Levels help.

[wilmo]

Hey folks.

Earlier I did a pwc. And just now I know one of my black guppies is sitting at the bottom. So I tested my levels and there
Nitrites 2
Nitrate 30
Ammonia 0.25.
I use a api master kit. Don't understand because I did the pwc earlier. Help!
Cheers

 

[allaboutfish]

you need to do a big water change to bring nitrites to .25 maybe 75%

 

[wilmo]

you need to do a big water change to bring nitrites to .25 maybe 75%

Cheers. What about my guppy ?

 

[allaboutfish]

i used melafix when my cories got ammonia burns (what that could be or even nitrite poisoning) but best thing to do is raise the temp to about 82 degrees slowly and add some aquarium salt (what fish do u have)

 

[wilmo]

Betta
4 guppies.
5 tetras
Plec
2 amano shrimp.

 

[allaboutfish]

im pretty sure they can all handle salt especially the guppies but id look it up first to make sure

 

[Bettababe1011]

I'm pretty sure they can all handle salt. But be careful with the Betta, and don't go longer than ten days with salt, because it can start to cause kidney failure.

 

[siva]

I don't see any reason to stress these fish further with salt. I would not add any additives to a cycling tank unless there was infection present. They are being poisoned with nitrite, just do back to back 50% water changes until it's down to no more than .25ppm.

 

[allaboutfish]

i think he should still raise the temp so it can heal better

 

[siva]

Well I've never heard of raising the heat to help fish who are struggling with cycling, but it shouldn't hurt. Just make sure to add an airstone since raising the temp will disolve the oxygen.

 

[Rokuzachi]

Raising the temperature with high nitrite is a bad idea if you ask me. Higher temp means less oxygen in the water. Nitrite inhibits the fish's ability to absorb oxygen. If you use Prime, you can hit the tank with a 5x dose to detox the nitrite and prevent it affecting the fish as much.

 

[Mr. Limpet]

I don't see any reason to stress these fish further with salt. I would not add any additives to a cycling tank unless there was infection present. They are being poisoned with nitrite, just do back to back 50% water changes until it's down to no more than .25ppm.

+1

The only cure for no2 poisoning (ammo too) is to get rid of it with PWC IMO, because trying to treat it while they wallow in it is counter productive. Get the ammo below .25ppm and no2 should be kept as close to 0ppm as possible.

 

[ejaramillo01]

+1

The only cure for no2 poisoning (ammo too) is to get rid of it with PWC IMO, because trying to treat it while they wallow in it is counter productive. Get the ammo below .25ppm and no2 should be kept as close to 0ppm as possible.

+1

Don't add salt, just do PWC , as many as needed to drop the nitrites close to 0 ppm.

 

[Rokuzachi]

Salt is actually an effective way to help your fish cope with the presence of nitrite.

What's happening with nitrite is that its oxidizing their hemoglobin into methemoglobin, which essentially suffocates the fish because they are unable to get oxygen.

By adding salt, you are creating competition for the nitrite. When there is a certain amount of chloride present, the gills will take it instead of the nitrite, allowing them to continue to take in oxygen from the water.

While PWCs are the first line of defense against nitrites, if they are going to be present, some aquarium salt is a good thing, generally. Between that and Prime, I have yet to loose a single fish to a nitrite spike. You can find most of this information by searching for "brown blood disease in fish" on google. You can also search for "freshwater osmotic pressure" or "freshwater osmoregulation" to see in what way salt can help to take strain off of an ailing or stressed fish.

 

[siva]

Personally I would prefer to get it down below .25 with back to back water changes. I would overdose my new water with prime a bit which will help detoxify the nitrite left in the tank for 48 hours. IMHO messing around with the salt isn't a good idea.

 

[wilmo]

Cheers fir the advise folks I've got my nitrite down to around 1. And ma ammonia is 0.25. And my nitrate at 10. Going to get so prime tomorrow. Cheers once again.

 

[allaboutfish]

1 is too high on nitrites. nitrites are extremely poisonous even more then ammonia. be sure to have an air stone for sure.

 

[wilmo]

I have an airstone in the tank already.

 

[allaboutfish]

id still bring the nitrites to .25 anything high is super toxic

 

[siva]

Right you're going to need to do probably 3 partial water changes within a fairly short period of time to get it down far enough.