Hey all, recently i moved fish out of a 20 gal, and into a bigger tank, and the same day i went out and got new fish for old tank... this tank had been running smoothly for about a year with no issues. After i moved the fish, i took some of the rock out, and redecorated it, added some different plants and a few other things as i re-aqascaped it. To it i added 3 barbs and a bristle nose pleco...right before i added them, i did a large PWC and my numbers were 0 ammo. 0 nitrite and maybe 10 nitrate...about 36 hours later i tested again and i noticed nitrite, perhaps 2-4 ppm of nitrite... so I'm curious how this happened...the tank was well cycled and had a good filter... so what i did is added a chunk of filter foam from another old tank, and then did two 30% WC back to back... i dosed with prime as instructed and the numbers are down now, however there still is 1-2 ppm of nitrite. So I'm curious what could the cause be? Any help would be awesome! the fish don't seem to be showing any signs of being bothered, but i know prolonged time at these conditions could cause major issues, is there anything else i should do? any insight or help would be awesome. thank you!
nitrite spike issue!
- Thread starter patola_l
- Start date
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Dale_I
Aquarium Advice Freak
What kind and how many fish did you move out? What kind and how many fish did you move in? What kind of filter do you have?
If you have nitrites, you are obviously going through some type of cycle on the tank. Keeping up with water changes until the bacteria can catch up with your fish load will probably be your reality for a bit.
If you have nitrites, you are obviously going through some type of cycle on the tank. Keeping up with water changes until the bacteria can catch up with your fish load will probably be your reality for a bit.
You divided your filter media into two which can cause a mini- to big cycle since neither tank now has enough established filtration. If you keep both tanks I would have carefully removed small parts of the media into the new tank over time. Definitely hold off on buying more stock until your tanks are cycled again!
don't worry, in the tank i took foam from, i only took part of it... only about 1/4 of the total foam... the other tank also has filter floss and ammonia chips that had been there for a while, so i don't think the other tank should be an issue.
update: did a test this morning, the tank with the new fish no has 0 ammo. and less than .25 nitrite, so it looks like the added filter piece is working! in the tank i took the bit of filter foam, ammo. and nitrite are 0. I think this will work
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