High nitrites

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.
ryan-peddle said:
Wondering how I can lower my nitrites Iam showing 0.3 I did 50% pwc yesterday and about 30 today



Massive pwc or back to back pwc's. Get a bottle of Prime to neutralize between water changes. Certain your test is correct? I assume this is the new tank you cycled?
 
Last edited:
Yep, use prime at 5x normal dose for the total volume of the tank and it should knock it right out. Testing daily (maybe 2x) for the next few days and 50% PWC if you see any jump back up. You can do the 5x dosing every 3 days is what I've found in my research, but once should do it.

One thing to figure out is why it happened. Too much cleaning? Any ammo spike?
 
How large of a water change did you do before stocking? Did you test the water parameters of the tank after the pwc, but before adding the fish? It's possible if there was still ammonia levels in the tank, you're watching the conversion of the ammo through the cycle. If you used a water conditioner like Prime during the last water change, it will be non- toxic. Still play things safe, continue to test and do pwc's to keep levels below .25. Have you tested the nitrIte level directly from your tap?
 
I did a 50% massive before I stocked I tested before and all was good no ammo very little trites and 10 trates after 50% wc it was about the same I never use prime cause I am on well water but I can pick some up if it will bring down my trites so today I tested and everything was the same so I did another 30% wc now my trites are about .2
 
I did a 50% massive before I stocked I tested before and all was good no ammo very little trites and 10 trates after 50% wc it was about the same I never use prime cause I am on well water but I can pick some up if it will bring down my trites so today I tested and everything was the same so I did another 30% wc now my trites are about .2

I'd suggest another 50% PWC ASAP.
 
ryan-peddle said:
I did a 50% massive before I stocked I tested before and all was good no ammo very little trites and 10 trates after 50% wc it was about the same I never use prime cause I am on well water but I can pick some up if it will bring down my trites so today I tested and everything was the same so I did another 30% wc now my trites are about .2

Are you showing any ammo? I still think it's possible you're seeing the remnants of conversion from the last ammo you dosed, but regardless we've got to keep it down especially since you don't have a water conditioner neutralizing anything.

Also, I think you're using test strips, right? So honestly we can't necessarily trust anything they're saying, and we've got to keep the pwc's up until we get accurate readings.

I'm definitely curious if you see ammo, and any no2 from the tap. I don't know how many tanks you have, but obviously if you can grab media from another we can knock it right out.
 
eco23 said:
Are you showing any ammo? I still think it's possible you're seeing the remnants of conversion from the last ammo you dosed, but regardless we've got to keep it down especially since you don't have a water conditioner neutralizing anything.

Also, I think you're using test strips, right? So honestly we can't necessarily trust anything they're saying, and we've got to keep the pwc's up until we get accurate readings.

I'm definitely curious if you see ammo, and any no2 from the tap. I don't know how many tanks you have, but obviously if you can grab media from another we can knock it right out.

No ammo I am using a liquid mini master no ammo or n02 from the tap no trites in my other 6 tanks and I am using 2 filters from other tanks I am baffled
 
ryan-peddle said:
No ammo I am using a liquid mini master no ammo or n02 from the tap no trites in my other 6 tanks and I am using 2 filters from other tanks I am baffled

If you can spare more media...that's an instant fix once you get the no2 down. Wait, you mean you've already added more media than you used to set the tank up with?
 
Did anything abnormal happen during the big pwc before stocking? Was the tank left without water for a significant amount of time? I know you said you were transferring substrate, was it empty during that time? At worst you'll just have to treat it as a mini-cycle and keep knocking out the pwc's until it stabilizes which shouldn't take long.
 
I will keep doing 2 30% pwc per day and keep testing and tomorrow I will pick up some prime do I add it right into the tank or prepare water with it in it cause I normally use a python
 
ryan-peddle said:
Yupp I added one more filter that I wasn't cycling with and I left the water half full when I added more gravel?????

It really depends on how long it was dry and how much of the walls, deco, etc...was exposed. We had one member who was doing his big pwc before stocking, emptied about 70% of the water and decided he wanted to redecorate. The walls sat bare for 30 minutes and when he tested his bio-filter one last time he suddenly had trouble dropping his nitrItes. It took him about 3 days before things stabilized out to where they were before the walls were dried. I was personally shocked how much of the BB was actually colonized on the walls to cause that.
 
ryan-peddle said:
I will keep doing 2 30% pwc per day and keep testing and tomorrow I will pick up some prime do I add it right into the tank or prepare water with it in it cause I normally use a python

Right into the tank is fine...I use a Python too. Like Mr. Limpet said, you can add above the recommended dosage when necessary. When using a Python, treat for the total volume of the tank, not just the water you are replacing. But in this case, 2-3 times the dosage won't hurt to make sure all is neutralized.
 
BTW, you didn't add the fish until last night, right? I don't think this is actually from the fish...I think this is remnants of the last dose of ammo you added. The same principle applies though to keep the no2 down until you read all zeros.
 
Yes I added the fish last night I believe it's from the last dose too just looking for a cure but I guess it's prime and pwc this should be cheap prime for an 80 gallon tank lol at double doses how many times do I treat with prime every pwc or just one?
 
ryan-peddle said:
Yes I added the fish last night I believe it's from the last dose too just looking for a cure but I guess it's prime and pwc this should be cheap prime for an 80 gallon tank lol

You're absolutely right, pwc's + Prime + a day or two = solution. Prime is SUPER concentrated. A single capful treats 50 gallons. It doesn't take much. I think the problem was remnants of the last dosing not being fully removed since we moved them quickly and the walls possibly drying out a bit did it, but the couple pwc's and other piece of media should knock this out in no time. No worries :). You're experienced, you know what to do.
 
eco23 said:
You're absolutely right, pwc's + Prime + a day or two = solution. Prime is SUPER concentrated. A single capful treats 50 gallons. It doesn't take much. I think the problem was remnants of the last dosing not being fully removed since we moved them quickly and the walls possibly drying out a bit did it, but the couple pwc's and other piece of media should knock this out in no time. No worries :). You're experienced, you know what to do.

Ok do I prime once or every pwc cause I will be doing 2 per day
 
ryan-peddle said:
Ok do I prime once or every pwc cause I will be doing 2 per day

I'd do it every time. I'm not familiar with Prime on well water since it's normal use is to dechlorinate, but I'd have to figure that every pwc removes Prime as well as water so you want to replace it.

The bottle says up to 5x dosage for emergency situations is okay, but personally I'd think 2-3x is okay. Someone else is welcome to jump in if they think 5x is appropriate. I'd just be super nervous to add that much twice a day.
 
It's ok, overdosing prime doesn't hurt anything, it'd take a ton to be a real issue.

Another thing you can do is add a little bit of salt to help avoid nitrite poisoning in the fish. I don't know exactly how prime detoxifies nitrite, they don't seem to know either, at least they aren't willing to explain it very much from what I can tell. Either way, its temporary, adding salt would be a more permanent solution till the minicycle goes away.
 
Back
Top Bottom