Nitrite 2 High

[Mooreman]

My nitrite levels are too high what can i do.

Water change(Weekly,daily?)

any product i can use?

please help.

[sandy]

I take it your tank is cycling? All you can do is water changes until it gets under 1. That may mean 30% two or three times a day until its at a more manageable level. After you do a water change retest for the nitrites again an hour later and see what difference it makes. If it means doing more water changes then thats what you have to do.

Is your ammonia at 0 now?

[LaurieP]

Wow those are really high. You will need to do multiple water changes a day to get them down.

If you could post what size tank, filter and how long it has been running along with the ammonia, nitrates and PH we can advise you more.

But basically with nitrites that high I would do a 75% water change, wait an hour and retest. If they are still over 1 I would a another change between 30-50%.

Salt can help with the stress the fish are having from the high levels. But you will need to act asap or they will get sick very soon.

[Mooreman]

that helps a lot.

my amonium is at zero.

nitrate is about 20

hardness is about 100

alkalin is 120

and PH is 7.8

[LaurieP]

Ok, sounds like you tank is finishing the cycle.

Now when changing the water each time you will want to test the nitrates again. The goal is to lower the nitrites dramtically while leaving as many nitrates as possible. Does that make sense?

[Mooreman]

The other thing is to do some many water changes i have to take the clorine out and they say to leave it sit for at less 24 hours. is it better to change the water now with out letting it sit or leave the water sitting for 24 and changing it tommorow?

[LaurieP]

You will need to buy a water conditioner like Prime to add directly to the water so that you don't have to wait the 24 hours. The conditioner will remove the hard chemicals from the water.

Amequel and others are available, but I like Prime it is more concentrate and very safe.

You won't have time to wait 24 hours between changes as high as the nitrites are or the fish will start to become sick and can die from this.

[Mooreman]

I just did a 60% water change and got it down to 3. Will do an other 6-% in 2Hours and see were i am.

Thanks for all ur help.

[LaurieP]

What were the nitrates after the change? Make sure to keep them no lower than 5.

Good luck.

[Mooreman]

After doing yet an other 60% water change i got my Nittrite down to about 2.0. I will do an other water change tomorrow and keep doing daily water changes until it gose down to 1.0

Thanks for all you help you saved me a couple fishes!!!!!

[LaurieP]

Sounds good but remember to check the nitrates as well, you don't want to get them too low or you will crash the cycle.

[Mooreman]

So what should it be at?

[LaurieP]

You dont' want the nitrates to fall under 5. This way the tank is still cycling and you are only controling it until the nitrates take over and convert the nitrites into good bugs.

Ideally the params should be............ammonia and nitrites 0 and nitrates 10-20.

[Mooreman]

ok my nitrate is about at 10.dose a biowheel help keep the good bug?

[LaurieP]

Yes the bio wheel will help to maintain the bio cycle well. You will be able to do larger changes with them in place, just make sure to keep an eye on the all the params.