Nitrite help for newbie! Cichlid setup

[SouthernFish]

I'm new to the aquarium game and recently got a 50 gallon tank with fluval 306 filter setup. Currently I have 4 cichlids bc one died 2 days ago. I've had an increase spike in nitrites and nitrated few days ago & I did a 50% water change immediately then 10% water change daily with no change. I assume the tank is cycling but the water changes did not reduce the nitrites so I'm unsure of what to do. HELP PLEASE before more start dying!


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[SouthernFish]

the peacock is the one that died


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[PNWaquarist]

Are you adding Prime or some other sort of nitrite-binder? That will help tremendously. Add double the normal dose.

 

[SouthernFish]

I added the 5x the normal dose (bottle said to in case of emergency) when I first noticed it , then have been adding normal dose every other day since. Still no result. Do you think it could be a case of tank not being filtered enough & maybe I need a second filter? I assumed with only 5 fish 1 filter would be enough


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[CoronaBlue]

How long has tank been running? What are your water levels at? A 306 with only 4 fish is plenty of filtration. Sounds like you have an uncycled tank.

 

[SouthernFish]

Been running about 3-4 wks. Kh: 180 Gh:120 Nitrate: 80 Nitrite:5 Ph: 7.2
I'm hoping it's just the tank cycling but I am in process of getting the API buffer max & the mineral salts to keep the water ideal


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[SouthernFish]

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[CoronaBlue]

Nitrate 80 after your WC? If that's the case you need to keep doing daily WC to lower your nitrates.

 

[SouthernFish]

Ok will do, thanks. Also the nitrite is 10 not 5 unfortunately..hopefully they will all survive until the levels get back to normal


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[CoronaBlue]

Ya looks like your tank hit a spike, shoot for 0 to 5 nitrite and under 40 nitrate. Daily WC of 25 to 30% will be needed until your tank stabilizes. Also don't add anymore fish while your cycling.

 

[Rare]

I am in process of getting the API buffer max & the mineral salts to keep the water ideal

Dont use anything else you can make things worst. Plus, you dont need that stuff if your tap water is fine. First, work on you PWC everyday 40/50% & keep feeding every other day and small amounts till your tank is cycled. Good luck!

 

[Angela1108]

Check your tap water for levels too. If for some reason nitrate is high in your tap water it isn't going to help as much.

If you have 80 nitrate and do a 50% change it should bring it to 40 nitrate. But if you have nitrate in the water you are only ever going to be able to get as low as what is in the tap water going in


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[SouthernFish]

I hope thats not the case! If my tap water is high on nitrates than I'm in a jam...I'll post the tap water levels as soon as possible. Thanks again


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