Minicycle has begun...

[FeldmansFish]

After my ammonia spiked about 2 weeks ago my 2 remaining tiger barbs started sort of a fish-in minicycle. my ammonia is at .25-.50 ppm but I'm worried about the nitrites as they're at 5 ppm. At what point do nitrites become lethal to tropical fish?

 

[FeldmansFish]

NitrAtes at 30 ppm

 

[Rivercats]

You want to keep your nitrates under 20ppm so all you need to do is a 50% WC to bring your numbers down and keep testing like you've been doing.

 

[shellieca]

After my ammonia spiked about 2 weeks ago my 2 remaining tiger barbs started sort of a fish-in minicycle. my ammonia is at .25-.50 ppm but I'm worried about the nitrites as they're at 5 ppm. At what point do nitrites become lethal to tropical fish?

If I understand correctly nitrites are as dangerous as ammonia so a 5 reading is very dangerous. I'd do a couple 50% water changes to get them as close to 0 as possible.

 

[Rivercats]

He's talking about nitrates not nitrites.

 

[shellieca]

He's talking about nitrates not nitrites.

In his 1st post he said his nitrItes were at 5 & in the 2nd his nitrAtes were at 30.

 

[Rivercats]

Yep, sure did, missed that with the whole nitrate issue. Good catch.

 

[jlk]

Water changes are definitely needed to get your nitrites under control (.25ppm or less). Nitrites affect fish at a cellular level by preventing oxygen from being absorbed into hemoglobin (red blood cells) so a fish's body is basically starved of oxygen. Oxygen deprivation causes brain damage, organ damage and a host of other issues at a cellular level. You may not notice obvious effects initially but the damage can cause health issues and demise that may not be apparent for weeks, months or longer.