Why are my Nitrites so high

[rcm87]

I have 2 tanks and in both tanks my Nitrites were in the 30-40. Any idea why. I have a 20 Gal with 2 Africans, and a 10 gal with 3 mollies, 2 danioes. Thanks for the help

 

[WackyInsertions]

If you read my post before the edit, then whoops! Read that as nitrates for some reason.

Anyhow, I've always found high nitrites to go hand in hand with high ammonia. Is your tank cycled? What kind of filtration do you have? How often do you do water changes, and do you overfeed?

 

[rcm87]

I dont believe i over feed. I have a Eclipse filter and a penguin mini filter on the 10 gal. Ammonia is 0. This is just the first time I have seen nitrates this high.

 

[Allivymar]

Wait. Are you talking nitrAtes? Or nitrItes? Big difference.

 

[shawmutt]

NitrItes? What test are you using? My test only goes up to 5ppm max. My NitrAtes test, on the otherhand, goes up to 160ppm.

 

[rcm87]

Sorry it is Nitrites. The result was 3.0-4.0. Sorry for the confusion

 

[Allivymar]

LOL Thank you....doesn't take much to confuse me and that had me ALL messed up.

Ok...nitrites at around 3-4 ppm. How long have the tanks been up and running? When you say ammonia is zero, when did you last check? You might want to bring a sample to a lfs and have them check to be sure your tests aren't wonky. Have you treated for any disease recently? You also might want to check your tap water as both tanks have high nitrites to be sure its not coming from there.

 

[shawmutt]

How long have you had your tanks?

Any new additions or big changes? e.g. new filter, new substrate, new fish, etc.

 

[rcm87]

both tanks are about 1 month old. They have both cycled. No new fish recently or anything like that