Nitrites off the charts

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bettaman95

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jun 19, 2022
Messages
9
Hello, I have been doing a fish in cycle in a 20g long with 1 betta fish. For the first few weeks at 50% pwc a week the cycle didn't start. I decided to dose stability at 10ml for a week. A couple days ago nitrites shot way up. I did a 50% pwc first day, next day 3 back-to-back 50% pwc and levels were still crazy. What should the wc regimen for this emergency be and is there other modifications I should make? I feed him 3 mini pellets in the morning and night. I have new amazon swords with fluorish root tabs and pebble subtrate, so probably not all detritus is removed after gravel vac on surface. Levels are 6.5 ph(municipal water ph), 0 - really high - 0 on api kit. Tank is 80f with eheim 100w heater and fluval 107 canister with a custom sponge on output to eliminate current for betta(airstone is used to maintain surface agitation) and on input to keep betta safe. Prime is used for water changes.
Thank you.
 
What nitrite level are you seeing?

It doesnt take much ammonia to make a lot of nitrite. 1ppm ammonia goes to 2.7ppm nitrite.

Your water changes should be whatever is needed to keep ammonia + nitrite combined no higher than 0.5ppm.

You are probably feeding too much. While cycling, especially if your parameters are out of hand, half feeding once a day or a full feeding every 2 days.
 
The reading is dark purple so greater than 5 ppm. Thanks, I will keep doing pwc until nitrites are safe. I will scale back feeding as well.
 
1 betta in a 20g should barely be producing any waste, even if you are overfeeding a little. If you are seeing significant increases in nitrite overnight something else will be contributing to poor water conditions.

I would stop adding stability. Its often speculated that stability is a nitrite source.
 
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