need a little help-10 gal has nitrite problems

[SunshinePuppies]

ammonia is 0.0 ppm......good
ph is 7.8
nitrite is 4.0!!

how do I get the nitrite down? there are 4 snails in the tank and 5 shrimp. I just did a 50% water change yesterday-water looked cloudy. I have baby shrimp in this tank,and live plants
What should I do? Should I move the snails? I know I won't be able to catch the shrimp......
I need advice.

[Hebily]

From what I've heard, snails and shrimp should both be fine. Keep up on the water changes. I'd probably do more than 50% daily. I'm guessing the tank is new.. what are your nitrAte readings? If you are worried about it, seachem stability will detoxify nitrites and ammo, and add bac. I've had success with it. Just make sure you shake it well.

[SunshinePuppies]

nitrates are 140 ppm
the tank's about a month old.

[Hebily]

140 ppm? Is that a typo? If that is accurate, I would say that you need to do 25% water changes twice daily for the next week. Sample after every water change, and keep it up until nitrates are less than 40 ppm. Then change 25-50% weekly, and if nitrates go up again, increase the frequency.

[SunshinePuppies]

according to the test kit-the chart says 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 140. do you think it's a misprint? that it's supposed to be 100? either way, the test read for the highest reading. it appears that they go by 20's and it's more than that between 80 and 140

[Reframer]

Either way, water change daily, and large amounts. I would add prime or seachem whatever to get you through it.

[snoopy65]

I think you need to retest on both the nitrites and nitrates. Make sure you follow the directions to the T. If your nitrites and nitrates were that high, I think your shrimp would be dead. Shrimp are very sensitive to water conditions.

[SunshinePuppies]

I haven't seen ANY of the adults, but I have seen a few babies.It's a pretty heavily planted tank. Could that have something to do with it?

ok, nitrites are still 4.0 after retesting.
the nitrates are 20 ppm after retesting. I did that test wrong.
copper is 0 too(wanted to make sure)

[snoopy65]

Heavily planted will take out nitrite and nitrate, not add it. Something may be dead in the tank if those are accurate readings. A snail maybe?

[dixienut]

please do a vacing and water changes at least 2x a day,.. sniff test the snails,.. to be sure,.. they can be dead for a few days before they stink,..
make sure your using a declorinator like prime and water change away,..
something is rotting in the tank,.. either excess food or critters,.. if no adult shrimp then they are the ammonia source, little ones are more tolerant to changes in the tanks, for a tiny bit more than the adults,.. snails also are not good with it either,..

if you cant find anything then test your tap water it might be comming from that,. never know,.

i had a problem like that before only it was ph swing that killed my bio filter,.. i had to redo the cycle on 5 tanks, with bio spira,.. it saved their lives,.. try everything you can think of to find out where its comming from,.

could be lack of vacking, with snails most ofthe food get under the gravel and they cant reach it and next day you feed again,.. and before you know it there is a spike of ammonia,.

[SunshinePuppies]

could dead leaves from plants be doing it? some of them don't look that great now. I had to replace the light. I have accounted for all the snails in the tank-all are moving and active.

[SunshinePuppies]

well, what I did was because the original 10 gallon had a crack and was leaking so I moved everybody into a new tank with new gravel and half of the water (complete with baby shrimp)from the old tank, and the old filter. I added prime to the new water, and picked some nasty leaves off the plants. when I got everybody in I noticed some of the plants still have slimy leaves. Could the shrimp still be not feeling comfortable enough to come out?

[CichlidWrangler]

sounds like you have some major issues here.... nitrate of 140+?? that is insane

I have seen them go as high as 200... but your close to record high

it needs to be around 20.... 40 is the absolute maximum... so keep doing 25% water changes untill you get a reading of around 20

once you get the nitrate back on track-- I have a feeling the cycle will fix itself within days.. just keep monitoring


also... are you using test strips? or a liquid kit?

if you are using test strips... THROW THEM AWAY, and go buy an api master kit.. you will thank yourself

strips are pretty much completely useless... they give innacurate readings, and even false posotives

[SunshinePuppies]

I did a retest. nitrates are 20 ppm.I did the original test wrong. it's the nitrites that are worrying me. I ran out of prime yesterday, and am 4 hours away from any place that sells it. going to have to mail an order in monday and hope it gets here before I have to leave again on the 26th and 27th. Does walmart have something comparable to prime? they are 1 1/2 hours away but it'd be easier for me to get there. maybe even tomorrow.

I have a Dry Tab Professional Test Kit. fill test tube with water then drop a tablet into water and shake. The only things I USED to use were strips cuz I couldn't find liquid kits.

[Hebily]

Ok. Some people didn't finish reading, and posted... but that's ok. I was asking if it was a typo, because I was hoping that you meant 40, not 140. I'm glad that you re-did the test and it showed 20. That is much more reasonable. Wal mart sells tetra aquasafe. It will make soap like bubbles on the top of your tank, and it will NOT render ammonia and nitrites non-toxic like prime will. It is an ok conditioner, but won't do what we want the prime for in this case. I believe that walmart sells a product called amquel. I have never used it. It is supposed to render ammo non toxic, and I'm not sure about nitrites.

[Hebily]

According to what I could find on their website, walmart does not have anything that would neutralize nitrites.

[SunshinePuppies]

darn,ok.Then the way it'll go is water changes until I can get Prime ordered.
I really like this forum.people are more helpful than many I've been on.:)

[SunshinePuppies]

Very happy right now! The water in my tank is back to normal.:) Thanks for all the help!

[Hebily]

Yay!

[SunshinePuppies]

shrimp finally came out and the snails look happier.......NO casualties! :)