Crazy Nitrite reading on Betta tank...

[Punkymom]

I have a 2.5 gal tank with two male bettas (divided, of course) that I've had set up for about a week I guess...I've been checking the water every day and somehow missed the ammonia spike, but now the Nitrites are off the charts...over 5.0ppm...I did a 50% water change...retested and got the same results...did another 50% water change because my one male seems to be suffering a little from the high levels...retested and tested only slightly lower than before...wondering if maybe test was bad or something, so I tested my 55 gal...test came up 0 for Nitrites on it so...am I stuck here??? Should I just keep doing 50% changes once a day until this level comes down? Can I do another one today? One of my Bettas is taking it like a champ, the other one has been under the weather for the last 2 days.

 

[Zic]

Is the divider a solid piece of glass/acrylic? Or does it have holes for water to flow through?

Also, when you do changes, do you vaccum the gravel, or just scoop the water from the top with a cup?

 

[Punkymom]

The divider is plastic with lots of little slots in it so the filter (which sits in one side) will be able to filter the whole tank. I siphon the bottom with every water change.

 

[tkos]

If the levels were super high then each water change would just dilute a bit. The test kits only show up to 5ppm, so if it was way higher than that you still only get 5ppm. I would keep doing water changes to get the level down. Also a little fresh water aquarium salt will help the bettas as the nitrites block the intake of oxygen in their gills. The reason they have survived so well with the nitrite is that they can breathe regular air.

 

[Punkymom]

That's what I thought, too...about them being able to tolerate the high levels...I'm just going to keep on those changes...I hope it gives up soon.