High nitrites!

[Seasidelover102]

Tank description:
5.5 gallon
Contains two guppies- one turquoise, one blonde delta
Running for about three weeks
Temperature is 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit

Water test says that my nitrites are high. I've been told to do one gallon water changes every three to four days for one or two weeks. Any other suggestions? Btw, I'm new to this so I'm not going to get live plants yet. Please help!

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Tank description:
5.5 gallon
Contains two guppies- one turquoise, one blonde delta
Running for about three weeks
Temperature is 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit

Water test says that my nitrites are high. I've been told to do one gallon water changes every three to four days for one or two weeks. Any other suggestions? Btw, I'm new to this so I'm not going to get live plants yet. Please help!

Hello Sea...

Any sized tank will require a steady water chemistry so the tank inhabitants stay healthy. Water that stays in a tank too long will will change because of constant filtration and a build up of organic wastes. So, you need to change out a lot of tank water and do it often. Small tanks need the water changed a couple of times a week. Medium tanks weekly and the larger tanks can typically go a couple of weeks between substantial water changes.

I remove and replace half the water in my tanks every week, so there's no time for wastes to build up. The fish and plants always have a toxin free environment.

B

 

[Matt68005]

Anything under 40 ppm is fine for fish. Its not like they don't get nitrates in nature especially during drought years. Im suprised you didn't kill them from ammonia right out the get go i sure did back in the day

 

[toomanypets]

I'm fairly new to this but did have a similar issue about a month after I first stocked my tank.

After a small initial ammonia spike followed by a long and high nitrite spike. I lost one fish before I realized the danger of the nitrite situation. I did a 35% water change every day for about three or four days. After the nitrite level went lower I changed to 35% every other day. I also added quick start with each water change.

The only product I found to keep the fish alive was Prime by Seachem. It does not remove nitrite but does reduce the toxicity of it. The dosage is very low, 1mL per 10gallons. It does say that you can use five time that amount in a nitrite emergency. This kept everyone alive till my nitrifying bacteria were going.

Is your ammonia 0? Also do you have any nitrate? In my tank the high nitrite lasted two weeks and levels got at high as 4 ppm. During that time I had basically 0 nitrate. When the problem cleared it happened overnight. My nitrite went to 0 and my nitrate started climbing.

 

[Seasidelover102]

The only problem at present is the nitrites.

 

[thing fish]

Tank description:
5.5 gallon
Contains two guppies- one turquoise, one blonde delta
Running for about three weeks
Temperature is 78-80 degrees Fahrenheit

Water test says that my nitrites are high. I've been told to do one gallon water changes every three to four days for one or two weeks. Any other suggestions? Btw, I'm new to this so I'm not going to get live plants yet. Please help!

i would do 50% changes at least every other day until you see those nitrites drop to 0. what sort of test kit are you using and what are your exact nitrite readings? good luck

do you know anybody that has an established tank? if so, see if they will clip off a bit of their filter media and just add it to yours...or ask your local fish store if they can squeeze out some media into a bag for you and dump it into your tank. that will really speed things up for you.