Nitrites

[paradigmcubed]

My water was tested and the results were a PH of 7.8 and Nitrites of .5 I will do a water change right away, should I be worried?

P.S

The tank contains 8 juvie africans, one 6 inch pleco. It is a 125 gallon tank filtered by an Aquaclear 500, Penguin 330.

[SpiritualSniper]

how old is the tank? is it cycled?

[jimbo]

Today a 60% or even 70% water change followed by 50% tomorrow, perhaps even tonight.
I guess the readings would still be like .1 / .2 after the first water change.
I don’t know which test kit you have. Some test kits don’t read anything less than .3
If that’s the kind of kit you’re having, you’ll be better save than sorry and perform the second water change tonight and keep testing the water the next couple of days.

Jimmy

[paradigmcubed]

The tank had been cycling for 2 1/2 weeks previous to putting any fish in. I'll do another water change today. How much danger are my fish in, I'd hate to lose them?

[JSchmidt]

You can do regular water changes to keep nitrites below .5 or .3 ppm. That's probably the best thing for your fish. You can also add a small amount of table salt... say a tablespoon per ten gallons of water (predissolved in a cup of water). The chloride in the salt will help the nitrite to not be taken up by the fish's gills.

Water changes are best, IMO.

Jim

[paradigmcubed]

I did a 25% water change after one week, another the following week, put the fish in 2 1/2 weeks in. Then I just did one last night. I'll do one today and go from there. The salt won't hurt the Africans or pleco at all?

Thanks

[Faramir]

Originally posted by paradigmcubed
The tank had been cycling for 2 1/2 weeks previous to putting any fish in. I'll do another water change today. How much danger are my fish in, I'd hate to lose them?

When you say "cycling for 2 1/2 weeks" what were you actually doing to it?

[Harry Tolen]

What were you doing to your tank for the 2 1/2 weeks before you added the fish? If you weren't adding ammonia, you weren't cycling the tank at all (to get a cycle started requires ammonia as the initial input to the system, and that will only come from either fish or a bottle) and it will be a month before you are through. In that case, daily water changes would be your best bet.

[paradigmcubed]

I added 15 Zebras to cycle the tank. I'll keep doing constant water changes.

[750t]

It usually takes any where from 4 to 6 weeks to cycle a tank with fish.

[scholar]

I would take the zebras out now that you have the regular. this would reduce the ammonia load. :)

[paradigmcubed]

I did take the Zebra out when I put the new fish in.

Thanks

[oscarlvr]

do you have any nitrates reading in your tank, if not this could be the start to a nitrite spike, add double salt and get some prime and double or tripple that, it will help wit the toxicity of the nitrite. goods luck, water changes also a must


Robert

[paradigmcubed]

Is it true plants help lower the nitrites?

Thanks