Nitrites!!!

[shortenjam]

Hello,
I bought a 55 gallon tank about a month ago. Everything was going fine until recently and my nitrates are now elevated and my nitrites are off the charts. I do daily cleanings, have 7 small piranha and a couple cichlids and a few plants with some driftwood that was cleaned. I have an 18 in bubble bar. My nitrites are out of control. I have added Amquel Plus once about 3 days ago, and was told this product is no good. So I started to use Cycle, and some Stress Zyme, along with Tetra Easybalance Nitraban and I still see no results. I also add bacteria. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[bluerose]

Ok. Stop adding chemicals other than dechlorinator.

Make sure you aren't messing nitrItes and nitrAtes.

If your nitrItes are above .5ppm start with a 50% PWC. Do not try to control it with chemicals.

nitrAtes are safe to about 40ppm IIRC, the PWC will also help with them.

Did this tank ever cycle? if not my guess is... this is your nitrite spike.

What's your ammonia level?

 

[shortenjam]

ok. no more chemicals. i believe it is in its cycle because i never had any nitrates before 3 days ago and its been a month now. i never used to have nitrites either. i guess it is the spike. my ammonia is 0. so dont add any chemicals until my nitrites calm down? and how often should i do wc's? thanks.

 

[bluerose]

do 50% PWCs any time nitrites get over .5 until they level out... test daily.

For maintenance your tank will need weekly PWCs of about 25%.

I'm guessing you bought a tank, set it up, and tossed your fish in there? If so then your tank is towards the end of it's cycle, luckily for your fish. Ammonia and nitrite are essentially poison so you need to keep the levels very low to nonexistent.

 

[Ziggy953]

Sounds like good advice to me. I'm of the opinion that a PWC is the first line of defense not adding chemicals. With such a large nitrIte spike I agree that you are nearing the end of your cycle. Get ready to do those PWCs!

 

[shortenjam]

ok daily 50% water changes every day until nitrites down. til then no more chemicals besides dechlorinator. my ammonia is zero the nitrites are bad as well as nitrates. i hope the cycle will get done soon. thanks guys for all your help!

 

[Sombunya]

I do daily cleanings,

Could that be your problem?

All that "nasty" stuff in the filter is not really nasty. In took the well-used media out of one filter and put it in another on a tank that was cycling. It finished quicker than I even expected.
Keep your Nitrites under.5 ppm by doing water changes.

 

[OldMan]

Shortenjam: It is no chemical additives ever. Forget about the till then approach. If you do a 20% or more partial water change weekly after your cycle is complete, your fish will be happy and your chemistry will be stable and good for the fish. We measure ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH in most tanks but lots of other things are going on with the water. You have a complete ecosystem at work and are only measuring a few things that sort of tell you what else is happening. The ammonia and nitrites need to be kept at zero measurable but the fish will easily survive up to 0.25 ppm during the time you are cycling the filter. The nitrates are not as poisonous and most fish easily tolerate 40 ppm or more. The biggest thing you gain from measuring nitrates is an idea of what else is going on that you can't measure. If you do enough water changes that your nitrates never rise by more than 20 ppm between changes, in an unplanted tank, you are doing enough to remove most poisons that we don't measure. Unless your pH is totally unmeasurable because it is so high or so low, do nothing to change it intentionally. Fish will do much better with a stable pH than one that you are messing about with, even if you can get it to their "ideal" pH with chemicals.
The filter products that are made to remove ammonia, and similar products, are not your friend. What they do is rob your biological filter of the nitrogen it needs to cycle properly. Then when the stuff gets chemically exhausted by absorbing ammonia, your fish get to have a massive ammonia spike before you notice it. In many cases you notice it because your fish are looking bad and you test to find out why. I know that the labels on these things promise that they will help your fish but they really do just the opposite in the long run.