Help Nitrite Question

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
D

dannii77

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Mar 3, 2004
Messages
6
Location
Australia
My new tank is cycling it has been 3 weeks today and for the last 2 weeks my nitrite has been at 2.0 I have been doing 20% water changes every day and am not sure if I should continue or reduce the amount of water I am changing I have a full load of fish and as soon as I try not to change the water I notice they go all scared or swim around like they are crazy.

52 gallon - Tank
1200 per hour - filter
2 Air pumps
10 koi - 3 of them are 8 inch

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate - 5.0
PH - 7.0 (when it goes down I add half teaspoon ph up untill its ok)
 
Welcome to the board, dannii77!

Those goldfish are huge waste producers and are part of the problem. Do not add anything to fix the pH, they are no good and will mess with the rest of your water parameters. There are natural ways to change the pH. Do you vacuum the gravel when you do water changes?
 
I vacuum once a week and only one side of the tank the right side I have not vac the left side at all. I change the water every day 20% but did not change it yesterday and am not sure if this is too often or by changing the water I am removing Nitrate.
 
I thought that Nitrate had to go up high and that is when Nitrite goes down I have another tank that is also cycling and it is the same with that tank only the other tank has one 9inch koi in it.
I only have fake plant's.
 
Nitrite can be harmful to your fish as well if allowed to exceed a safe level. When you begin to see your nitrite drop, you can then expect a rise in nitrates. In a fairly new aquarium, you may see a slight spike of ammonia and therefore nitrite if you add a significant number of new fish. A fully cycled, mature aquarium should have no detectable ammonia or nitrite.
Click to expand...
Your nitrite is 2 ppm, correct? You really need to bring it down. That can be accomplished with water changes of 50% (don't do more than 50% per day). How are the fish doing?
 
As long as I change the water every day they are o.k but as soon as I leave it one day they act all scared or crazy, I will change 50% water with vac and test it after to see how much I have removed also I will do the same with the other tank should i do another water change tomorrow.
 
What are your buffers looking like? Your KH and GH?
Maybe you have some ph swings and mini spikes going on because your buffer is weak. You have a nice size tank for your fish in their current size and a bit of growth.




Though if I ever keep golds, I am planning 6-8 fancies (8 inchers usually) like oranda for a 55-75.. I am afraid I would only have half your koi in that size tank (those oriental restaurant tanks that look crammed with a mere 5 Koi are usually a 100+ gallons ^_^). So I wouldn't worry about outgrowth. And so I wouldn't have to work so hard. Goldies are fun if you can cut down some of the work. But the loose rule of thumb for fancy golds is 10 gallons per fish! Koi are really pond fish. Not suited long for aquarium life.
You SHOULD vacuum the WHOLE tank each week. Goldies are messy. How can they not be with a immature digestive system? In it goes out- it goes. And that means a lot of consumption to make sure enough nurtrients can be lifted. With Koi you should measure them periodically, maybe every 60 days, so the bioload doesn't sneak up on you.
Be warned that a healthy Koi grows about an inch a month. A sickly one will end up at least a foot long at adulthood if it lives.. many end up between 2-3 foot. The largest on record is like 6 ft? Whoo! It was in a deep lake I think. Anyhoo.... Are you planning a pond by the way?

Now I am one who errs to the side of caution and doesn't suggest gross overstocking of tanks in order to make them look full. So I will always be the one pointing out in the easy to read inches of fish rule; the cons in a tank too small for the adult load. I don't follow the inch of fish rule because I personally think it too generous unless it is shrimp and guppies. And what good is it if the water change schedule is not strict enough? No matter how good your filtration or how big it's turnover, it can't replace used up buffers and electrolytes. And there is nothing that "eats" feces unless you have a unattractive mulm layer of bacteria that chows it down. But I have dutch tanks (unfiltered planted and only changed out) and still have zeroes across the board and not a single fish in any dutch tank has died or become ill (knock tank!). Most look like someone made tea in them and the bag broke. Nor do I have anything crop up on fish once they have passed my QT. When I first returned to fish unwillingly..I have had some freak fatalities. And one stupid one of my fault. Overstocking is the number one reason IMO that one has difficulty controlling parmeters and has mystery spikes making floaters at night, to find in dismay the next day. So don't feel picked at, I will always seem an ol curmudgeon over it..if i catch it ^_^
 
Thank's for all the advice hubby will be building me a pond in six months and until then I'm stuck with 2 tank's, I was going to move some in the other tank that also is cycling and the exact same thing is happening with it except I only have 1 9inch Koi in that tank and it is different to all the others it bangs into wall and sometime tries to jump out so I will not be keeping that one.

P.S I think it's not a pure koi is it possible for a gold fish & koi to breed and
if so this is one ugly looking fish.
 
I did a vacuum on both tanks removed 50% water and waited 2 hours before testing again the results are still the same.

Tank 1 - Has 10 koi
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 2.0
Nitrate - 5.0
PH - 7.0 (was 6.8 before)
Tank 2 - Has 1 koi
test readings are the same as tank 1
 
What a sweet hubby....

Heh..they are likely pure koi if they have homely catfish faces.
Pet koi usually look even more carpish. Koi also change color over time..usually for the better if conditions are good.

Odd about no drop in your readings....Have you tested to see if your tap has nitrates from the get go? What size is #2 tank..under 20 or over?
Your fish haven't out grown the tank quite yet if it is fingerlings and a couple 8 inchers!
What is the KH/GH? Still may be a buffering prob. Which will really mess with your pond when you first set up.
Try anther 50% in 48 hours. If no drop then, then you have something seriously wonky going on with the water itself. And I won't envy you there.
Your pH is really low for Koi by the way. goldies and Koi prefer the hard side of 7. Specially if they are to be outside. You water turns low so fast it is likely a bad buffer. As much as you have to mess with the ph you may need a constant source in tank like argonite gravel and some clamshells..^_^
 
First post for me... I have a similar question on nitrites.
My first tank is in the process of cycling. It finished with ammonia about 3 weeks ago (0), but now nitrites are off the scale. I am using a 5-in-1 test strip which has a reading of 10 as the highest for nitrites. My pad shows bright magenta/purple.

I have a few fishies which seem to be doing just fine through it all - feeding fine, not gasping or anything. Have not lost a fish... no signs of disease. Ive been doing 30-50% water changes every few days because I'm concerned about the readings - but after the flush, there is no change in readings??? Maybe because they are so high they are still off the charts.
Doing regular gravel cleaning and light feeding.

10 gal tank
ph around 6.4,
nitrates 20-40
nitrites 10+ ?
ammonia 0
temp 76-77
tap water is 0, 0, 0 readings.

Any idea why its taking so long to cycle / levels dont drop even when I change a to of water?
Thanks,
Matthi
 
First post for me... I have a similar question on nitrites.
My first tank is in the process of cycling. It finished with ammonia about 3 weeks ago (0), but now nitrites are off the scale. I am using a 5-in-1 test strip which has a reading of 10 as the highest for nitrites. My pad shows bright magenta/purple.

I have a few fishies which seem to be doing just fine through it all - feeding fine, not gasping or anything. Have not lost a fish... no signs of disease. Ive been doing 30-50% water changes every few days because I'm concerned about the readings - but after the flush, there is no change in readings??? Maybe because they are so high they are still off the charts.
Doing regular gravel cleaning and light feeding.

10 gal tank
ph around 6.4,
nitrates 20-40
nitrites 10+ ?
ammonia 0
temp 76-77
tap water is 0, 0, 0 readings.

Any idea why its taking so long to cycle / levels dont drop even when I change a to of water?
Thanks,
Matthi
 
[center:3abbdf0ce1] Welcome to AA, Matthi! :n00b: [/center:3abbdf0ce1]

I will be the first to tell you that strips are not good tests. Also, what kind of dechlorinator are you using? If the nitrites were off the charts, I think the fish would no longer be with you. Get a new test kit and post the results. I can't imagine after a 50% water change that the readings are still off the charts and the fish are fine. If the nitrites were even 4 and staying at 4, you would need to be doing 50% changes everyday to keep the fish well.
If you cannot buy a new test kit ASAP, ask your LFS to test your water for you.
 
I notice that mathis also has a low ph (which may indicate low to no buffer).
Also what type fish/how many? Any live plants? Do you have signs of an algae bloom?
How long have you actually had the tank?

Each reading takes a turn being high while the cycle processes through. You never fully lose nitrAte readings..water change schedule handles that.
I can give you a nitrAte solution but it brings a new problem, if you put nitrates hungry live bamboo stalks (lucky bamboo) in the tank it will help take your nitrate level down considerably but bamboo lays silicates and that wil bring a bloom of diatoms "brown algae"


Oh and dump the dip-sticks as your primary judge of water. They are way too inaccurate to watch a new cycle.
 
Thanks for the replies!
My tank has been going for almost 2 months.
Fish:
3 red tetras
2 black tetras
2 aeonius? bronze corys
3 neon tetras
(added gradually over the weeks, in that order)
(all fish 1" or less)

The last week and a half, noticing red ?algae? kinda growing on the glass, rocks. very thin layer

No live plants - just plastic ones.
 
How can I increase ph gradually/safely/permanently?
Also, how does
that buffer stuff work? Have not been able to find any info other than less ph = lower buffer.
Thanks again,
Matthi
 
Thanks for the replies!
My tank has been going for almost 2 months.
Fish:
3 red tetras
2 black tetras
2 aeonius? bronze corys
3 neon tetras
(added gradually over the weeks, in that order)
(all fish 1" or less)

The last week and a half, noticing red ?algae? kinda growing on the glass, rocks. very thin layer

No live plants - just plastic ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
Quick cycle?
Replies
18
Views
564
lonksenopa
L
N
Need some help with my tank
Replies
16
Views
534
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
N
Can't get cycle back in order
2
Replies
29
Views
795
Andy Sager
Andy Sager
A
Weird Nitrates AND Nitrites readings HELP!!
Replies
5
Views
500
Colin_T
C
Kimbo57
Need ppm help.
Replies
11
Views
758
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom