Nitrites....how long do they stay up?

[Sheila]

My nitrites have been up now for about 10 days. My ammonia level is zero, and has been for 9 days now. My nitrite reading today was 1.4, which it's been hanging right between 0.8 and 1.6. My nitrites and ammonia levels were at zero before I added my last 4 fish 12 days ago. I am assuming that I've got some kind of mini cycle going on, but my nitrites are just not going back down. I did a 25% water change tonight (after finding one of my rainbow fish dead). My nitrite level really didn't alter any after the water change. I'm a little confused by all of this as I thought that the water changes would lower the nitrite level. I have been doing 25% water changes every 2-3 days since I added the last fish. Help!!!! What am I doing wrong? I don't want to lose any more fish. All my fish look healthy and happy and to be honest, my rainbow fish that died looked great 2 hours before I found him belly up. I just don't get it. When my 6 yr. old daughter said "mommy, the rainbow fishie is dead" I almost didn't believe her...I was genuinely surprised as the fish look good. Thanks
Sheila

 

[FMZ]

Try this site

http/www.bestfish.com/newtank3.html


According to the site, it should stay up for atleast 2 weeks.

Hope this helps

 

[Sheila]

I guess I should be getting close to the end of the nitrite spike then....wheew. My fish do seem healthy and happy though, so far so good.
Sheila

 

[tstenback]

The niTRITE spike is always the longest part of the cycle and at times it seems to go on forever.
Good Luck

 

[LoveMyOscar]

...

 

[pendragon]

The niTRITE spike is always the longest part of the cycle and at times it seems to go on forever.

Amen. With emphasis on forever.

Sheila, I get the feeling that maybe you're still adding new fish a little too close together?. I think I remember in a previous thread you said you were adding a couple more each week as soon as ammonia and nitrite reached zero (not sure about that, though)? If you're getting nitrite spikes like this one, you need to space your fish additions a little further apart. Once you add new fish, if you get a detectable mini-cycle, I wouldn't add new fish until both ammonia and nitrite go back to zero and stay there for three days. You need to be sure the tank has gone back to equilibrium again. Your bacteria are catching up. They'll get there.

LoveMyOscar said:

None of my tanks have ever mini-cycled. I have added 10 fish at a time (they were all neon tetras) and my tank handled it well but I know my tank was fully cycled and it was not overstocked. The only reason I would see a tank mini-cycling is if it was not fully cycled in the first place or you close to overstocking and the bioload on the tank was too much.

Granted, you've probably been a *lot* more cautious than most with adding fish, but any time you add bioload - even one single fish - your parameters change until the bacterial colonies adjust. If your tank is established and added bioload is small (as in the case of neons), it should adjust very quickly. Your "spikes" are just lower and more rounded, maybe even unmeasurable - but they do happen. You're going about it the proper way, though.

pendragon!

 

[Sheila]

Pendragon,
I had the problem back in the beginning when the lfs sold me 32 fish at one time in a tank that had been set up for 3 days. I lost 27of those fish, the other 5 (3 gold barbs and 2 opaline gouramis) are still alive. That was 2 months ago. I had ammonia and nitrites then and they went to zero after a couple weeks and multiple water changes. I added 4 fish (the 2 rainbows and the 2 butterfly fish about a month ago (after the readings went to zero), about a week later, I added the 2 ADF's and 2 glass fish (had slight ammonia rise the day after adding ADF's), did a few more water changes and ammonia went to zero and there were no nitrites. Then about 12 days ago (which was almost 2 weeks later) I added the SAE, 2 buenos aries tetras and the Pictus. Then a few days later got high ammonia readings, that lasted about 3 days...did a couple water changes and it came back to zero, then the next day the nitrites were there. That was like 10 days ago. My ammonia is still at zero, but the nitrites continue to be high (no higher than 1.6 or so on my scale). Like I said, I have been doing 25% water changes about every 2-3 days and the fish seem good. The rainbow fish is the only one I've had die since my catastrope in the beginning. I guess I should do maybe 10% water changes daily until the nitrites come down? I get a little conflicting information. Last week, I was told not to mess with water changes until the nitrites were >1.0. Was told doing so would slow down the cycle and that levels under 1.0 were generally tolerable by most fish. So, I've checked nitrites daily and about every 2nd day or so, the nitrites are hitting about 1.3 to 1.6 and I've done a water change. Don't want to do the wrong thing here. I don't plan on adding any more fish for a while now. Thanks
Sheila

 

[tstenback]

Sheila
you are going about things just fine. I also remember your earlier situation and do feel terrible for you and your fishes . You are almost there and have demonstrated a remarkable amount of patience. Many would have quit right after the initial loss of fish . Hold on for while longer and keep doing what your doing and your tank will complete this constant cycling/ammonia spiking thing. As a rough figure the niTRITE spike is generally twice as long as the ammonia spike.
Good Luck