nitrites under control, but now...

[teamfargo]

Ok. I have followed all the advice here and how have four active fish (lost 7 due to the nitrites). Thanks for the help...I believe it was the advice here that saved these four.

Now on to some follow up stuff. I bought a container of Jungle Fish Care Quick Dip strips. One strip tests five different things.

I dunked it in and took it out immediately as the directions indicated. Counted to 30 and saw: Nitrates: 80-160, nitrites 0, Hardness - VERY, Alkalinity 120 Freshwater PH 7.8. (well, I waited 60 seconds for the nitrates).

Anyway, the little color pads continue to change a bit after that 30 seconds. Do you ignore the end color (like after 2 minutes?) After several minutes my alkaline looks closer to 300, so I am a little confused about if I should ignore the color strip colors after I do the immediate read.


The other question: is this perhaps a normal reaction to a 30% water change 4 days ago and another 15% water change last night? I know we have hard water here, so that reading didn't surprise me. Would you guys start treating the water or is it safe to wait for it to stabilize?

Thanks again!

 

[tstenback]

Those nitrATEs are pretty high i would keep doing water changes to get that down to below 20 if possible. Also check your tap water to see if you are adding nitrAtes that way.
For the test strips do the readings as directed if it says take the reading immediately then that is the accurate reading. They all seem to get darker as you wait longer.just to confuse us i guess
I wouldnt bother treating your water for hardness. Most of us live with what we are dealt out of the tap. If you mess with hardness it can have a devastating effect on the stability of your tank. So unless you are breeding a specific species i wouldnt worry about it unless it gets way out of whack. HTH

 

[barbiya]

I would do another water change, maybe 25%, to try to bring the nitrates down. I have the same problem in Iowa, my ph, alkalinity and hardness are all the same as yours. There is also nitrate in my tap water, so I can rarely get it below 40 on those dip strips. (No wonder my houseplants do so well!)

I never mess with the ph, hardness, etc. I just change 15-20% once or twice a week. Oh, yeah, the test strips are meant to be read like you're doing. The colors will keep changing, that's why they say to time the readings like you did.

Good luck!