NitRITE in tap water??

[alli13zeal]

Alright, so since the beginning my tap water has had about 5-10 ppm nitrate which wasn't a problem. Then, a week or two ago both of my tanks started showing small ammonia spikes (.25ppm), which I thought had been from antibiotic medication reducing my biofilter. However, upon doing water changes and seeing no difference I tested my tap and (depending on the time of day) the ammonia readings were from .25 to .50ppm. Again, not ideal but not completely unheard of.
Well the last couple of days my betta's tank has been showing nitrite readings of .25ppm (other tank w/readings barely over zero). I thought this might be a mini cycle from the increased levels of ammonia from the tap, but again, when I did water changes the nitrite did not change. Sooooo I just tested my tap water and it is at .25ppm. Also, when I tested nitrites in the aged tap water that I have stored in a rubbermaid it showed up as a bright purple and did not match any of the colors on the nitrite card. I retested twice more and it was the same. It was the same color as the High Range pH card's highest level (and yes, I used the correct bottle). The bottle's lot number is 11/06 so it shoudn't be expired, right?

So my question- is it normal to have nitrite in tap water?? I haven't seen anything on this forum about that so I'm kind of worried. Also, I use Prime, but is it even possible to keep healthy fish when my tap water has ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates already in it?? I definitely don't have room to set up an elaborate system to "cycle" the water I need for water changes. It's especially frustrating because my betta has been struggling w/fin rot and this does not seem like it is going to help! :help::help::help: Ugh, this is what I get for living right next to the lovely Mississippi River in a metro area. I'm so frustrated I could cry :wall: Thanks guys

[jm1212]

you should contact your local water treatment plant and notifiy them about the problem. although it is not healthy for the fish, it is definitley not healther for people, either.

[alli13zeal]

Ok, now I'm confused. The "tap" water that I had tested was water that had been sitting in a clean bin for a day with nothing added to it (and the bin has never been used for anything except water). I just tested straight from the tap and nitrite showed up as zero, ammonia still .25ppm. Is that possible? The storage bins are bare, just a couple stray pieces of gravel, but I wouldn't think anywhere for nitrifying bacteria to grow or anything... I add prime and seachem flourish to the water before water changes, but I can't see the residue of either of those showing up as detectable nitrite (especially since it wasn't a problem before). Is it possible that there is actually bacteria converting the ammonia to nitrite in these bare storage bins?? Or am I just losing my mind....

[alli13zeal]

Scratch that-straight from the tap nitrite is indeed around .25 ppm. So is this a really serious problem even w/the use of Prime?

[Coler]

its not great; from memory the directions on use for Prime indicate a x5 times dose can be used to detoxify nitrite 'in an emergency'...I take that to mean you wouldn't want to be standard dosing that level. can you confirm you are using the API Master Kit, and can you look at the lot number on your bottles and post that - they may be out of date.

[alli13zeal]

Yeah, I'm using the API master test kit. The Nitrite bottle's lot number says 1106... so a year and a couple months old, right? Shouldn't that still be accurate? I sent a water quality complaint to the city. Hopefully it's something that they can just correct, but who knows how long that will take. Something tells me a complaint that says, "yeah, I found .25ppm of nitrite in my tap water" isn't going to make them hop to it. For right now, I'm just holding off on water changes in the hopes that the biofilters will just do the work.. It's just really frustrating because my betta has fin rot and I've read over and over that the first step for that is to do a bunch of water changes.

[Star_Rider]

I would contact you r water supplier and ask them if it is normal to find nitrite in the tap.
tho they should be testing the water regularly.
if you let it sit out and it reads 0 there is a possibility they have something added on purpose.

[chunkoblue]

Those levels for ammonia and nitrite are acceptable for human consumption.. you would find higher levels of nitrite in a slice of deli meat, so I doubt the water company would do anything about it.

[Star_Rider]

true, but the concern they would have is how the nitrite got there.
the nitrite and nitrates are measured in PPM and there is a max level in water before it becomes a concern(usually 1ppm)

excessive numbers may be a concern that there is a contaminant(pollutant) near the source water.

[alli13zeal]

Soooo what can I do as far as my fish are concerned? What kind of water can you buy that is OK to keep fish in? I know I read that distilled is not good as it lacks essential minerals.. Is there any sort of chemical filtration that gets rid of nitrite? I know there is for ammonia, but have never seen anything for nitrite. I'm beginning to feel like maybe I wasn't meant to keep fish.. Thanks for the input so far guys!