Nitrite is hgh

HI I am a newbie my tank has been in operation for about two months.
It holds 97lts and I have about 20 mixed tetra fish.
I have tested the water and every time I test it it seems high on nitrite, I have changed half the water about four times over four weeks, but it seems not to change is there something I am doing wrong????
Regards Barry

 

are you using test strips? if so, picking up a liquid testing kit like the API master freshwater kit will give you much better results.

what number is your nitrites at? You probably have high levels of nitrites and maybe ammonia since that tank is very overstocked, I think over 2 times the number of fish that amount of water could handle.

 

HI the tetra in my tank are very small fry do you still think its overstocked???.
I use the liquid test not the stripes and its about 0.6
I change the water every week about a third.

 

What are the ammonia and nitrate levels?

 

If you are only changing the water once per week, you are probably not going to see much change in the readings. To bring it down, try doing 50% changes daily for a few days...it'll come down. Is nitrite the only thing you are reading, or is ammonia high too?

 

HI the tetra in my tank are very small fry do you still think its overstocked???.
I use the liquid test not the stripes and its about 0.6
I change the water every week about a third.

yea, it's not overstocked as they're little fry.. .6 is not super bad, but definitely you'll want to bring it down for the fry.. daily water changes, like sgould suggested are the definite start. is this tank bare as it's a fry tank or do you have substrata, plants (live or fake) or decor in the tank? what are you feeding the fry and what kind of filter are you using? is there an airstone in the tank? what do you treat the water with? Prime may be a good choice, or amquel+ if you can't get Prime.

 

HI thanks for reply all.
PH and ammonia are all ok, yes I do have an air stone its about 12 inch long does this help???
Will do three days of water change and see what happens.

 

What are the nitrate levels like??

 

HI thanks for reply all.
PH and ammonia are all ok, yes I do have an air stone its about 12 inch long does this help???
Will do three days of water change and see what happens.

yes, i'd not run a tank without an air stone, even our betta tanks have them.