Regular Member Roano Posted April 30, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 Today I noticed my fish were flashing slightly; I did my weekly water test and then found that the Nitrites are way too high! I screwed up the cycling and didn't leave the tank empty long enough, it is now at the peak of the Nitrites level. PARAMS Nitrite: 5 Ammonia: 0-.25 Nitrate: 20 Hardness: 250 Alkalinity: aprox 200 pH: 7.6 Used Mardel test strips and followed their "Water Quality Guide" which advised me to change some of my water. I changed 3 gal. out of my 20 gal. tank. Does anyone have any more advice? I feel horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Raith Posted April 30, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 have you been overfeeding them or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted April 30, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 I don't think I have; they eat their food very quickly, and are always picking up peices of food on the bottom of the tank. I feed them about a pinch full in the morning at six am, and feed them dinner around four in the evening. I do have my tank overstocked currently; I have three young orandas all below three inches long. I know this accounts for the higher amount of ammonia, although the previous times I have tested them lately it has been shown at 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Raith Posted April 30, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 how big is the tank and how many GF are in there? what i suggest to do is remove 15% daily for awhile and watch the numbers carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member smack536 Posted April 30, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 add some aquarium salt to help them be comfortable while the nitrites are this high and do daily 50% changes good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted April 30, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 Thanks everyone. I changed about 25% of their water this afternoon, I plan to wait until bed tonight to test their Params again, and then base how much the level of nitrites went down and then change some more water for them the next day, so I won't stress them out by continualy adding water to their tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Raith Posted April 30, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 yeah i forgot, aquarium salt will drop some nitrItes. do you have any plants? OT - christine i need you to be on later on aim, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted April 30, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 I have no live plants; need to get aquarium salt though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Raith Posted April 30, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted April 30, 2005 aquarium salt is cheap, but do NOT overuse it, it have beneficial usages. do not use table salt! best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 1, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 1, 2005 Thanks, Raith. I'll try and pick up some aquarium salt tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member LaurieP Posted May 1, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted May 1, 2005 Roano I wouldn't wait until tomorrow to do a water change. Nitrites that high can be deadly to a fish, much more stressful than you doing another water change to lower them. I would do a big change like 50%, you have nitrates so this should help you. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DataGuru Posted May 1, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted May 1, 2005 I'd do a 50% partial water change and get some salt in the tank *now*. Table salt would be fine for now unless it contains yellow prussiate of soda. I'd add the salt at 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. predissolve in tank water and make sure it disperses well when you add it. NitrIte is toxic. It enters thru the gills and binds up the red blood cells keeping them from being able to carry oxygen. Salt helps protect against nitrIte poisoning because it competes with nitrIte for uptake thru the gills. Until nitrite's not showing, when you do partial water changes just add 1 tsp of salt per gallon changed till nitrItes come down to 0, then you can skip adding any more salt. Your partial water changes will then remove it over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 1, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 1, 2005 I didn't get to read these posts until today, so I immediatly changed the water 50%, and bought some aquarium salt. The back of the aqauarium salt container says to add 1 tablespoon per five gallons for 'general tonic and stress reducer,' so I guess I'll use that much unless I get another post back telling me otherwise. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 1, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 1, 2005 I added the salt to the tank at around twelve, is there anything else I should do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DataGuru Posted May 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted May 2, 2005 There's not a consensus as far as I can tell from what I've read about how much salt is needed to prevent nitrIte poisoning. So how's everyone acting and how are your nitrIte levels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 2, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 2, 2005 Fish were acting okay last night, nitirte levels were lowered to 3. Checked them this morning, the nitrite level was the same, fish seemed to be flashing again. I plan to change part of their water before I go to school this morning and when I get home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DataGuru Posted May 2, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted May 2, 2005 Sounds good. be sure the maintain the salt levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 2, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 2, 2005 I changed their water about 20% this morning, and I'm going to change about 20% more now and add more salt. I tested the water again, and found that the nitirtes have lowered themselves slightly, somewhere between 3 to 1. I've been filtering normally and the tank temp. is at 68 degrees. Also, in stead of my normal twice a day feedings, I've been feeding only once a day. The fish seem to be alright, despite their trying to convince me that they are famished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 2, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 2, 2005 I changed their water about 20% this morning, and I'm going to change about 20% more now and add more salt. I tested the water again, and found that the nitirtes have lowered themselves slightly, somewhere between 3 to 1. I've been filtering normally and the tank temp. is at 68 degrees. Also, in stead of my normal twice a day feedings, I've been feeding only once a day. The fish seem to be alright, despite their trying to convince me that they are famished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 2, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 2, 2005 I changed their water about 20% this morning, and I'm going to change about 20% more now and add more salt. I tested the water again, and found that the nitirtes have lowered themselves slightly, somewhere between 3 to 1. I've been filtering normally and the tank temp. is at 68 degrees. Also, in stead of my normal twice a day feedings, I've been feeding only once a day. The fish seem to be alright, despite their trying to convince me that they are famished! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 2, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 2, 2005 Sorry about the multipile posts; my computer said the page had been disconnected so I went back and tried to submit my post twice more and it said the same thing both times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DataGuru Posted May 3, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted May 3, 2005 Glad you're starvin em. I hate doing that too! Sounds like you're doing great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 3, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 3, 2005 This morning I checked and the level was a little more than 1! I can't change them this morning; I woke up too late. I plan to change more of their water with aquarium salt this afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Roano Posted May 4, 2005 Author Regular Member Share Posted May 4, 2005 Nitrite level has now lowered itself to about one, and I haven't seen my fish flash at all! I will keep monitering them, of course, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped my with this problem. Thanks to all for the suggestions and advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member DataGuru Posted May 4, 2005 Regular Member Share Posted May 4, 2005 and thanks for taking such good care of your goldies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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