High nitrite! Help!

[librarygirl]

Originally Posted by pleechford

I have a 10g with 3 neons, 1 Cory cat, 1 platy, and 1 Molly. My tank has been set up for 3 to 4 weeks now. I definitely use prime for a water conditioner. My tap water had a very high level of ammonia in it so there might be high nitrites in the water as well. I am going to start to go back to using RO. I truly believe it's my tap water harming my tank

The nitrite phase is normal for being 3-4 weeks into a new tank. It would happen regardless of your water source. Ammonia rising and then falling and then nitrites rising are part of the nitrogen cycle. If you're concerned about your tap water having nitrites in it, test it with the test kit, but as I said this phase of the cycle is normal. You want to do water changes as stated above until the nitrites fall to 0 and stay there on their own (which means the tank is fully cycled). The nitrite phase can last up to a few weeks so be committed to daily water testing and changes.

Also if you do use pure RO water you would have to reconstitute it with minerals, something like RO Rite or Seachem Replenish. Pure RO water is stripped of everything including minerals that the fish need so they would need to be added back in. Fish like stable environments so I'd be cautious about changing water sources too quickly if you were to do so.

[pleechford]

Will high trites make my water cloudy?



Such as this?