longer but it's worth it) and hope that helps. I feel bad because it was all my fault. Now my parents are afraid of drinking, washing, or showering with the tap water

 

some cities put ammonia in to kill bacteria and sanitize the water for drinking instead of chlorine. Mine uses chlorine and fluoride in the water I get my water from a filtered source now as well...

 

What exactly is your ammonia level? By using filtered or bottled water you may be causing other issues. There is no reason to change your water source simply because it contains ammonia. There are members on this forum with tap water that contains 2 or 3 PPM ammonia.

Please post each test result on untreated tap water and each test result on your tank water. Then, we can help you to complete the cycle and save your fish.

 

Tap=
ammonia= 4ppm almost 8ppm from the chart
nitrite= 0ppm
nitrate= 0-5ppm

Tank
Ammonia= .25ppm
nitrite= 5+ppm
nitrate=5ppm

I did a reading on my filtered water and the ammonia read .25-.5 ppm

 

Wow! That is far more ammonia than I was expecting.

Filtered water is definitely helping to reduce the ammonia. Problem is that you need to do 2 back to back, very large water changes to get the nitrite under 1 PPM for the sake of your fish. Something along the line of 90% and as soon as filled, immediately do another 90%. How much filtered water can you produce in a day?

If you have Prime of AmQuel, you can use tap water and triple dose it in your tank. These products can be dosed up to 5 times the standard dose to help detox a buildup of waste while the tank continues to cycle and stabilize.

 

Hello!

I am one of the members Catsma was refering to, my tap contains somewhere around 3ppm ammonia in it. The. First thing is to get those nitrites down. Can you filter enough water to do a 50% water change? If so, here are my thoughts:

I would do the 2 90% water changes Catsma has recommended, refilling the tank with tap water treated with the max 5x dose of Prime, followed by a 50% change with the filtered water, again treating with the max dose. That should bring your nitrites down, and keep the ammonia at a more managable level.

Going forward, if you want to use your tap water, I believe it can be done if the switch is gradual, I will explain this if this is the route you would like.

You could also do the filtered water, or a mix of the 2.

No matter what you choose you will have to work with the ammonia. I have found a way to do this, but I will await your responce to explain as it will be partially dependant on that.

 

I did about a 20-30% change tonight but. I can get as much filtered water as I need because we have the brita thing on the kitchen sink. I guess I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow if you really think I should do a big back to back like that. I would of done it tonight if I had gotten on here about 3 hours earlier

Yeah I didn't expect that much ammonia in my tap water either. So is it the cause of my problems?

I'm just hoping doing the water tomorrow will save one of my tiger barbs, he isn't looking so well and I don't have a QT to put him in. thinking I might have to get like a small betta tank with a filter for one cause i'm not planning on getting big fish.

And a big thanks for all the help!! it is much appreciated

 

oh I don't have prime I have aquasafe +... is that fine?

 

Prime will detox about 1ppm ammonia and nitrite per dose for 24hrs to protect your fish. Aquasafe does not do this. Since even your filtered water has some ammonia in it I would highly recommend getting Prime.

Since you can filter as much as you need, then I would just do the 2 90% , filling back up with filtered water.

I would like to explain how I deal with the ammonia in my tap for you, it has helped some other memebers, unfortunatlly, I have to go to work now, so I will try to type it out on break.

 

Unfortunately AquaSafe does not detox all the waste, which will make it very difficult on your fish. You need to purchase a detoxing water conditioner. Seachem Prime is the most economical due to the small volume that is used. Kordon AmQuel+ needs to be used with NovAqua+ to both detox and to properly condition water for fish.

The reason your nitrites are so high is because your tank is not able to process it fast enough as yet. That will change over time. You will be able to use straight tap water with one of the products listed above.

As for the Britta filters. They have a limit as to how much water can be filtered in a day. I had one a few years back and the carbon filter insert stated it had a max capacity of 2 gallons per day. Something to consider with your tank.

Follow Lexi's suggestions and you will be able to fully cycle your tank with using unfiltered tap water.

 

Thank I you I would appreciate it to know how to deal with the ammonia. I guess it's back to petco in the morning for me to get prime and then to do water changes all day long

 

Thank you for all the help. I would appreciate the info on how you deal with the ammonia when you have the time to type it.
I guess I have a long day of being fish doctor and going to petco to get prime... I feel like I wasted money on the aquasafe+ wish I would have known a month ago lol

 

Don't get me wrong. Tetra AquaSafe Plus is a decent product, just not one for your situation.

 

yeah I think something that would render the ammonia and nitrites less harmful would help much more than something that just dechlorinates the water

 

That would be prime

 

Ok, this may end up bit long winded, so If anything is unclear, just let me know.

So having ammonia in your tap is like having extra fish inyour tank that just dump a large amount of waste whenever you do a waterchange.
The good news is your bacterial colony will grow to the size of the tanks bioload, weather it comes from the fish or the water. The bad news is it takes some time.

Basicly, after you get the nitrite reading down today, you will wait 24hrs and test your tank. On any day that your test results show a ammonia reading above the amount in your tap ,or a nitrite reading at all, you will do a water change, doseing the Prime for the whole water volume of the tank, multipling the dose if need be. Now on these days, since your tap has so much ammonia in it, if you need to do more than a 50% waterchange I would recommend mixing the tap with filtered water to keep the ammonia from hitting 8ppm, as ammonia levels that high in the tank could stall your cycle.

However on the days you test and the ammonia is equal to or less than the amount in your tap, AND you have no nitrite reading, do not do a waterchange. At this point daily waterchanges become counter productive.
Instead , on these days , dose Prime directly to your tank, enough for the whole tank volume, enough (up to 5x) to cover what ammonia reading is in your tank. Keep testing every 24hrs, and so long as your readings are like this, repeat daily. You should see the ammonia levels drop. If by 7 to 10 days you have not reached zero, do a small waterchange, to give your fishsome fresher water and repeat the process. When the ammonia reaches 0, do a normal weekly sized water change, and start over testing daily, and dosing with Prime accordingly. Count each day it takes to reach 0 again. Each week it will take less and less time to reach 0ppm. Finally. You will reach a point where you get a zero reading 24hrs after your weekly water change. At this point you will be cycled, and have enough bacteria to cover the ammonia in your tap. Then maintance becomes almost the same as any other tank, except you will always want to use a product such as Prime with your waterchanges.

Hope that helps.

 

That makes sense and should help with my problem

 

I agree with everything above but also heavily planting your tanks with faster growing plants may help a little too. They take in ammonia and although the help would be a very small amount it is something.

 

I'd also like to mention that once you put Prime in your tank, you need to wait at least 24 hours to test the water, as Prime can skew some of the test results.

I had ammonia in my tapwater, so I can empathize with your situation. It's strangely disappeared, though...

 

I was thinking of switching to plants in my tank but right now I don't have the cash to do a revamp of the tank so it will be a while until I can do that... I'll do what LexI says and then when I get everything in tune I should be safe and can get me some nice plants

 

Woo I did my WC's last night. Took me till midnigght but all my fish look much happier. Even my shrimp have come out of hiding to see what's happened. It toook forever to get the tank filled so I hope I do not have to do that much of a WC ever again (unless i'm moving) I'm gonna wait till tomorrow morning to test the water and then work from there

 

YAY!!!!! I did my tests and my results are so much better than they were ammonia .25 nitrite .25 nitrate 10 pH 7.6. Thanks for all the help. x

 

glad to see that things are coming back into line for you.

I do think that the addition of live plants will really help your tank out. Another water change will help as well thou not quite as big as the others but doing smaller daily changes will get your parameters right where they need to be. You might want to consider a tank to just age and treat water in or use it to store filtered water. This would give you a tank of water you could just pump from when you need to do water changes and also a place to really treat the ammonia problem. I know Ken (aquarist48) does this on his tanks because of some water quality issues.

 

that might be a thing to think about for the future.. but right now I think I can handle lugging a bucket from the kitchen to the living room multiple times.