Weird Nitrates AND Nitrites readings HELP!!

[AlbanyFishGuy]

Sooo... Some background to hopefully answer any obvious questions about tge tank. i have a 10 gallon bare bottom. It was a grow out/med tank, but has now been a semi permanent home for 8 honey guaramis (there since fry, now juvenile but close to adult) until we can set up another larger tank. (Its the stand thats holding us back) it runs a sponge filter suitable for 20 gallons and a homemade HOB made from a breeder box filled with sponge, bio rings, matrix etc. Primarily the sponge however. It has Pothos and white ribbon growing out of the tank with only the roots submerged. It also has some java moss and a java fern wendalov. The sponge was from another established tank and has now been running about 7-8 months. Typically recieves a 25 percent water change weekly, although the last few weeks the pothos have been consuming nitrates like crazy so we could go 2 weeks before wed pass 20ppm nitrate. We tested every week and were always in good parameters. The only thing that was ever any concern is that our water has very little buffer (kh). Typically starts at around 40 and drops. We have very hard water as well 4-5ppm dgh. Our PH from tap is 6.8. We have always had these levels in not only this tank along with 2 others have been fine, although this is the only one bare bottom. The other tanks are thriving, fish breeding, and without issue.

2 weeks ago, we were reading 10 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, 75-80GH (4ppm) , 40 KH, 0 chlorine, 6.5-6.8 PH.

Then I noticed the java moss looked severely discolored. I very light yellow brown so i checked the levels....

Nitrates 200ppm, Nitrite 10, Ammonia showed 0. GH was the normal 75. KH was 0 and PH was 6.2! WHAT HAPPENED?? There are no dead fish or plants, tho the moss didnt look great but getting better)
Im most confused at not only the amount of both nitrate and nitrite, but that theyre showing so high simultaneously. I thought i might have lost the cycle, but i thought then it would read ammonia and nitrite but with no nitrate? Also what is the source of it?? Is it reading something else as nitrate? PLEASE HELP!!

Side note, i did a 50 percent change last night, and a 25 today as the levels seemed only slightly changed. Also, i double dosed seachem prime as it says its ok up to 5x normal dose. This was to ensure the nitrite, nitrate and any possible ammonia were detoxified. I see no change in the fish themselves. They are active, playful and seem to be completely normal. What the hell is going on!? Thanks for all your help!

 

[Aiken Drum]

High nitrite and nitrate is usually down to high ammonia being cycled out. As to cause it would be pure speculation.

Maybe something changed in your source water. In the summer months or when water companies do work on the system its common to treat water with chloramine in high doses temporarily. Chloramine would be an ammonia source resulting in higher nitrate. Your cycle would need to catch up to higher than normal levels of ammonia, hence the presence of nitrite.

Or maybe someone "helped" out and fed the fish by dumping a load of food in the tank. Similar results as described above.

Lots of routes for ammonia to accidently be introduced into an aquarium.

What might have happened is the additional ammonia being cycled out used up what little KH you had in the water, so your cycle worked up to a point, then stopped. It also crashed your pH. A water change should replenish your KH and restart your cycle.

Whatever happened, happened. You need to move on and deal with whats going on. Check your tap water to see if thats normal or back to normal. Dont rely on chemicals to make water safe. The only surefire way to make toxic water safe is to remove toxic water and replace it with clean water. At 10ppm nitrite and 200ppm nitrate i would look at several small water changes each an hour or so apart so you dont cause a big parameter swing. Maybe 5 x 20% water changes. By all means use prime, but it should be a backup to getting clean water in the tank. Continue to monitor things regularly and recycle the tank if needed.

A word about the units you quote for general hardness. You have noted both ppm and dgh. They are different units. 1dgh is roughly 18ppm. So 4 to 5ppm would be very soft water. 4 to 5 dgh would be considered soft water and in ppm would be around 70 to 90ppm. Very hard water is 18+ dgh (325ppm +). You need to look at what units your general harness is being measured in, but either way you have soft water, not very hard water. I suspect your GH is 4 to 5 dgh. 4 to 5ppm would be essentally zero.

 

[Colin_T]

Your nitrates won't actually be 200ppm, they will be a lot less. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading if there is nitrite in the water. If you actually have 10ppm nitrite in the water, about half the nitrate will be from the nitrite reading.

The filter might have crashed or you might have had a faulty reading. You should re-test the water. Make sure the phials are clean before and after using them.

Check the expiry date on the test kits. Test kits should be kept in a cool dark dry place. I kept mine in an icecream container on the bottom shelf in the fridge.

The easiest way to reduce anything bad in the water is with big (75-80%) daily water changes. Do this until the levels are back to 0ppm. Just make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If you do a 20% water change, you leave behind 80% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change, you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change, you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

-------------------

Rearing tanks should have a thin layer of substrate to help stabilise the environment for the fish in the tank.

Bigger water changes done each week will help to stop the KH dropping and causing the pH to drop. Alternatively, add some shells, limestone or dead coral rubble to the tank. You won't need much. Just add a little bit and monitor the pH over 2 weeks. If it still drops, then add a bit more and monitor for 2 more weeks. Keep adding a little bit at a time until the pH stabilises on about 6.8-7.0.

 

[AlbanyFishGuy]

Your nitrates won't actually be 200ppm, they will be a lot less. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading if there is nitrite in the water. If you actually have 10ppm nitrite in the water, about half the nitrate will be from the nitrite reading.

The filter might have crashed or you might have had a faulty reading. You should re-test the water. Make sure the phials are clean before and after using them.

Check the expiry date on the test kits. Test kits should be kept in a cool dark dry place. I kept mine in an icecream container on the bottom shelf in the fridge.

The easiest way to reduce anything bad in the water is with big (75-80%) daily water changes. Do this until the levels are back to 0ppm. Just make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

If you do a 20% water change, you leave behind 80% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change, you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change, you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

-------------------

Rearing tanks should have a thin layer of substrate to help stabilise the environment for the fish in the tank.

Bigger water changes done each week will help to stop the KH dropping and causing the pH to drop. Alternatively, add some shells, limestone or dead coral rubble to the tank. You won't need much. Just add a little bit and monitor the pH over 2 weeks. If it still drops, then add a bit more and monitor for 2 more weeks. Keep adding a little bit at a time until the pH stabilises on about 6.8-7.0.

Thanks so much! This is incredibly helpful! I will do this and let you know the results!

 

[AlbanyFishGuy]

High nitrite and nitrate is usually down to high ammonia being cycled out. As to cause it would be pure speculation.

Maybe something changed in your source water. In the summer months or when water companies do work on the system its common to treat water with chloramine in high doses temporarily. Chloramine would be an ammonia source resulting in higher nitrate. Your cycle would need to catch up to higher than normal levels of ammonia, hence the presence of nitrite.

Or maybe someone "helped" out and fed the fish by dumping a load of food in the tank. Similar results as described above.

Lots of routes for ammonia to accidently be introduced into an aquarium.

What might have happened is the additional ammonia being cycled out used up what little KH you had in the water, so your cycle worked up to a point, then stopped. It also crashed your pH. A water change should replenish your KH and restart your cycle.

Whatever happened, happened. You need to move on and deal with whats going on. Check your tap water to see if thats normal or back to normal. Dont rely on chemicals to make water safe. The only surefire way to make toxic water safe is to remove toxic water and replace it with clean water. At 10ppm nitrite and 200ppm nitrate i would look at several small water changes each an hour or so apart so you dont cause a big parameter swing. Maybe 5 x 20% water changes. By all means use prime, but it should be a backup to getting clean water in the tank. Continue to monitor things regularly and recycle the tank if needed.

A word about the units you quote for general hardness. You have noted both ppm and dgh. They are different units. 1dgh is roughly 18ppm. So 4 to 5ppm would be very soft water. 4 to 5 dgh would be considered soft water and in ppm would be around 70 to 90ppm. Very hard water is 18+ dgh (325ppm +). You need to look at what units your general harness is being measured in, but either way you have soft water, not very hard water. I suspect your GH is 4 to 5 dgh. 4 to 5ppm would be essentally zero.

Thanks so much! The GH is 80-100ppm typically. So i belive the dgh would be 4.5-6ish if my math is right? But i will implement this advice, thanks for the great help as always

 

[Colin_T]

Thanks so much! The GH is 80-100ppm typically. So i belive the dgh would be 4.5-6ish if my math is right? But i will implement this advice, thanks for the great help as always

There is 17.9ppm in 1dGH, so about 18ppm per 1dGH
80-100ppm = about 4.5-5.5dGH, which is soft water.

Soft water usually has a low KH as well and this can cause the pH to drop quickly.