Nitrite Level Risen

[kevinjames]

so after seeding a new filter when starting a new aquarium and having to add fish straight away as had to get rid of the old tank ive have been testing the nitrites every other day and they have just started to show. todays level was .25ppm so tomorrow ill be doing a 30-40% water change. can i expect this level to rise or stay the same or fall. i have .25ppm of ammonia but i believe this to be the non-toxic ammonium as im using seachem prime. im hoping that the nitrobacter bacteria will sort out the high nitrites in 1-3 days as from what ive learned they are slower to multiply. am i correct or does anyone have any advice to give from anything i might have missed???

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

You don't want to wait until tomorrow with 0.25mg/l ammonia and nitrite today, you should be making time to do a 75% water change (or even more, just enough for fish to be covered) today

 

[kevinjames]

You don't want to wait until tomorrow with 0.25mg/l ammonia and nitrite today, you should be making time to do a 75% water change (or even more, just enough for fish to be covered) today

i done a water change earlier today so dont want to do one till tomorrow. the .25ppm ammonia test i believe to be non-toxic ammonium so its the nitrites thats the problem. to be honest the nitrites showing in the test was a complete shock and i am quite worried about it. i know what i have to do in regards with water changes to keep my fish in good health, id just like to have peoples opinions of what i can expect with the nitrites in regards to a drop or fall.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

We cannot play "Mystic Meg" about what is going to happen with the nitrite levels, we do not have enough info to accurately predict how long it will take for your filter to be sufficiently colonized with both types of bacteria.

For instance, we don't know...

• The size of the tank
• The number and size of fish that are in the tank
• How much you are feeding the fish and how often
• Is there "rotting" food on the tank floor and/or the filter sponges
• If your fish are like my "vulture" Lionhead Cichlid fry, eating lots (with the intensity of a fish that has been starved for days, but actually last fed a few hours ago) and then excreting lots of ammonia

etc. etc.

 

[KittyKat]

Or if your tank is "cycled"? Going by your post, I would read that as "no".

 

[kevinjames]

this is all the facts about what stock, size tank and even which seeded media i used. i started this thread before i got the tank on saturday 30th october.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/342902-which-media-should-i-use/

the only difference is that i didnt use the fluval 305 filter on the 500 litre (but used all the mature media from the 305 and the aqua one) and i didnt add the 2 kribs or 2 keyholes to the 500 litre.

so as you can see the filter i have is not "cycled" but ive done everything i can to make the transition as easy as possible.

so does any one have any constructive advice for me?

 

[drobbyb]

If you are seeing a nitrite spike already, that means that there was some colonized bacteria on the media that was transferred. It seems like this is just a mini cycle and will probably sort itself out in a few days to a week. Just keep testing and do a water change when the ammonia or nitrite levels reach .25, and feed sparingly during this period. Everything should turn out fine.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

this is all the facts about what stock, size tank and even which seeded media i used. i started this thread before i got the tank on saturday 30th october.

http/www.fishforum...a-should-i-use/

the only difference is that i didnt use the fluval 305 filter on the 500 litre (but used all the mature media from the 305 and the aqua one) and i didnt add the 2 kribs or 2 keyholes to the 500 litre.

so as you can see the filter i have is not "cycled" but ive done everything i can to make the transition as easy as possible.

so does any one have any constructive advice for me?

You had constructive advice from me in my first post and drobbyb has just written exactly the same...

0.25mg/l reading of ammonia and/or nitrite needs a massive water change, in the region of 75% or more. It does not matter that you did a water change earlier today, before getting these readings. The fact is you have toxic readings since doing that water change.

Your fish are not going to think, " kevinjames did a water change this morning, so these toxic chemicals cannot harm our short or long term health for the rest of today." Bacteria that will support those fish in that tank will colonise the filter, you can change the water all day long if the readings are bad and have minimal impact on the cycling time of that tank stocking and filter.

 

[kevinjames]

Thank you drobbyb for ur advice as that's what I 1st thought. I'll keep.an eye on the levels and make sure they don't rise too far.

Nobody, I respect ur knowledge on this forum and I consider u to be someone here who's posts I take notice of but ur always too quick to assume that everyone doesn't have a clue and are a complete novice. I know that the situation I'm in isn't good bit its not like I've put unsuitable fish in a small tank or not kept up with weekly waterchanges on the tanks I have. The fact of the matter is that I've had to rehome several of the larger fish (and large bioload) from a 125 litre tank recently or they would of ended up down the toilet of their previous owner. I also had to break down one of my tanks aswell otherwise my missus might have actually went mad with having to large tanks in the living room lol. So anyway like i said I'm making the best of a bad situation. My fish are showing no signs of illness. Infact my bristlenose have bred since I set up this tank and yesterday I found albino cory eggs before the severum had a meal of them.