High Nitrite levels :( please be aware I typed a lot(coffee)

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

Hello all! This is my first post and unfortunately It starts off bad First of all before I go any further, thank you for this wonderful site of wonderful people who are so kind to help the ones in need and everything else. If it weren't for you guys and gals, I think a lot of fish would be dead and people would not get the right answers.

Ok..I have to admit, this has got me a bit down, and I was so excited and happy to start my fish tank experience but now with these readings, I am a bit depressed because I can't stand having my fishes be stressed but I have been reading a lot of posts here about the high nitrite levels and I have purchased all the right equipment to get these under control.

so let me begin!
about 6 weeks ago, I purchased a 60 gallon with stand fish tank, and I had an expert at the LFS(Petsmart) explain to me about the nitrogen cycle and gave me all the equipment I needed to get my cycle successfully started. He did not mention I need a pure source of ammonia, or anything. I bought the filter, the heater, the items necessary to get started.

I have a aqueon 55/75 filter that is suppose to be 400GPH for up to 90 gallons. I also have 1 air stone by the filter and one air wand at the other side of the tank for extra oxygen circulation. I have lots of decor, a pair of castle that is a set, left side and right, I have driftwood and a extra large rock cave ornament in between the castles, with fake plants mixed around the backs of the decorations and also I have setup a pile of rocks that I get from my backyard, to provide extra hiding spots for the cichlids I have going in my tank. I might add that they are all baby and I plan on upgrading when they get more than 5 inches to another tank but I have to get this under control.
I also have a 200 water heater and I use Super activated carbon to help maintain clear water.(right thing to do? )

I started the fishless cycle per opinion of the LFS expert, and I did not use any pure ammonia, just left the tank run and I changed the filters customized it and cut it and used the RENA filters for all 3 parts of the 55/75 filter. So I left the tank do the process for about 6 to 10 days, and I took the water sample to petsmart and they tested it and said i'm ready to add my first set of fish, at that time I did not know much about fish just what I was attracted to was the black mollys. I purchased 3 black mollys, and I let them stay in the tank and after a few days, again I took my water to get tested and they told me the results are great and you can add more fish ( as many as you want) So..ofc being a rookie, I added 4 to 5, (1 clown loach, 1 black ghost, 2 Angel, 1 large blue gourami) Okay so I added them and everything seemed fine, after a while I was not satisfied with just tropical semi, so I gave the fish back and got store credit and moved to cichlids because I was attracted to the puppy dog personalities they have been said to have. Okay so I got 1 cichlid everyday for about 5 6 days and now I have about 10 baby cichlids. African kenyi's, yellow lab, red zebra, blue cobalt, and a bumbelbee.

I originally started using API Stress Coat, when I was cycling my tank, and eventually I switched to API Stress zyme+ with a seperate water dechlorinator to get the tap water safe when I do water change. I only did 1 water change for about 2 weeks or so, because I had cloudy water at one point, and then, I read on all the articles about cloudy water and I started to do some water changes. Now, after my first water change, I did another 50% water change, each time I was adding stress zyme and API aquarium salt, and I had bought the test strips to test , and also had those PH and Ammonia pads you can leave in the tank to monitor the levels of just PH and ammonia. I took the water to petsmart they said my nitrites or off the charts and they recommended I do 50% water change. So I did that, and now a week later, I decided to buy the API Master Kit, to do these testings and get more accurate readings.

so Last night, I did a test, and all the levels except the most important one Nitrite was it seemed to be at 5, but the problem is the purple color was very close to the other levels that were less than 5, but like you guys say its not safe if its not at 0 and less than 0.25PPm. So last night I did a 75% water change, added a few tablespoons of salt, and I used Prime and ALSO guys I used stability because I heard that stress zyme's bacteria is dead if it's not refrigerated and that stability is the best for a speeded up biofilter that will help my tank, so I added about 5 capfuls worth of Prime, and 3 capfuls of stability and refilled the water let it circulate for about 15 to 20 minutes, and I tested it again and it was around .5PPM to 1PPM. My nitrates were at 20PPM and the ammonia was at 0 and the Ph was around 7.6.

I fed them late last night before I went to bed, and I think this is where my problem exists. I might be overfeeding, but I have every type of food, frozen blood worms, frozen beefheart, omega one tropical flakes, omega one cichlid pelletes, aqueon mini cichlid pellets, the tetra new packs for brine shrimp and bloodworms, omega one veggie rounds, algae waffers, aqeuon bottom feeders.
One of my cichlids likes to eat everything and kinda bullies the others around,
so I feed a little bit more than 3 pinches in the 3 minute time and they eat it all up and they do not seem stressed at all because they are swimming like it's heaven in there, up and down and going up and down the air stone bubbles, they seem to be having a ball.

Okay I know I have typed a lot and I hope this has not been confusing.
What should I do.. My nitrites seems high this morning, and what I wanted to know is, do I add this stability to add more bacteria to help convert the nitrite to nitrate? or should I continue to do massive water changes?

I am blessed because I have a aqueon 25ft hooked up to my facet that I can change the water easily, so If I have to do a bunch of water changes today(I can because i'm off). My question is do I need prime after I add the water or before, and when I add prime, how can I expect to get true results because it's just detoxifying the nitrites and when you test it the nitrites won't show?

I hope I made sense and I did not confuse anyone.

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

I am a bit confused on how much I should use with these readings of the seachem products. I do not want to use API anymore so i'm using Seachem.

and I wanted to take you guys pictures and show u but I can't because it says the file is to large, how can i make it smaller so I can send it

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

it read between 1.0PPM and 2.0PPM when last night It was around 5

 

[librarygirl]

Hi and welcome to AA!

First, I'd stop adding the stability. Bacteria products are very unreliable; they either won't work, or they'll make your tank appear cycled and then you'll have a cycle crash at some point down the road.

You did well by getting your own test kit. All you have to do is test the water daily; any time ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25, do a water change to get them down (so, if nitrite is at 1, a 50% pwc will "only" get it down to .25 which is borderline, so either do a larger pwc initially or do two back-to-back 50% pwc). Same with nitrates over 20. Just keep doing this until ammonia and nitrite stay at 0 on their own. Then you'll just need to do your weekly water change to keep nitrate under 20. But for now, test daily and change water any time ammonia and/or nitrite levels are up.

Using Prime is good, that's really all you need. I'm not sure if Cichlids need salt regularly. You can add a small amount of salt to help with nitrite toxicity while the tank is cycling, but if it isn't something the fish need regularly you should stop using it once nitrites stay low.

Also don't change out your filter media. The packaging will tell you to change it out every x months, but don't do it or you'll be tossing away your beneficial bacteria. You shouldn't need to change the filter pads until they are litererally falling apart, and even then you should only change out a small portion at a time.

As for the carbon, it won't hurt anything. It's usually just used to clean medications out of a tank, but I don't think it's harmful to leave it in. You may want to change it out and add another filter pad in it's place as another surface for the bacteria to grow on.

Post here with any questions and we'll help. Good luck!

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

thanks very much,, i'm going to do a 50% Pwc back to back, my only question was how much prime should I use? should I use it as if my cycle has been established so 1 capful for 20 gallons i believe or should I use more? Also what happens if I keep getting the same readings everyday? water changes everyday? How can I find out if my nitrites are high if prime detoxifies the nitrite? should I not add it until after I fill the first tank and do the first water change, and then do another water change and add prime during this?

 

[librarygirl]

Hi, my answers to your questions below in blue.....

thanks very much,, i'm going to do a 50% Pwc back to back, my only question was how much prime should I use? should I use it as if my cycle has been established so 1 capful for 20 gallons i believe or should I use more?
It's a 60 gal tank right? I think the Prime dose is 1 capful for 55 gals, so you could add maybe a cap and a half just to be safe to the tank and then add the new water back in. Prime works instantaneously so just add the whole dose to the tank and by the time you're ready to refill it'll be all set.

Also what happens if I keep getting the same readings everyday? water changes everyday?
Yep. Cycling takes a while. The drawback of doing it with fish is all the pwc. So test daily and let the test kit dictate whether or not to do a water change and how much (as I mentioned in my first post above). You may be doing this for some weeks while the tank establishes itself.

How can I find out if my nitrites are high if prime detoxifies the nitrite? should I not add it until after I fill the first tank and do the first water change, and then do another water change and add prime during this?
The Prime shouldn't affect the readings of the test, to my knowledge. Just don't use Prime in place of pwc. Prime helps detoxify it temporarily but I don't think it removes it. You can drain the water from the tank, add enough Prime for the WHOLE tank right into the tank itself, then refill with the tap water (try to match the temperature of the new water with the tank water as closely as you can; just feel both with your hand).

 

[eco23]

+1 To all of Librarygirl's advice. You're in the nitrIte spike phase of the cycle which is near the end, but it's a very dangerous time and can be quite a challenge to deal with.

Your saving grace is the water changer you have. In a situation like this there is no such thing as too many water changes as long as you are temperature matching and dechlorinating the new water.

With a water changer and Prime...turn off the filter, drain the water you are removing, add Prime directly to the tank based off the total volume of the aquarium (not just what you are replacing), swish it around a bit, refill the tank with temperature matched water and plug the filter back in,

Using the Prime will also help detoxify your nitrIte between water changes.

Limiting feeding is definitely important while cycling. The more food you put into the tank, the more waste (ammonia and nitrIte) the fish are going to produce.

You seem to have a good handle on it, it's just going to require diligence and commitment to get your fish through this last part. I totally agree to test constantly, and do however many water changes it takes to keep the toxins at or below .25.

There's a great link in Librarygirl's signature to check out. Here's the link as well-
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!

 

[sillygirl423]

Prime locks up ammo nitrItes and nitrAtes to make them less toxic to the fish, *but only certain amounts*, they will show up true on your API test. Sounds like your in the nitrIte spike, daily water changes and testing should get everything on the right track. I use a baby medicine dropper for my Prime I believe it comes out to 1 mL per 10g. I have buckets so I am unsure of how the water changer works, but it seems like you could add the Prime a little at a time as its filling the tank. Someone else may come along with a better solution. You're definitely on your way to become a great fish keeper!! Welcome to AA!

 

[sillygirl423]

Wow, I was a little late on all that oopps gotta learn to type faster lol

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

Thank you guys very much, i'm so grateful for your advices! I am going to do all that you guys have recommended and post the results after the water changes, and hope they come down so I can have healthy happy fish tank and get another fish tank after lol

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

Guys, when should I do the test after each water change? 20 minutes after everything circulates?

 

[eco23]

Depending on the filter, 20 minutes should be good.

Just remember that everything is relative...so a 50% water change reduces levels by half, a 25% change by a quarter, etc...

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

guys when should I do the test, after each water change wait 20 minutes then test? then another PWC, then wait 20 minutes and test?

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

sorry double post i didnt see my post forgive me

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

Thank you very much, sorry about the double post

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

during these water changes, can I feed the fish?

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

so my first test, I did it came out still high..its between 1.0 and 0.5PPM, so I just did another 60% pwc, added 1 capful of prime, now letting it circulate for 20 minutes, and going to test it again, hopefully its down, if not do i continue this all day till it's down? or should I stop for today and do it again tommrrow after I test it?

 

[librarygirl]

so my first test, I did it came out still high..its between 1.0 and 0.5PPM, so I just did another 60% pwc, added 1 capful of prime, now letting it circulate for 20 minutes, and going to test it again, hopefully its down, if not do i continue this all day till it's down? or should I stop for today and do it again tommrrow after I test it?

The nitrite phase is tough, it tends to spike high and fast, you just have to stay on top of it. It depends on what the test says when you test again. If it's .25 or over, I'd do another one. You shouldn't have to do it all day. Once you do enough pwc it'll come down. Just keep testing 1-2x per day to stay on top of it and do pwc as needed. You should be halfway there, hopefully it won't be too much longer.

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

hopefully! can't wait till it comes down, I can sleep happily, it's amazing, I got into the fish scene after seeing my uncles 120gallon saltwater tank with discus, and after that I got hooked and i'm on the verge of buying another tank this weekend ;p I just want to get these down so I know that i'm being a good fish taker and not being ruthless and careless

 

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

can I feed the fish during these water changes or wait a few hours? Thankss