Help Nitrite Question

[dannii77]

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
[acronym:607e054e36="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:607e054e36] - 7.0 (when it goes down I add half teaspoon [acronym:607e054e36="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:607e054e36] up untill its ok)

[Menagerie]

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?

[dannii77]

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.

[Menagerie]

Why don't you vac the left side? I would not worry about removing nitrate right now, or is this a planted tank? It seems that the tank has cycled through the ammonia spike and you are dealing with the nitrite. You need to be doing more than 20% to get the nitrite down. This article on the Nitrogen Cycle may help: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showqu...q=2&fldAuto=21

[dannii77]

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.

[Menagerie]

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.

Your nitrite is 2 [acronym:de36a50321="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:de36a50321], 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?

[dannii77]

As long as I change the water every day they are o.[acronym:f5725928db="Kelvin or Potassium, depending on context"]k[/acronym:f5725928db] 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.

[Christmasfish]

What are your buffers looking like? Your [acronym:1a4f31bf10="Carbonate Hardness"]KH[/acronym:1a4f31bf10] and [acronym:1a4f31bf10="General Hardness"]GH[/acronym:1a4f31bf10]?
Maybe you have some [acronym:1a4f31bf10="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:1a4f31bf10] 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 [acronym:1a4f31bf10="quarantine or quart depending on context"]QT[/acronym:1a4f31bf10]. 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 [acronym:1a4f31bf10="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:1a4f31bf10] 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 ^_^

[dannii77]

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.

[dannii77]

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
[acronym:9356a8d8b6="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]PH[/acronym:9356a8d8b6] - 7.0 (was 6.8 before)
Tank 2 - Has 1 koi
test readings are the same as tank 1