How To Drop High Levels Of Nitrites?

[Mercury2234]

Hey all,

Unfortunately I have done a fish-in cycle (now I regret); I have a few zebra danios cycling my 30g tank.

Anyhoo, I am picking up high levels of Nitrite. I think it was 3.0, now I have lowered to below 1.0 after TWO 50% water change TODAY (in fact, JUST finished one 5 minutes ago).

Anybody knows an effective way to reduce Nitrite or consistently continue the water changes?

Parameters are as follows: 0 ammonia, .50-3 nitrite, 0 nitrate, 7.5 ph, 80 temp.

The zebra danios are fine, but I am kind of worried that the ghost shrimps are dying.

Many thanks,

 

[bitteraspects]

in a fich in cycle, you will have to do waterchanges daily (maybe twice daily) to keep the levels down.
get a good liquid test kit (API) and keep it next to your tank so you can test the parameters at least twice a day.

 

[arobinson1984]

Agree with bitteraspects, keep up the water changes.

There is no set amount of water changes you need to do daily, you just have to change as and when indicated by your test kit. You nay need 1x 50% change or you may need 4x 50% change daily. Whenever your ammonia or nitrite levels are above 0.25ppm then a water change is required.

If your levels are at say 3ppm, then a 50% water change will effectively roughly half that to 1.5ppm so if you are getting levels above 1-2ppm then you'd benefit from doing larger changes, more like 75-80% as long as you roughly temperature match the new water and dechlorinate then these won't have any negative effects.

Also, always leave an hour after a water change before testing to give the new water time to mix with the tank water for a more accurate result

Andy

 

[Mercury2234]

I just want to make sure that too much water change is not detrimental to the fish.

 

[waterdrop]

No, high nitrite(NO2) or high ammonia is much worse for the fish than a large water change done properly. You will have better luck lowering nitrite in particular by doing even larger changes and using your cylinder to deep gravel-clean as you are performing the change. Don't be afraid to get up around the 75% range depending on how much trouble you have with bending plants and other practical aspects. The fish will be fine as long as they are not flopping on the substrate.

Nitrite above 0.25ppm can cause pretty rapid brain and nerve damage that is permanent, and you want to actively combat this situation. Often two of these very large percentage changes in succession will seem to get you down to a range that can be maintained more easily than what it took to get you there.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

When I have any chemical troubles with one of my tanks, I drain water until the fish have trouble swimming and then refill with temperature matched water. The fish always look better after I do it. A properly done water change will not harm the fish.

 

[bitteraspects]

I just want to make sure that too much water change is not detrimental to the fish.

it will only be harmful if you dont properly treat the water before replacing it. (dechlor, etc)i dont even heat my water when doing WC, but it depends on your room temp, and how cold the water from your faucet is. drastic temp changes, or constant changes in temp can be stressful to fish, but if its only a matter of 10 degrees or so, (maybe a little more), i wouldnt take the extra time to heat it.

keep testing and WC until your ammonia and nitrite levels show 0. from there its a matter of controlling nitrates, which will allow you to get back onto a normal WC schedule.