Water Parameter Fix. Please Help

[Mishti]

My tank is newly setup. 3 weeks
20 gallon
3 male platy( 2 died)
3 male guppy
Current parameters
Ph 7.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 10
I believe nitrite is a little too high. Can someone please help me with how to fix it. Also if you see anything wrong with other parameter let me know.

 

[Sorg67]

You are right nitrites are high, you want them at zero.

There can be other causes, but usually high nitrites come from a new tank that has not fully established the nitrogen cycle.

Can you provide some history? How long has the tank been set up?

In the meantime, I would do a water change to reduce the nitrites and treat the tank with SeaChem Prime every 24 to 48 hours until you have the nitrites under control.

 

[Mishti]

You are right nitrites are high, you want them at zero.

There can be other causes, but usually high nitrites come from a new tank that has not fully established the nitrogen cycle.

Can you provide some history? How long has the tank been set up?

In the meantime, I would do a water change to reduce the nitrites and treat the tank with SeaChem Prime every 24 to 48 hours until you have the nitrites under control.

its been setup for 3 weeks. First week we set it up and put conditioner and got the water checked with strips though. got fish for around 2 weeks now. checked yesterday with the test kit a got this result.

Would Stress coat help?

 

[Sorg67]

It usually takes more than three weeks to establish the nitrogen cycle, sometimes more than eight weeks. Even after the nitrogen cycle has been initially established, it can take months for a new tank to be fully stable.

Stress Coat is a water dechlorinator that also neutralizes heavy metals. In addition to providing these same functions, SeaChem Prime claims to detoxify ammonia and nitrite form 48 hours. That claim has been disputed so I would not rely on it but I would use Prime in the hope that it detoxifies nitrites.

There is some debate about how harmful low levels of nitrites are. There is wide spread agreement that any nitrites are harmful, but low levels below 1 ppm may not be tragically harmful for short periods of time. Some people will say that 2 ppm nitrites requires emergency action. I am not convinced that is so. You definitely want to get nitrites down, but I am not sure you need to panic.

I would do whatever water changes are necessary to keep nitrites below 1 ppm. A 50% water change would reduce 2 ppm nitrites to 1 ppm. You may need to do 50% water changes daily for a while.

50% water changes are large and can be stressful if not done correctly. It is important to use water that has been dechlorinated and is similar temperature to tank water.

If you have not done large water changes in the past, you may want to do multiple smaller water changes to make the change more gentle and develop your water change process.

You can also reduce feeding until you get nitrites under control. Less food, less fish poop, less ammonia, less nitrite.

 

[Mishti]

I did a water change, 25% and treated with prescribed amount of prime. how long to wait before next water test after treating water with prime?

 

[Sorg67]

Prime will not change your test results. It only protects your fish until your cycle grows strong enough to process the nitrites to nitrates. 25% water change should reduce nitrites from 2 ppm to 1.5 ppm. But nitrites will keep growing for a while so you will need to keep up with water changes. If you are only doing 25% water changes, you may need to do them daily or even twice a day for a while.