Nitrite level of 5+ ppm

[New_Fish_Guy]

I have a 25 day old 26 gallon tank with a Nitrite level of 5+ ppm. I have 3 guppies, 1 cory, 1 beta, and 2 weather loaches. I have done 2 - 25% water changes in the last 4 days, and have added additional stress zyme, but the nitrites haven't dropped. I lost 2 cories and 1 guppy in the last 2 weeks.

What else should I try, or do I just have to wait?

Greg

[morleyz]

You can do 25% water changes daily to get the levels down...If your nitrites just spikes recently, it going to be a while before they come down. If you still can't keep them down, I would even go to larger water changes daily to make sure that all your fish don't poison themselves.

Aside from that...yes, you just have to wait.

[wetmanNY]

If your ammonia is now at zero, but you still have nitrites, you can re-seed your system. Scrape the very top layer of gravel off a well-matured system. Use a square deli container or refrigerator "serving saver" to get just the top. Rinse it lightly in tankwater and scatter it all over the surface of this tank.

A pinch of salt per gallon will help the fish. The chloride ion (it could be potassium chloride just as well-- or better) inhibits the uptake of nitrite by the chloride cells in the gills. Nitrite is very stressful.

Keep up the water changes. This is an emergency!

[JSchmidt]

I'll second what the others have said, and add that you might want to try to keep the nitrite level at or below 1 ppm if you want your fish to survive in good health. Definitely, you need to get going on the water changes...

Jim