Nitrite Woes

[missPenguin]

For the past 13 days now I have had nitrite in my tank and it doesn seem to be showing any signs of comming down at all, in fact, quite the contrary.

126 litre tank, 4 platys who have now been in there a month.

It started off at what I estimated to be 0.15 [on the API test not quite pale blue but not quite purple either], then rose to 0.25 where it stayed at for approx 0.25 then rose to 0.50. Today though it seems particularly bad, I would say it's above 0.50 on the AP test kit but not at 1.00 [it's a very pinky purple definately still purple]. My ammonia is 0.25 and my nitrate seem t b between 5.00 and 10.00.

I have been doing daily water changes [today i have done 20%, normally 10-15%] and I have salt in the aquarium but I am getting really really worried aabout the effect this having on my fish.

I have the tank temperature at 25 degrees celcius. What else can I do? How much longer likely to last?

p.s I am more than well aware I *should* have done a fishless cycle and believe me, if I had *known* about it I would have done one.

 

[karlp]

What test kits are you using ?

Have you tested your tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates ?

How much are you feeding the fish ? Could you be overfeeding them ?

Are you only using dechlorinated water with the water change ?

In theory you should be at the end of the cycle in a few days time, but just check the questions above. You may want to cut back on what you're feeding the fish to help reduce the ammonia load on the tank. Apart from that if the tap water is OK and the kits are OK, just keep doing what you're doing and if Ammonia and Nitrites are not at 0 in another week, then start looking for other problems.

 

[missPenguin]

What test kits are you using ?

Have you tested your tap water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates ?

How much are you feeding the fish ? Could you be overfeeding them ?

Are you only using dechlorinated water with the water change ?

In theory you should be at the end of the cycle in a few days time, but just check the questions above. You may want to cut back on what you're feeding the fish to help reduce the ammonia load on the tank. Apart from that if the tap water is OK and the kits are OK, just keep doing what you're doing and if Ammonia and Nitrites are not at 0 in another week, then start looking for other problems.

Many Thanks

In answer to your questions:

I haven't actually tested my tap water for anything over than ph but I will do tonight.

I am only feeding the fish a couple of flakes per fish every other night [they'll get live food when I cycle the tank]

I am definately using dechlorinated water, I treat it with Aqua Plus [two capfulls per 12 litre bucket, that's actually more than it says on the side]

It's an API Test kit. I find pretty easy to use though as I mentioned, it's sometimes hard to distinguish which level it *should* be

Hope this helps!

 

[Mariposa]

I had a similar problem not too long ago and it turns out the filter wasn't working properly, once I got that fixed, the nitrite readings went back to normal.
Good luck

 

[karlp]

Mariposa makes a good point. If there's any problem with the filter it could cause those problems.

 

[annka5]

I think your cycle is just taking a while - it does vary a lot between tanks etc. Am assuming your water is acidic, which will slow your cylce down a little more.
I'd say you should keep up with the water changes, feed sparingly, and keep the salt also. If you've an airstone add that - nitrite redues fish' ability to take up oxygen from the water, so adding an airstone will help that.

 

[missPenguin]

I think your cycle is just taking a while - it does vary a lot between tanks etc. Am assuming your water is acidic, which will slow your cylce down a little more.
I'd say you should keep up with the water changes, feed sparingly, and keep the salt also. If you've an airstone add that - nitrite redues fish' ability to take up oxygen from the water, so adding an airstone will help that.

Thanks guys.

As far as I can tell my filter is working fine, it's a fluval one and it's turned up to the highest setting both on the amount of water that is going through it and also the amount of bubbles the air pump in the filter is producing are at max also The tank is full of loads of little bubbles and there is plenty disturbance on the surface.

My water isn't particularly acidic in fact out of the tap it's 7.4. A couple of weeks ago I was finding I had a problem with the alkanity creeping up, it had gone up to 7.8 but now it's down at 7.2 so there is something in the tank that is making it slightly more acidic [guessing at the nitrite] as I haven't added anything to the tank.

I'll be testing the water again in a couple of hours so I will post my stats again, fingers crossed I'll see a drop in nitrite !

 

[missPenguin]

No change people! Still 7.2ph, 0.25 Ammonia, 0.5ppm Nitrite and 5.00ppm Nitrate.

I have checked the filter, there was loads of mulch in at the top of the media so the other half suggested turning it upside down to allow mulch to collect at other end and maybe persaude the bacteria to grow there as well.

I'm worried, really quite worried and totally puzzled as to what else I can do

 

[missPenguin]

Update:

Tested tap water,

ph 7.4
ammonia 0.00ppm
nitrite 0.00ppm

i have previously tested for ntrate in my water [found my old test results] and that was also 0ppm

No problem with my tap water then.