Nitrite Spike Won't Go Down

So I'm on day 8 of my nitrites being 5ppm. It just won't go down. I have a 30 gallon tank with 4 Platy that I got when I finished cycling. My nitrites started acting up literally the day after I got the platies.

Day 1:
A: 0.5ppm, NO2: 5ppm, NO3: 10, pH: 7.6
Added 7.5mL stability

Day 2:
A: 0.5ppm, NO2: 2ppm, NO3: 10-20
Added 7.5mL stability

Day 3:
A: 0.25ppm, NO2: 5ppm, NO3: 20ppm
Did 25% water change
Added 7.5mL stability

Day 4:
A: 0.5ppm, NO2: 5ppm, NO3: 10-20ppm
Added 7.5mL stability

Day 5:
A: 0.25ppm, NO2: 5ppm, NO3: 40ppm
Did 20% water change

Day 6:
A: 0.25ppm, NO2: 5ppm, NO3: 20-40ppm
Added 4 capfuls of Prime

Day 7:
A:0-0.25ppm, NO2: 5ppm, NO3: 10ppm
Added 5 capfuls of Prime
Cleaned substrate 2-3G worth

Day 8(today):
A: 0.25ppm, NO2: 5ppm, NO3: 40ppm


Idk what to do anymore. My fish seem fine. I have 1 male and 3 females and he's still chasing them around as usual. They're eating good. My tank temp stays between 80-82 deg F.

I'm new to this so I'm very lost on what my next steps should be. I've had my tank for about a month now.

 

Try nitra zorb but make sure to take out any carbon from the filter

 

Try nitra zorb but make sure to take out any carbon from the filter

Should I still dose with Prime?
What if I added a second filter for my Penguin 200?

 

Should I still dose with Prime?
What if I added a second filter for my Penguin 200?

A second filter could help. And still use prime, ist it your main dechlorinator?

 

You're not changing enough water to make a difference. Personally, I would change 50% of the water every 6 hours until it's below .5ppm.

Prime will help but can only detox a certain amount. It can detox up to 1ppm of ammonia + nitrite total at the standard tank volume dose. You can safely dose it 5x the normal tank volume dosage in an emergency like this, which will detox up to 5ppm of ammonia + nitrite.

 

Hello, I know this an "older" post but I'm having the same problem with my 55G... I did a 75% water change yesterday because my Nitrites were at 5ppm and that got it down to .25ppm but it's already sky rocketed back up. Any suggestions? I currently don't have the money to buy any nitrite reducing chemicals or Seachem Prime so those are not viable suggestions at the moment.. my only fish are a Spotted Sailfin Plecostomus/Leopard Plecostomus or "Common Pleco" and a baby Red Tail Shark. My tank is not planted although I want it to be in the near future. Temp is 78-80°F my shark seems fine he swims around eating/sucking on the driftwood and plants although he's fairly new and been in the tank for about a week and when I got him he had some kind of bacterial/fungal infection which cleared quickly with a little salt, Pleco I've had for around a year since he was a tiny baby, but my Pleco has been having erratic behavior, he attaches to the glass vertically head towards the sand and swims up then shoots downwards repeatedly almost in a jack hammer or pogostick movement. I don't know if 75% water changes every day is worth stressing the fish that bad just to have the Nitrites spike again.. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have a cycled 10 gallon with just a betta fish but the Pleco wouldn't be comfortable in the and I'm scared the shark would fight the betta.

 

Just keep doing big water changes. Plecos have a large bioload, and he sounds like he is definitely suffering from the exposure. The stress from the water changes are nothing compared to the poison. If you could pick up prime, it will help a ton and last you a really long time. Eventually the nitrite will disappear when the bacteria builds up.

Definitely do not put either fish with your betta. Not only would it end badly temperament wise, but you would end up with huge spikes in your betta tank as well.

 

Ok because I've had the Pleco since he was a baby maybe 2 inches now he's about 6 inches. I housed him with my betta along with Shrimps and a snail. My betta is rather friendly to other Fish but the Plec is to big for that tank. So continue with huge water changes would you say 50% or 75% my guess is a 50% might get it down to 1-2ppm since I had to do a 75% change to get it to .25ppm I hate for them to be in distress but today I cut myself with a serrated knife (like REALLY cut) and it is really deep/wide worst of all it is right in the middle of the thumb on my left hand so I'm super scared to get Aquarium water in it because of how bad it is it would probably start getting infected. I can try and do a few bucket fulls myself but the only other person to help is my GF and she works till 11pm and she still will need my help carrying the bucket and dosing the conditioner, also I don't have any gloves I could try wearing either. If I have to do that much water I will but it takes about 5-6 buckets to get it low enough to be .25ppm (75%) and it usually starts to raise instantly after I change it.

 

To know how much water to change, its basic math. If your nitrite is at 4 ppm and you do a 50% water change you will end up with 2 ppm left in the tank (as long as your new water is nitrite free). If you do a 75%, it will be 1 ppm. You really need to keep it below 1 at the highest. I would test 2 times a day so you won't have to do as big of water changes.
So sorry about your hand! I don't blame you for not wanting to stick your hand in the tank! Hope it heals quickly!

 

I think I'll just use my other hand for all the cleaning n just clean and wrap my thumb real good then wrap duct tape around it so it doesn't get wet touching our supplies

 

Shoulder length gloves...

 

Yeah. I tested this morning, did a massive water change, Nitrites were below .25ppm but not at 0. 6 -8 hours later I tested (now) they are between 0.25ppm-0.50ppm. ordered some Seachem Prime should be here by Monday. Gonna do another very small change to discourage it from spiking out of control again and get it below .50ppm thanks for the help!

 

A 50% should have it below.25.

 

Will getting the Nitrites that low stall the cycle or make it take longer? I wanted to keep it at A steady .25ppm

 

Nope. The fish will raise it right back up. It will just give you a little more time before it gets toxic again.
No matter what you do (besides throwing out your media or dousing it with chlorine water) your tank WILL eventually cycle, because you cannot keep the ammonia etc at zero. Right now you are just aiming at keeping it non-toxic. Once your prime arrives, it will give you even more of a buffer.
At .5 you're still relatively safe. Keeping it from spiking is your goal

 

Ok thanks! Just glad I am getting readable levels now. Also have a 3 ft plant, 50 G sponge filter, A nice large piece of driftwood and extra Filter Pads on the way cause my Marineland holds 4 pad but came with 2 so I'll have the extras when I get my second ML filter to replace this crappy Top Fin. My betta Is gonna be happy when his silk plant gets here to! Also how do I keep my NitrAtes in my 10 gallon from raising so quickly? I am going to get some shrimp as a clean up crew for food my betta misses but I also wanted to try some Harlequin Rasboras which won't be as clean any chance I could get both or would I be fully stocked with a school of Rasboras + Betta.

 

Really a 10 is too small for most schooling fish but the shrimp should be fine.
How quickly are the nitrates rising? The best way to control them is live plants. My 5 gal betta tanks rarely show 10.

 

I'm gonna get some live ones eventually. They usually get around 20+ within a few(2-3)days but I'll always watch him and can tell if he's acting different. The thing is I used my old tanks gravel which had waste from the betta and my Pleco so I was Vacuuming the gravel like crazy (but only the top layer an not all at once) when my betta tank was cycling. It happened really fast because my gravel was cycled and I only had the sponge filter for the first few days which had cycled "stuff" in it so I had ammonia reading for a few days but within a week I only had Nitrates. I cleaned and cleaned that gravel so now the only stuff that could be in it is old food he misses. I have a 10 Gallon bio-wheel filter to so you don't think he's only got a sponge filter ha

 

There's no issue with only having a sponge filter w a netta. That does sound like quite a bit of nitrate accumulation for one betta though. My son has one with no live pants and it could probably go 3-4 weeks without the nitrates hitting 20. Haven't tested that theory but he generally goes 2 weeks between water changes (I forget about him and my son's only 10 so...) and generally reads 10.

 

I was saying that at the time rhe only thing I had was a sponge filter not strong enough for a betta. Recently got a bunch of free stuff from someone but the Anubias I got had a bunch of black and green gunky like algae?

 

Last week, I moved to my new apartment and brought my fish tank. I drained the water into buckets since I was going to move to a place with different water and just replaced it back into the tank when it was all settled. I started slowly adding the new city water after treating it with API's tap water dechlorinator to get my fish used to it. About 3-4 days ago, I tested my water and noticed a HUGE spike in the nitrite. I want to say it was around 2.0 ppm. My fish were looking fine and honestly haven't shown any sign of distress. But, I went to the only place that was open that day (which happened to be PETCO) and the guy gave me some NITE OUT III and said it should clear it up. I did a small water change (maybe 15-25%) and added that into the tank and kept the lights out for 24 hours.
My nitrite never went down. I changed the bio bag in my filter, thinking maybe it needed a new one and that didn't help. I even did a 75% water changed and it brought it down to .25 but the next morning it was up again... My fish have not shown any signs of illness or stress. Only the occasional confusion when I do my water changes. I'm not sure if there is a problem with my API kit or if this is actually my water. If anyone has any advice on how to fix this quickly or have experienced this, please let me know!

I have a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium
3 panda corydora catfish (I know I need more, I lost some a while back before I moved and was waiting for my tank to get settled in before purchasing more fish)
1 Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami
No live plants
Sand
Tetra Whisper Filter

Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- fluctuating above 1.0 ppm
Nitrate- above 0 (can't remember exact number because I'm not near my test kit)

 

When I had nitrite problems I used bacteria culture from bottle to be precise it was jbl denitrol it stabilized my system after 3 days with 35% water changes. I am sure you can find similar product in USA. But for first hand get seachem prime and do 50% wc with it every other day until tank is stabilized. Prime detoxify ammonia and nitrite for 24 to max 48 hours but you can read them.

Plus it would be easier if you have live plants in tank in long run beacuose they take some of that as food.

 

When I had nitrite problems I used bacteria culture from bottle to be precise it was jbl denitrol it stabilized my system after 3 days with 35% water changes. I am sure you can find similar product in USA. But for first hand get seachem prime and do 50% wc with it every other day until tank is stabilized. Prime detoxify ammonia and nitrite for 24 to max 48 hours but you can read them.

Plus it would be easier if you have live plants in tank in long run beacuose they take some of that as food.

I'll go and grab some today! Thank you. I'll keep you update.

 

Last week, I moved to my new apartment and brought my fish tank. I drained the water into buckets since I was going to move to a place with different water and just replaced it back into the tank when it was all settled. I started slowly adding the new city water after treating it with API's tap water dechlorinator to get my fish used to it. About 3-4 days ago, I tested my water and noticed a HUGE spike in the nitrite. I want to say it was around 2.0 ppm. My fish were looking fine and honestly haven't shown any sign of distress. But, I went to the only place that was open that day (which happened to be PETCO) and the guy gave me some NITE OUT III and said it should clear it up. I did a small water change (maybe 15-25%) and added that into the tank and kept the lights out for 24 hours.
My nitrite never went down. I changed the bio bag in my filter, thinking maybe it needed a new one and that didn't help. I even did a 75% water changed and it brought it down to .25 but the next morning it was up again... My fish have not shown any signs of illness or stress. Only the occasional confusion when I do my water changes. I'm not sure if there is a problem with my API kit or if this is actually my water. If anyone has any advice on how to fix this quickly or have experienced this, please let me know!

I have a 20 gallon freshwater aquarium
3 panda corydora catfish (I know I need more, I lost some a while back before I moved and was waiting for my tank to get settled in before purchasing more fish)
1 Neon Blue Dwarf Gourami
No live plants
Sand
Tetra Whisper Filter

Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- fluctuating above 1.0 ppm
Nitrate- above 0 (can't remember exact number because I'm not near my test kit)

You changed your biobag in your filter with a new one? Did you at least leave it in the tank? That bio bag holds all of your beneficial bacteria. You most likely lost your cycle.

If you’re still reading nitrates then you went through a mini-cycle, when ammonia or nitrite spikes due to a big change. The best thing you can do it daily water changes using Prime until your cycle returns.

Edit: oops repeat lol

 

You changed your biobag in your filter with a new one? Did you at least leave it in the tank? That bio bag holds all of your beneficial bacteria. You most likely lost your cycle.

If you’re still reading nitrates then you went through a mini-cycle, when ammonia or nitrite spikes due to a big change. The best thing you can do it daily water changes using Prime until your cycle returns.

Edit: oops repeat lol

It was the "Tetra Whisper Bio-Bag Disposable Filter Cartridge" that says to change monthly. I've had the same one in since I cycled my tank and established 3-4 months back. Was I not supposed to change it?

 

It was the "Tetra Whisper Bio-Bag Disposable Filter Cartridge" that says to change monthly. I've had the same one in since I cycled my tank and established 3-54 months back. Was I not supposed to change it?

No, that gets many people. The cartridge is what holds 95% of your beneficial bacteria. The bacteria is what converts all the toxins that fish create to a less toxic product.

 

Never change all the media in the filter. I don't really even bother with cartridges anymore and use simple filter floss. Just rinse out the media in old tank water and put it back in. If the media is getting really gross you can change it a bit at a time. You likely just lost your cycle because the all bacteria where thrown away with the cartridge.

 

It was the "Tetra Whisper Bio-Bag Disposable Filter Cartridge" that says to change monthly. I've had the same one in since I cycled my tank and established 3-54 months back. Was I not supposed to change it?

Essentially that product is poly pad or water polisher, I clean mine under tap water and then in declorineted before adding back, few times before I replace it. You shouldnt change it now beacuose it have some bacteria in it and your system isn't stable or cycled. So you can change those things when system is stable. Just don't change bio rings foam or materials like that and when they are dirty clean them in aquarium water. But for now don't even touch your filter for at least one month

 

No you only need to change carbon as that stops working after a month. The cartridges you just squish in a container with old tank water to clean (don't use tap water or it'll kill your bb/cycle).

 

No, that gets many people. The cartridge is what holds 95% of your beneficial bacteria. The bacteria is what converts all the toxins that fish create to a less toxic product.

Wow, I really messed up then lol. Can I dose it with seachem and begin doing water changes? How should I fix this?

 

Wow, I really messed up then lol. Can I dose it with seachem and begin doing water changes? How should I fix this?

You can buy tetra safe start, its a bottled bacteria that can help speed up the process.

By seachem you mean seachem prime? then yes. Doing daily or bI daily water changes using prime would help until you get your cycle back. Try to keep the ammonia and nitrite under .25, that’s where the API master kit comes in handy.

 

Guys she changed polish pad that you need to change after some time beacuose it becomes useless I change my every month or two. Never change bio media or foams just clean them.
It wasn't good time for changing it now bu it is what it is. Now start prime and wc as soon as you can.

 

Btw. What type of tetra whisper filter you have?

 

Guys she changed polish pad that you need to change after some time beacuose it becomes useless I change my every month or two. Never change bio media or foams just clean them.
It wasn't good time for changing it now bu it is what it is. Now start prime and wc as soon as you can.

Most filters only come with the cartridge, that is what holds their beneficial bacteria. You don’t change it.

 

The Tetra Whisper filter has 2 inserts. The plastic insert is supposed to be the bio filter. What she changed is the filter pad with carbon. It shouldn't be a problem but there is a significant amount on the filter pad. There's really no need for carbon so you can cut the filter pad and dump the carbon and just reuse the filter pad after rinsing it in tank water (in a bucket).

Tetra says to replace monthly so they can take your money.

You don't need Prime if you already have tap water conditioner. Everyone here likes Prime but it's not going to do much for you now. I would recommend it as a water conditioner as it can also detox ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and heavy metals but you can get it after you use up the API conditioner.

BB grows on all surfaces that tank water touches. Filter, gravel, plants, decorations, glass, etc. You are most likely experiencing a mini-cycle and should be fine after a few days. Don't scrub the tank. A spotless tank is an unhealthy tank.

 

Most filters only come with the cartridge, that is what holds their beneficial bacteria. You don’t change it.

If she did change whole cartridge with all media then you are right. That is why I want to know specific type of filter so I know its composition

 

 

The Tetra Whisper filter has 2 inserts. The plastic insert is supposed to be the bio filter. What she changed is the filter pad with carbon. It shouldn't be a problem but there is a significant amount on the filter pad. There's really no need for carbon so you can cut the filter pad and dump the carbon and just reuse the filter pad after rinsing it in tank water (in a bucket).

Tetra says to replace monthly so they can take your money.

You don't need Prime if you already have tap water conditioner. Everyone here likes Prime but it's not going to do much for you now. I would recommend it as a water conditioner as it can also detox ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and heavy metals but you can get it after you use up the API conditioner.

BB grows on all surfaces that tank water touches. Filter, gravel, plants, decorations, glass, etc. You are most likely experiencing a mini-cycle and should be fine after a few days. Don't scrub the tank. A spotless tank is an unhealthy tank.

I agree for most part about filter etc.
But I told her to use prime as it detox ammonia and nitrite as apI tap water cond. Just remove chlorine and chloride. ApI product for removeing ammonia is
API STRESS COAT and they don't tell that it removes nitrite and nitrite is now main problem.

 

Btw. What type of tetra whisper filter you have?

Tetra Whisper 20

 

Tetra Whisper 20

If you plan adding more fish you will need to upgrade your filter. That one is ok for tank of around 10 gallon. But that is all another topic now focus on fixing this situation.