Ok, this Nitrite spike is not normal

[manoosie]

I posted a few days ago about my spike, but I think I have to do something about it now. My Nitirites are at least 45 ppm, and its been that way for two weeks. My ammonia phase took two weeks, and I should be seeing some kind of decline in Nitrites. I think I need to do something. There are two fish in the tank, and they seem happy but there is no way with that kind of reading. Should I do a water change? Bio-spira?

 

[Todd2]

Yea, I would deffinatly do a water change. It's hard to believe those fish have been surviving in those conditions for two weeks. How old is your test kit? I think your test kit might have gone bad. Take a sample of your water into your LFS and have them test it.

 

[Jchillin]

Have to agree with Todd...there is no way fish could survive that high of a reading for any length of time.

 

[manoosie]

its an ap kit that i got a month ago when i started my tank. Is there any way to check if it works? I tested my tap and it came back with zero nitrites...

 

[Jchillin]

Unless something has changed, the AP test only goes as high as 5.0. Did you mean to say possibly 4.5ppm?

 

[mr86mister]

i hope 4.5ppm but that still is pretty high, what i would do is bring your water to a lfs and have them test it for you to find out if your test kits are correct

 

[manooosie]

i meant 45. I dilluted the tank water with my tap water about one part tank water to eight parts tap water. Even then it took about 15 seconds to turn a deep purple... I will check out the lfs and see what is up...

 

[Jchillin]

I'm confused. Why would you dilute your tank water for testing? Also, check the test chart again. There shouldn't be any whole numbers over 5.

 

[manooosie]

I diluted my water to see how far over 5 ppm of nitrite my tank was. I took my water to two lfs. The first tested it with an uknown kit and my water was perfect. The second lfs used the same ap kit i have, and it was off the charts. What is going on?

 

[rich311k]

I see what you did. Diluted and tested and multiplied by the dilution factor. I am with everyone else, I can't see how your fish are still alive. I would definetly change water. To see if it goes down. Did you test your tap water by itself?

 

[manooosie]

yea I did, with no nitrites. This is so weird. On the positive side, I have 3 fish (not two sorry I told you wrong) alive that seem to be doing well and one lfs tested the water and said it was fine. One the other hand the AP test kit says its off the charts and having nitrites 4 weeks into my cycle seems likely. hmmm...

 

[TomK2]

You have got me confused. Nitrite is supposed to cause methemoglobinemia, a change in fish blood that severely impairs its ability to carry and release oxygen to the fish organs and tissues. If levels under 5 can be lethal, I can only presume that 8 times that value would be. It may be time to consider something that might interfere with your nitrite test. Old test kit? Contaminated test kit? Something added to your tank? Something present in your tap water? I know your tap water tests zero, but perhaps an interfering substance is in the tap, and you don't see its effect until there are nitrites, like in your tank? I know that last one is a bit of a reach, but I am confused. Here are the interfering chemicals with a nitrite test, I beleive:

Very high levels of nitrate (>100 ppm) since some of the abundant nitrate will convert to nitrite and register on the test. Ferric Ions, Ferrous Ions, Lead Ions, Mercurous Ions, Cupric ions.

 

[manooosie]

Can't be a bad test kit, considering one of the lfs had the same kit and got the same result. I can do a water change, but I dont know if that will do anything since I have already dilluted it in my tap water and the results were still horrible.
I have no idea if those chemicals are in my tap. Perhaps tomorrow I will get a 3rd opinion, but that just seems crazy...

 

[Jchillin]

Here's my thinking.

Test of tank water results in a result of 5 (the highest the AP test kit gets).
You dilute the tank water with 8 parts tap water, retest and it is still at 5.
You then multiply this result and the final answer is 45.

You have it tested at LFS (hopefully this was undiluted tank water). One store says perfect, the other, using the same AP test, gets results similar to yours.

The end result? If you dilute tank water with tap water and there is no change, there has to be something in the tap water to create this anomaly.

Second, with a level so high (keeping 5ppm as a constant), your fish would have indicated it to you by gasping at the water surface and slowly becoming more lethargic.

IMO, there is something seriously wrong with the tests if the fish aren't suffering any effects.

 

[dskidmore]

I am suspicious of something odd with the water chemistry. One brand of kit says everything is perfect, and another one reads off the charts. Is it possible you have some other compound in the water that messes up the test result? The fact that the fish are still alive says that your nitrites are not really 45.

How does the water smell?

 

[manooosie]

smells fine to me. I just did a 35% water change, and the nitrates are now close to 0 and the nitrites are still off the charts.

 

[dskidmore]

Have your nitrates ever spiked? How high did they get?

 

[manooosie]

one test had my nitrates at 50 ppm, but I was told that high nitirites can screw with nitrates, so i thought it was inaccurate. On average there were probably 30 ppm in the last week...

 

[dskidmore]

It depends on the test you are using, with many you need to subtract your nitrite and ammonia readings from the nitrate reading to get the actual nitrate reading.

You may still be cycling. If that is the case, another week of waiting should bring the nitrite down.

Have you tested your tap water alone?

 

[manooosie]

yea, my tap has no nitrites. Will it be safe to just put bio spira in this tank, or are the nitrites too high for it?