Help! Nitrites High and wont go down!

173 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by huntx7, Feb 4, 2005

CLeVa

Discussion Starter · Feb 4, 2005

Hi, Im new to this hobby. I have been prowling the forums, but im not too sure about my situation and i need help!! I recently have 7 P. Natts in a 55g tank(yea i kno, im waay overstocked) but will soon be 4 P. Natts. I never had the chance to cycle the tank and its been a week.

About 5 days ago, I checked the water quality as: Ammonia- 7.4 ppm
Nitrites- More than 1(RED)

At that point i did an immediate 25-30% water change. The next day I bought some BioSpira and put them in there. The day after i checked the water
as: Ammonia- .5
Nitrite- Still More than 1(RED)
Nitrate- 0 ppm

For the next two days i have been checkin the water parameters and Ammonia is pretty much lowerin to 0, but the Nitrite is still at an all time high and the Nitrate is slowly rising: Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- RED
Nitrate- 5 ppm

Ive also added some salt to relieve the nitrite. The fish seem pretty healthy, they are active, been eating and dont have any diseases. At this point im fearin for their health because of the high level of nitrites. What should i do?!?

Any help would be much appreciated

Equipment: 55g- 7 P natt
Aquaclear 500, (soon to have a Penguin 330 and an air pump)
200w Heater

See less See more

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

Fido

· #2 · Feb 4, 2005

Water changes will lower nitrites. Pray...next time cycle the tank first.

Save

CLeVa

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 4, 2005

Yea...unfortunately the guy i got it from told me htat i had to take it off his hands right away. If i do change the water, will it mess up the cycle and make me have to start the cycle over??

Save

acidWarp

· #4 · Feb 4, 2005

Do small daily water changes, like 5 gal. a day. This will help lower nitrites and hopefully still let the tank cycle.

Do you have any other tanks that are cycled or a friend maybe with one? If so, see if you can borrow some media from their filters and use it in your own.

Personally, I think you should have passed on the fish if you didnt have a tank ready to accomodate them. Is it worth the risk of having them all die? I dont think so, there's always more fish in the sea (bad pun, but you get the point).

Save

CLeVa

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 4, 2005

koo, will do. Thx alot.

Save

huntx7

· #6 · Feb 4, 2005

If your ammonia is 0, just add salt (make sure you dissolve it first) to relieve nitrite poisoning.

If it doesn't get down try ammo-lock or amquel+.

Save

1 - 6 of 6 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month