carttman
07-24-2003, 1:16 PM
I was planning on buying some pictus cats today, but when I tested my water today my nitrites showed a reading of .25. Will my fish be able to survive at this level? My tank has been cycled, but I do not understand why my nitrites are not at 0 anymore.
wetmanNY
07-24-2003, 2:20 PM
Neither do we, unless you can tell what you've done recently that could have compromised the biofiltration like this. There has been an ammonia spike (you may not have detected it), in the last week or so. What would have caused that? The nitrite-metabolizing bacteria have temporarily been knocked back. They'll rebound...
Best not to add fish where there are detectable nitrites. Soon you'll have the system back in order and it will be ready for more fish.