Stubborn Nitrite Levels

[aquahungerforce]

I have had a 10 gal tank with two small orandas for about 4 weeks now. The tank had cycled in about 2 weeks, but I have had an extremly difficult time keeping the ammonia and nitrites down out of the danger zone. Even with daily 30-40% water changes, the levels would not drop. I finally tested my tap water, and there were same levels of nitrites, nitrates and ammonia I had in my tank.

The levels were
ammonia between 1.0-2.0ppm
Nitrate 20
Nitrite between 3.0-5.0

I'm thinking something happened to my tap water quality and has been screwing with my tank. Does this mean I could have had like an "artificial cycle"?
I changed out 50% for r/o water from LFS. It dropped my ammonia down to between 0-.25, but my nitrites skyrocketed to almost 10. nitrates are now between 20-40.
Now I'm confused as to keep doing massive water changes, or see if it drops on theire own. I'm worried about my fish with such high nitrites. Any suggestions would be great.

I have a Whisper 10-20HOB(added recently)
Regent 5-15 HOB
2 orandas (small)
No live plants, 1.5 inches of gravel

 

[vega]

Can you test the tap water in your kitchen sink? Most house have separate water source , norm kitchen have a direct water from your local water dept whereas bathroom have water that been kept in a big container around the housing area or above the building (depend on the housing developer).

As you tap water is the culprit, you can take the old tank syndrome approach. Just slowly let the fish use to 20 ppm NO2. After that just change the water weekly, as the fish is used to the No2 level like in old tank that have weird para level.

Or you can mix 1/2 RO water with 1/2 tap water in a container 1st for you tank water changing routine but i see this is a quit costly in long run for a FW tank..

hmmm. Are you looking into a planted tank?

HTH

 

[cginflorida]

You could also try using Amquel Plus water conditioner. It removes chlorine and chloramines and also some ammonia, nitrite and nitrates.

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Are you sure about the accuracy of your test results? Kits can go bad, or even be defective from the start.

 

[tropicalman]

Unless your ammonia and nitrite reads 0, you're tank has not yet fully cycled. 2 weeks is normally too short a time to expect a full cycle. I don't know if you were fishless cycling or doing it with fish but either way you should expect to allow more than 2 weeks. 6-8 weeks cycling from scratch with fish is what I would allow.
In any event, ammonia in your tap water is very unusual and your city or town water dept. would want to know about it. That's why they treat with chlorine and/or chloramines (that and bacteria).
You should expect the ammonia in your tank to drop to 0 and the nitrites to rise. The next step in the cycle is that the nitrites will drop and the nitrates will rise. Keep testing your water at least daily and if you notice the nitrite spiking then a pwc is in order just so that your fish don't suffer too much. With patience you can expect your nitrites to level off and then start to decrease with the opposite happening to the nitrate level. Look at the pwc as an artificial cap on the toxic nitrites. Once the biofilter is established, the bacteria will perform that same function for you. You still have to maintain the weekly pwc (~25% minimum) to control the nitrates though.
I would be very careful using R/O water in any large amounts because it is very soft. It's not likely but, make very sure that your lfs is not selling deionized water because that will lead to very serious problems with your pH (pure, very soft water with no buffering capacity).
BTW, your orandas will do much better with at least a 20 gallon tank.
Oh I should say that you could add a little salt to help detoxify the nitrites.

 

[TankGirl]

I would definitely contact someone about the results you are getting from your tap - that is not good at all, and should be a priority. I would personally not drink it until I knew.

Good advice above regarding handling the present oranda tank issue (I'll second the recommendation to get a larger tank for them - but if they are wee tiny now it is not urgent).

 

[aquahungerforce]

I'll be getting a 29 for them in a few months, theyre just babies right now. I guess I'll just let it ride, the fish are not acting in any stress. I'll do some water changes to try to bring them down a little. I believe my filter was established, but someone rinsed it in the sink :x

As for my testers I have A liquid reagent for the ammonia and nitrite, and I have a 5 in one test strips that test nitrate, nitrite, ph, kh, gh. I also have one of those ammonia alert cards in the tank as kind of a back up also.

The strips and the liquid seem to coincide with each other. I am going to call the water district today, see whats going on. We had a massive levy break here a few weeks ago, I wonder if that could be the culprit.

The water I bought I tested, it tested very soft about 25, and had about 40 kh. Ph was about 6.8. I added it very, very slowly to try not to shock the fish.

They seem to be doing ok, I'm just concerned about my tap water! Thanks alot guys, I'll post back what the water district says hopefully its just a temporary thing.

 

[aquahungerforce]

The water district said "it is absolutley impossible for nitrite and ammonia to be that high". So either my testers are wayyyyyy off, or something else! Does anyone have a favorite test kit or brand? I have been using Aquarium Pharmecueticals, and Jungle.


No I don't plan to make it a planted tank. I put some plants in there at first, but my fishy ripped the heck out of them clogging my filter. So plastic plants for them! I would like a planted tank, perhaps with other non-plant destroying fish

 

[tropicalman]

I like Aquarium pharmaceuticals test kits. I use the master kit. They are accurate. The thing is, they do expire and then the results are totally unreliable. The expiration date is listed on the bottle of each reagent.

 

[tropicalman]

I like Aquarium pharmaceuticals test kits. I use the master kit. They are accurate. The thing is, they do expire and then the results are totally unreliable. The expiration date is listed on the bottle of each reagent.