Help! Conflicting Info From Two Stores

[Fuego]

My last input on this matter Fuego. And I say calmly and quietly I think your tank is doing fine.

The fish in my tank are doing fine. They're still swimming around very actively, eating, and chasing each other around. The school is schooling. I'm feeding them probably a quarter of what they were getting before, a small pinch once a day instead of a medium-sized pinch twice a day.

I'm really beginning to think that the nitrite test in my test kit is faulty, either that or I'm making the same mistake over and over and over again! Still haven't gotten in to the LFS to have them use their nitrite test, though.

This is what I got testing just now:

pH: 7.4 or 7.5 ... same as before

Ammonia: .25 ... staying very steady (and, also the same reading I get from tap water... which might mean there'd normally be 0 ammonia produced by the fish?)

Nitrite: 2.0 - 5.0 ... more or less the same as before, going back 2 1/2 days now (I'm finding it really hard to distinguish between the different purples on the test, but regardless it is pretty dark purple)

Nitrate: between 10.0 and 20.0 ... it was 10.0 on Monday and near 0 on Saturday, so definitely going up!

 

[FishFanatic04]

I have 1.0ppm of ammonia in my tap which is unfortunate, but lately my tests have only been showing .25ppm so I think eventually you'll have bacteria to clear your new water when you are cycled.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Ammonia: .25 ... staying very steady (and, also the same reading I get from tap water... which might mean there'd normally be 0 ammonia produced by the fish?)

If the tank reading is the same as the tap water it means you're doing sufficient water changes to keep the ammonia in check, which is good.

Nitrite: 2.0 - 5.0 ... more or less the same as before, going back 2 1/2 days now (I'm finding it really hard to distinguish between the different purples on the test, but regardless it is pretty dark purple)

As I've already said, you can't have nitrite at that level for the length of time you have and not have dead fish. It can't be anything other than a faulty kit (assuming you're carrying out the test correctly).

Nitrate: between 10.0 and 20.0 ... it was 10.0 on Monday and near 0 on Saturday, so definitely going up!

You can't rely on nitrate test at this stage because it also reads nitrite as nitrate. A general trend upwards is encouraging though.

 

[Fuego]

Anothar anomaly...... I took a sample of water from my tank into the store today, and they got the readings I would expect:

pH 7.4 or 7.5
ammonia 0.25ppm, or so
Nitrite near 0, maybe 0.25ppm at most
Nitrate between 20ppm and 50ppm

They said I should be seeing some algae growth in the tank soon, indicating the cycle is over.

I can only assume that my Nitrite test at home is somehow defective, because it keeps showing up bright, bright purple which would indicate 5.0 ppm or more. I went home and thought I'd try the test, one more time, on my tank AND on my tap water:

tank: Nitrite 5.0-ish, bright purple
tap: Nitrite 0 ppm, light blue

You'd think that if the Nitrite test I have at home was defective, that it would show EVERY test as purple. The only thing I can think of is that if there is ANY nitrites at all, it somehow immediately goes to bright purple but if there is NONE it stays light blue.

Does that make any sense at all?

 

[riogal_11]

Anothar anomaly...... I took a sample of water from my tank into the store today, and they got the readings I would expect:

pH 7.4 or 7.5
ammonia 0.25ppm, or so
Nitrite near 0, maybe 0.25ppm at most
Nitrate between 20ppm and 50ppm

They said I should be seeing some algae growth in the tank soon, indicating the cycle is over.

I can only assume that my Nitrite test at home is somehow defective, because it keeps showing up bright, bright purple which would indicate 5.0 ppm or more. I went home and thought I'd try the test, one more time, on my tank AND on my tap water:

tank: Nitrite 5.0-ish, bright purple
tap: Nitrite 0 ppm, light blue

You'd think that if the Nitrite test I have at home was defective, that it would show EVERY test as purple. The only thing I can think of is that if there is ANY nitrites at all, it somehow immediately goes to bright purple but if there is NONE it stays light blue.

Does that make any sense at all?

It should just got bright purple immediately IF the Nitrites are off the chart.

 

[Fuego]

Anothar anomaly...... I took a sample of water from my tank into the store today, and they got the readings I would expect:

pH 7.4 or 7.5
ammonia 0.25ppm, or so
Nitrite near 0, maybe 0.25ppm at most
Nitrate between 20ppm and 50ppm

They said I should be seeing some algae growth in the tank soon, indicating the cycle is over.

I can only assume that my Nitrite test at home is somehow defective, because it keeps showing up bright, bright purple which would indicate 5.0 ppm or more. I went home and thought I'd try the test, one more time, on my tank AND on my tap water:

tank: Nitrite 5.0-ish, bright purple
tap: Nitrite 0 ppm, light blue

You'd think that if the Nitrite test I have at home was defective, that it would show EVERY test as purple. The only thing I can think of is that if there is ANY nitrites at all, it somehow immediately goes to bright purple but if there is NONE it stays light blue.

Does that make any sense at all?

It should just got bright purple immediately IF the Nitrites are off the chart.

But that's the problem... two different tests from two different test kits are giving me two different results. One (mine) says that the Nitrite results are off the chart... and yet they've been coming back that way since Sunday morning... and I think my fish would be dead if they'd been swimming in water with 5.0 + ppm Nitrites for the last four days. The other (the store's) says that my Nitrites are almost zero, which I tend to believe since my fish are doing fine.

 

[snazy]

That's strange.
If you home nitrite test makes a difference between tap water and tank water, then how is it possible to be faulty? What type of test did the shop use to test your water, strips?

To be honest, nitrite is not near as toxic to fish compared to ammonia, so that's how your fish maybe surviving. Problem is, if the shop is wrong, you may experience sudden deaths in a while due to the slow damage the nitrIte/ammonia can do.

You best bet is to take some water from a tank from the LFS and test it with your kit. See what it shows.

Another possibility is that you are reading the tests wrong. The ammonia API test shows no great difference between 0 and 0.25. The best way you can tell is if you look from the top of the vial towards the bottom. If there is ammonia, it has green tinge.
The nitrite levels are all purple above 0.25, which type of purple do you have? Maybe post a pic?

If you and the shop that says you have nearly no ammonia/nitrites are correct, then at this stage of the cycle you should really have 0 ammonia for sure and someone is again reading the tests incorrectly.

 

[Louiseness]

Nitrite: 2.0 - 5.0 ... more or less the same as before, going back 2 1/2 days now (I'm finding it really hard to distinguish between the different purples on the test, but regardless it is pretty dark purple)

As I've already said, you can't have nitrite at that level for the length of time you have and not have dead fish. It can't be anything other than a faulty kit (assuming you're carrying out the test correctly).

I disagree. I don't believe your test is faulty at all (although the difference in yours and the shops tests is interesting - if they're using strips it might explain it?)

When i cycled my very first tank I believed all the stuff about 'don't change the water, it affects the cycle' and so forth, and fish-in cycled a tank with zebra danios (poor little things!). I know, for a fact, because I tested my water, that those fish were exposed to over 4 ppm of both ammonia and nitrite during the cycle, and that cycle lasted the normal time of about four weeks. They showed absolutely NO signs of poor health during the cycle - no gasping, flying around the tank, eating like pigs.

However, only one of the original six fish is still alive, and that original cycle was around two years ago - the rest died at around maybe 8 months to 1 year, a lot shorter than their expected life span. So bear in mind that high levels of toxic chemicals don't necessarily show effects straight away - my fish behaved fine, exactly like yours.

I believe this is exactly what;s happening here and that your test kit is fine. It;s really up to you whether you want to risk it or spend the little bit of time to get those levels down and maybe help your fish to live longer lives essentially.

I;d be very interested to know what sort of test kit the shop uses as I mentioned - the only way I can really see a liquid kit being faulty is if it DOESN'T show a result at all....maybe their kit is old or faulty?

 

[FishFanatic04]

I'm currently cycling with fish and my nitrites are in the middle of a spike...off the chart dark purple. I'm doing a couple water changes a day trying to keep the nitrite levels low. Even if your test is wrong and your LFS test is right...maybe it wouldn't hurt to be "safe then sorry" Maybe throw in some water changes just in case. My fish have been alive for the last 7 days of this spike and are starting to show signs of wear. I can't imagine what they would look like if I had let them sit in the nitrites without changes the water at all.

 

[Fuego]

To answer the questions of the last several posters... yes, the LFS uses 'drops in test tube' tests, but a different brand name than mine. (Not that this would make a difference, I suppose.) And Fanny, I've been doing at least one water change a day, 30-50% each time.

I've never seen an ammonia reading above .25, but it's looked like it might have been a bit less than that one time. My water comes out of my tap at .25 so don't know if I can change this (short of using some chemical additive).

Question: Assuming that my Nitrate levels are going up -- and, assuming the tests have been correct, I've seen them rise from 5.0 to closing in on 40.0 ppm over the last 4-5 days -- how long do y'all think it would normally take for the Nitrates to get rid of the Nitrites??? In other words, since my Ammonia is prettty low and the Nitrates are going up, maybe I don't need to worry too much about my Nitrites any more? What do you think?

 

[snazy]

Even if you tap water has 0.25 ammonia, once this water has been filtered in the tank for a while, it should disappear quite fast in a cycled tank(in hours). So it is strange that you are still seeing ammonia at the exact same level of 0.25ppm, when in fact your nitrates are rising and you think nitrites are nearly 0. This is odd for a cycle that's nearly over. By now you should have 0 ammonia. Make sure you test the tank before water change. Maybe it's a good idea to post a picture of your tests here? Does it have a greenish tinge to it?

I wouldn't put dechlorinator that detoxifies ammonia if your tank is nearly testing 0.25 ammonia and tap water is the same, but once the cycle is over then when doing a water change use a type of dechlorinator like Prime that neutralizes the ammonia from the tap water. This way you want be exposing your fish to ammonia everytime you do a water change.

Edit: In relation to how long it takes for nitrites to completely convert to nitrAtes, then it depends on each cycle. It can take as little as 2 days to 3 weeks.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Snazy made a good point...I have 1.0ppm of ammonia in my tap but my readings of ammonia lately are .25 and less, meaning even after multiple water changes {putting the ammonia right back up to 1.0 ppm each time....the bacteria are quickly converting the ammonia to nitrites. If your tank was almost cycled, I would think you would be seeing a lower ammonia # as well.

 

[Fuego]

Good news, in case anyone cares... ... my tank finished cycling about a week and a half ago. My nitrites are 0, nitrates about 20-40ppm, almost 0 ammonia. Thanks, everyone, for your help. I'll post some pictures soon!

A couple of days ago, we added five more Glowlight Tetras and a Bushy Nose Pleco to help with the algae.

We now have:
1 Sunburst Platy
1 Green Tuxedo Fire Tail Platy
10 Glowlight Tetras
2 Neon Dwarf Rainbows
1 Bushy Nose Pleco

Also... LOL... my wife traded four hours of massage (she's an LMT) for a 40 gallon tank with a stand and all the equipment. It'll probably be a while before we set it up, since we're doing some light remodeling on the house. But we are definitely going to do a fishless cycle this time; too much stress worrying about the fish, before, and don't want to go through that again.

 

[Lufbramatt]

Will be really quick next time round as you can seed it with media from your current tank

 

[balajake]

Your nitrite levels might still be high because your filter might be clogged with rotting food and fish poop. 5ppm nitrites is extremely poor and anyone suggesting you shouldn't change the water is utterly bonkers ! I'd suggest massive 90% water changes and Clean your filter pads out in old tank water