High Nitrite nitrates..HELP

[Hungriee]

I got some new plants in my tank and added more as I slowly build up the tank. I did a small wC to get the floating leaves out that got stuck on my HOB intake. Then did a water test with API liquid test kit - 0 Ammonia (yellow), 1.0 Nitrite ( Purple ) and about 80 Nitrate (deep red)

The fish look alright - they continue to swim and eat; the GBR and Bolivian continue to liplock - not sure why they do it all day long.

Am I goign through a cycle? The toher day I cleaned up the filter cartridges in tank water ; then tank got a bit cloudy - now its clearing.

I retested it this morning - the nitrite and nitrates levels lowered down but still quite high . Nitrite between .5 and 1 (lightish purple) and nitrates still around 10 (orange).

[krytan]

You should empty some tank water into a bucket and clean your filters in the bucket not your tank, as cleaning in your tank will only put the crap from your filter back into your tank.
As for your high readings i would sugest daily or every other day water changes until you levels ar back to normal, at the moment they are way to high and harmful to your fish..

[Hungriee]

Oops I explained it wrong. I took the water out of the tank into my WC bucket then swooshed teh cartridges in teh bucket ; then added new water with antoehr WC bucket to teh tank.

[grannylvsfish]

Keep doing water changes :)

[Kuhlifan]

keep the water changes up, a few a week, and it will drop. Don't worry, I had nitrates in the over 200 range for several months with no death or illness. I had a guppy explosion that kept me from changing water for a loooong time.

[Hooked Newbie]

Do large (50%+) water changes to keep Nitrite under .25. The Rams are probably displaying territorial aggresion. Try rearranging the decor.

[Mgamer20o0]

maybe even 75% or more.....

[Rbishop]

I'd keep the nitrites at a not detectable level.

[Hungriee]

You are right; the rams are displaying territorial aggression especially the bolivian ram chasing off the blue ram all night long (everynight). But oddly, the blue ram fights back every morning chasing the bolivian ram and initiate lip locking fights.

I've been doing continuous 50% water changes every other day this week and have lowered my nitrates to a 5.0 (light orange yellow color) but nitrites are still leaning towards the 1.0 (purple); and ammonia is 0 (yellow). I'm testing with API liquid master kit. Is there anything else I can do or just be patient and keep doing WC?

[Hooked Newbie]

NitrAte isn't nearly as much concern as NitrIte. Keep doing water changes to keep it under .25. A 75% change right now would be good. Other than that, you just need to be patient and dedicated to frequent changes. Once it's stable it gets a ton easier, but you need to dig your heels in to get to that point.

[Hungriee]

I did another 50% wc today and did a water test 10 mins later, 0 ammonia, .25 nitrite, 5.0 nitrates

ill do another water test tomorrow morning hopefully this is accurate and it will become 0 nitrites soon. Other than that, my plants are starting to turn brown on the bottom leaves while the top of the plant shows some growth (odd). One of my rotolas are losing its red color and the bottom half of the plant turned brown or lost its leaves. The other plants are thriving money wort I trimmed today and replanted, the water sprite is out of control like spider webs, green rotola grew a bit; while the micro swords look the same. All fish look like they are doing fine so the water is probably not adding any stress. pictures to come after my 2wk trip...