Nitrites rising!

[DaneeF]

Hey all.

I've recently cycled my fish tank and the results where at 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5ppm nitrate. Tested the water at maidenhead aquatics who said it was all good to go.

I then picked up my pleco and cherry shrimp as the first lot of fishes last week and they are doing really well however on testing the water a couple of days ago, my nitrite levels have crept up to around 0.25ppm. Ammonia is a little bit more green than yellow and looks like its between 0-0.25. Nitrates are still on 5ppm.

What's gone on here?? Does this mean my tanks not cycled correctly??

I did a 25% water change last night and the night before which dropped the nitrite levels but it's still continuing to spike the following day.

Is it the case of doing water changes everyday to resolve this? Or will this just keep the bacteria from growing?

Please if anyone has any suggestions that'll be great! I don't know whether to keep doing the water changes or not

 

[Essjay]

How did you cycle the tank?

it does sound as though it wasn't properly cycled; since ammonia (and nitrite? You don't give a reading for that) are rising, it does suggest the tank wasn't properly cycled.

Now that you have fish, I suggest you read this, it was written to help with a fish-in cycle. The first part deals with ammonia, the second with nitrite.

Rescuing A Fish In Cycle Gone Wild - Part Il

Part II SO YOU STILL WANT TO KEEP CYCLING WITH FISH? If you are determined to ignore the above advice in Part I and still think you want to proceed with a fish in cycle, then you need to be aware of the information presented below. SOME IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT AMMONIA Ammonia in water exists...

www.fishforums.net

 

[DaneeF]

Fishless cycle, the tank took over a month to show any sign of nitrates. I used fish food as the ammonia source and then waited for the nitrites and ammonia levels to drop before adding any fish.

Maidenhead then said it was good to go and now the nitrites and ammonia are slowly starting to rise until I carry out 25% water changes everyday.

Thank you, I'll give that a read

 

[Essjay]

Maidenhead would say or was good to go if ammonia and nitrite were zero. They don't know whether you have done a proper fishless cycle, or even a fishless cycle at all.
The problem with using fish food is that you have no idea how much ammonia was made from the food so you have no idea how many bacteria have grown. That's why it's preferable to use ammonia and with that you know exactly how much has been added.

You are now doing a a fish-in cycle. I'm afraid. The link I gave you will help see you through that and hopefully the fish & shrimps alive.

 

[DaneeF]

OK thank you.

Can this just by resolved by doing regular water changes instead of salt? I only ask because I'm not exactly confident with the correct measurements of salt I need and because I have to convert it into teaspoons instead of grams. I can't get it so accurate

 

[Essjay]

Yes, water changes can be done, it'll just take longer for the cycle to finish. The water changes need to be done whenever either or both ammonia and nitrite read above zero and the amount needs to be as big as necessary to get the readings down to zero. Depending how fast they go up, it may mean daily water changes for a while

When both ammonia and nitrite stay at zero, you'll have enough bacteria to cope with the ammonia made by the plec and shrimps. When you add more fish, they'll make more ammonia than the current livestock so ammonia and then nitrite will show up again until more bacteria have grown.


Do you have live plants or intend them in the future? These can help a lot as plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they don't turn it into nitrite. I use floating plants and stems of elodea when I quarantine new fish and they keep the readings at zero for the duration of quarantine.

 

[DaneeF]

Amazing news thank you. I'm happy to keep doing water changes every day, I just didn't know if I was doing the correct thing.

During the water changes, am I meant to be removing the fish waste at the same time? Or shall I leave that in there for a couple of days for the bacteria?

I haven't cleaned out the filter either for about a month. Is that OK?

Yes the aquarium has many live plants and bogwood. It took ages for any nitrates to show because of it! I'll look into getting some floating plants too

 

[Essjay]

I would remove the solid waste; fish breathe out ammonia so there's plenty in the water from that.

Floating plants are particularly good at taking up ammonia because their other two needs are plentiful - they are closer to the lights than lower down plants and they can get CO2 from the air - CO2 is more plentiful in air than water.