Nitrite Spike

[Tricks]

Hi

Got my tank a few weeks ago and got some mature filter media and a stocking full of gravel from a mates tank that has been running for around a year also got 10gals of his water as he changed it, I then filled up my tank with declorinated tap water and added 6 Danios.
I have been testing the water every couple of days for the last 3 weeks and all has been fine, about a week ago i added quite a few live plants (one of the big kit things from Java plants) yesterday i added 3 Ancistrus (sorry for spelling) Plecs and while they were aclimatising i checked the water again and noticed my nitrites had shot up to .50 still with ammonia at 0 and nitrate at 10 ... what could have caused this ?
i have done a 20% water change is there anything else i can do ?

Is there anything else i should have done differently?... i have since read about fishless cycling but with me having the mature media and water my freind told me that that should be fine as long as i added fish slowly

Thanks in advance for help

 

[Kiwigirl]

Even though you have been given mature media I think your tank would still go through either the full nitrigen cycle or a mini cycle.

See what others say.

In the meantime because you have fish in your tank I strongly advise you to do another waterchange and continue to keep an eye on you water perameters has you have been.

Can you tell us if your tank is cloudy at all?

 

[Tricks]

I'ts not cloudy at all and the testing has all been fine for the last 3 weeks with the 5 danios in it i was wondering if it was somthing to do with adding a large number of plants i have been testing the water every 2 days will up that to once a day now .. just done another 30% water change now will test again in an hour or so

thanks for the quick reply

 

[businesslamb]

Hi Tricks,
I don't think adding plants caused your problem. Did you turn the filter off recently for any length of time recently?

I had a nitrite spike a few months ago and it got up to 0.3ppm at which point the fish were gasping at the surface. I dosed seachem prime at the recommended dose for nitrite poisoning and that saved them although the level peaked at 0.8 the next day. I then used daily water 20% changes and a bag of nitrazorb resin in the filter to get the level back to 0 over the next three days. Keep a close eye on the fish as I subsequently lost three guppies to fin rot which I'm sure was brought on by the nitrite. The Black Phantom Tetras and ancistrus survived ok. I never figured out what caused the problem except I had changed a filter sponge the week before and the filter was off for about 30 minutes.

Cheers

Businesslamb

 

[Tricks]

Newp filters been running constantly last few weeks
my nitrites spiked at .50 and are down to .25 today have been doing 30% changes everyone in the tank seems happy no gulping or anything all my water seems clear i cant work it out ill grab some of that nitrite blocking stuff tomorrow.
i just want to get it sorted and all ok again as i have a ffew shrimp coming next week and i hear they are very sensetive to nitrites

Thanks for the reply