Nitrite spike

So ive had my first nitrite spike. Got to 2.0mg\l.

I added the required amount of nitrivec yesterday afternoon. Tested the water this morning and the numbers are unchanged. Add the same amount of nitrivec again this morning. Do i keep doing this until i can get the numbers down to 0

My water change water will only be ready by saturday.AQUATAN yesterday followed by three days of Stability is this suffiecent

 

Do you have any fish in there?
If you do, I suggest you do a tap water change with some dechlorinator or your fish might not see saterday.
If there is no fish just wait it out and stop frowing stuff in, its natural part of the cycle.

 

Ive got fish lost a pair of betta yesterday. Hope the rest survive till this afternoon so i can do the water change

 

Toolboysa...

I'm assuming this was a new tank. Did you let the tank "cycle" at all or did you buy fish with the tank?

OK, as you have more than likely guessed, Nitrites is lethal for fish... and this is more than likely why you lost your first pair.

The only suggestion I can give is th same as Vis, do a 30% water change as soon as possible... and keep doing this every second day until you have reached a point where the nitrites are constantly Zero. Whilst you can still use products that remove nitrites, the common feeling on TASA is we don't like using too many "unnatural" chemicals and products in our tanks. The nitrites is actually necessary for the bacteria to colonize the filter... so you in a catch 22 situation now!

 

Do a 40% water change with normal tap water and Seachem Prime...that will take care of the problem(you can use Seachem stability too.

 

Thanks for all your advice. Will do water change as soon as possiable. Tank was cycled for three weeks and put in stability every day before i put a few fish in.

 

Here is the thing about the stuff that makes the water fish safe. Yes, some of them do work but in what way.
Do they eliminate the cycle completely(do not think its possible) or do they just speed it up a lot which means you will still get a spike like you should but it will happen faster then normal cycling.
Most of the products add benificial bacteria so it takes less time to build up in your system. These bacteria still have to do there work though. Some have bacteria and other chemicals to remove things like Nitrite and Ammonia but cant possible be in the right ratio for everybodies tank so your tank would still need to balance itself out by means of some bacteria dying off or more bacteria needs to grow or more amonia needs to be braked down.

So personally I think even with things like safe start there is no substistute for a little patients and water changes untill things really settle.

---------- Post added at 08:10 ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 ----------

MIght be that you added to much fish at one time?

 

Thanks Vis. Will stay from chemicals and try get the balance right.

 

Seachem prime removes chlorine, chloramine.... that is very important because chlorine builds up in the fishes gills and they will die in time...It is very important to use a de-chloronator!! I do not like adding unnecessary chemicals to a tank either, but the water from the tap is not safe for the fish.In my opinion a dechlorinator is one of the most important things to have when you have a fishtank.

 

Agree 100% I was talking about the other cycle products. I always use dechlorinator.

 

I am with Vis on this one I dont think you get something magical in a bottle that automatically starts up the cycle as soon as you add it to the water. Personally I think it is people just cashing in using the inexperience of newbies to the hobby. Also I am beginning to doubt how some of the water treatments can magically break down metals in less harmful compounds.

 

30 - 40% water changes every 2nd day.... with matured water I think would be best - Use no chemicals

 

Hi all

Yes you can; it's called fish food. Start up your new tank and add fish food daily. That will start up the cycle process. Or just add bio filter material from an established tank. Then you already have bacteria. But you still have to keep adding fish food to allow the population to grow and survive.

Other alternative is to add zeolite. It adsorbs most of the NH4 and NO2 and gradually loses this ability over a 2 month period. So it slowly allows more and more NH4 and NO2 but at such low levels which can be tolerated by most fish, yet still allow the bacteria population to grow and sustain.

Regards
Lauré

 

As I stated: "I dont think you get something magical in a bottle that automatically starts up the cycle as soon as you add it to the water." The other options you mentioned does work as I did it when moving from my 100liter to my 250liter, but its not the strait out of the bottle method magic cycle juice that some people try to sell to newbies in the hobby..

 

Water change done. How long should i wait till i test water to see how much of a difference its made. Ive refilled my containers and anti-chlor them for Saturday water change

 

Test again after 24hrs

 

Hi Zoom

i know you told me to wait 24hours till i test again. Ive lost another 2 fish over night and got one that is not looking well. So i did a test. Has made no noticiable change. Should i get more container for water and do a 60% water change on saturday if there has been no change by this afternoon

 

I would take that water to a LPS to get it checked as well mate. You may find that there is something wrong with the Nitrite test kit, and there is something else wrong with the tank.

 

Had Bryan do a nitrie test when i got my reading of 2mg/l to confirm he got the same.
What other tests should i ask to be done?

 

OK... let's take a step back....

I don't recall seeing any thread on your entire set up... so let's start there.

What size tank is it? (size + litres)
What type of filter is being used. (Type + litres per hour)
What is inside the filter.
What else is in the tank? (plants, rocks etc)
How long did you cycle the tank for? Did you use anything to assist with the cycling?
How many fish are in the tank? What type of fish?