Nitrite Toxicity?

[flutterbudget]

Does the level at which nitrite is toxic vary with ph like ammonia does? I don't have much right now. Under .25, but I just want to know what to watch for since I can't add much salt to protect them because I still have ammonia too.

[Sakura]

I have looked before for a chart about nitrite toxicity like the nice ones I have seen for ammonia toxicity, but I couldn't find a thing. So I'm assuming it doesn't vary in the same way as ammonia toxicity does, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Basically no matter what the pH and temp, I definitely wouldn't want to let the nitrite get above .25ppm. Are you cycling with fish, is that why you have ammonia and nitrite right now?

[flutterbudget]

Yeah, my tank is still cycling with the fish. I have some ammonia in my tap water, and I just finally started seeing nitrites. I was talking to Koko in a thread the other day and she thought it was pretty much cycled, and may have just skipped the nitrite spike because I was using Stability. But then I've started seeing trace nitrites. I've been watching everything pretty closely and doing frequent water changes and I think the fish are doing ok so far.

[seheap]

Make sure you keep a very close eye on the COLOR OF THEIR GILLS. Fish have varying levels of tolerance to nitrite, even within the same species, so one fish may be getting poisoned while others aren't.

You know your fish are being effected by the nitrite if their GILLS ARE LAVENDER. Normal healthy gills are bright red to dark pink, and they should not clump together. Sick gills are white, clumpy, and gills that are being severely effected by nitrite are a PALE LAVENDER.

If you notice your fish acting weirdly, breathing heavily or yawning a lot, gently pick them out of the water and slightly open their gills plates to see the color of their gills.

And of course, any nitrite reading on your test kit calls for an immediate water change.