high nitartes and nitrites

my frind has a 55 gal tank with a scat, pacu<baby>, and 6 monos<about 4 inches> well, she has super high levels of nitartes and nitries, they don't even register on a test strip which are API brand, she has been doing about 50% water changes every couple days and the levels are still the same afetr abuot a week of doing the water changes. she has tried amquel, nitrazorb, and the tertra brand water conditioner for the frequent water changes and gravel vaccuing and nothing has changed. the tank has been up for 2 months and the fish are still quite small but I there is no more room for other fish in there. and the odd thing is is that no fish have died? and I am stumped with the tank, any thoughts?

 

Faulty test kit? Have you tried one of your own on that tank just to see?

 

she has super high levels of nitartes and nitries, they don't even register on a test strip which are API brand

In my experience, if the levels are very high, the colour of the strip goes deeper, if the strip doesn't change at all, then there is an absence of the chemical. When you say it doesn't even register, what do you mean exactly?

If the nitrites are high, what are the ammonia levels? I would guess that your friend has a faulty batch of testers, and it would be worth using a different type of test kit, and see if the reading are still the same.

Testing strips are more of a guide rather than an accurate method of indication. I use test strips regularly on my tanks, purely for that, a guide. They tell me if there is something I need to take a closer look at, and that's when the other kits come into play.

 

the nitrates are magenta and the nitrite is over the 10.0 they are hot pink. I will tell her to maybe just get the test strips that have the nitarte and nitrite only on them and see if they come out the same and the ammonia is at .25.

 

Thank you for explaining the colouring.

With ammonia at that level, the tank is most certainly still cycling, so she should continue with the water changes. With the few fish she has in the tank the filtration comes into the frame.

What filter is she using in the tank and how is she cleaning it? I wonder if she isn't washing the media under the tap and destroying the bacteria each time, since under normal cycling, the tank should be well on it's way to stability by now, even if she has had fish in there from the start.

She needs to clean the filter in old tank water, and ensure that she uses a de-chlorinator such as Tetra Aqua-Safe, when changing the water, as chlorine will also kill the beneficial bacteria in the filter, as well as being toxic for the fish. It might be worth doing 30% changes every day until the problem is under control.

The other question is does she have any real plants in the tank? These are good nitrate and ammonia cleaners and some floating hornwort will help a lot to reduce the readings and help while the filter media colonises.

 

I had been maintaining her tank for a bit since she is getting frustrated and I went over there today and took a peek at everything she has in theer and what not. I brought over my test strips that I use and it all reads the same, and then I changes her filter bags out and replaced them, they were absolutly disgusting and I found out that she had been using the same bags since the first day she started the tank and she was washing them off in the tap water, so I told her that's not the way to do it. but I added some mondo and some swords in there and some anachris too. I will tell her she might want to try and do 30% water changes until there is some changes in the tank, but maybe she is going through teh new tank syndrome again? but I'll see how the water changes go for a week and if nothing else I will ask again.
thanks for the info.

 

Even though it sucks that she didn't know and was sufrering for it, its great that she has a knowlegeable friend who cared enough to help her. Yayy both of you!

 

Sounds like you've cracked it now! It's great that she has a friend like yourself to help. Well done!