How can I get my Nitrite down ? Fish not acting normally.

M

monicatetra

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Jul 20, 2010
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My Nitrite reads 5.0 (API Freshwater Master Test Kit) Should I just do a partial water change to bring it down ? I also tested my water Thursday, November 29th, got the same reading that day so I did a partial water change that day, tested the water again today to get the same reading.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks
 
Nitrite way more toxic than ammonia. At that level I am surprised your not losing fish. Do a 50% water change. I need more information for why this is the case. New tank, over feeding, etc.

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Is this a newly set up tank - & still cycling ? If so, how long has it been cycling & by which method ?
Or is this a spike in an established tank ? As coyotethug said, we need more info.
If you have fish in that tank, dose some Seachem Prime asap to detoxify the nitrites & maintain large, frequent wcs.
You sure your API test kit is reading properly (i.e. you are using it specifically per instructions & it's not an expired kit) ? Are you showing any ammonia in your testing ?
 
Test your tap water just to double check it and if it tests OK then yes do a large WC. In fact I'd say do 30-50% daily until you get it under control. But like coyotethug mentioned, provide more details about your setup, feeding and maintenance routine.
 
coyotethug said:
Nitrite way more toxic than ammonia. At that level I am surprised your not losing fish. Do a 50% water change. I need more information for why this is the case. New tank, over feeding, etc.

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Click to expand...

Tank has been set up since July. Had to treat for worms a few weeks ago and took out most of the water for that. A neon tetra has gone missing in the tank, I don't see him anywhere, for about a week, thought he was eaten by the other fish. It is a 75 gal tank. 4 Mollies, 1 neon tetra.
 
discuspaul said:
Is this a newly set up tank - & still cycling ? If so, how long has it been cycling & by which method ?
Or is this a spike in an established tank ? As coyotethug said, we need more info.
If you have fish in that tank, dose some Seachem Prime asap to detoxify the nitrites & maintain large, frequent wcs.
You sure your API test kit is reading properly (i.e. you are using it specifically per instructions & it's not an expired kit) ? Are you showing any ammonia in your testing ?
Click to expand...

Put prime in the tank, without adding it to water first ? Or should I change out a bunch of water and add in extra prime ? Just got the test kit, so it shouldn't be out of date. When I checked the ammonia on thursday it was .25, today it was 0.
 
fermentedhiker said:
Test your tap water just to double check it and if it tests OK then yes do a large WC. In fact I'd say do 30-50% daily until you get it under control. But like coyotethug mentioned, provide more details about your setup, feeding and maintenance routine.
Click to expand...

gonna go check tap water right now, and double check I am doing the test correctly. Tested the hardness out of the tap earlier today and it is really high, does that effect the Nitrite ?
 
We still don't know all of what you've been doing or not doing lately with your tank, but it sounds like you have some form of mini-spike with your bio-filtration for whatever reason.

You've recently medicated for worms ? That may have had something to do with your problem.

If you only have 4 Mollies & 1 Neon in a 75 gal tank, you have an extremely low bio-load, so you should not have any problem..... just add 1 capful of Seachem Prime directly to your tank water soon as you can, and use Prime for your next wcs.
Test for ammonia & nitrites again the next day, and do another wc if there continues to be a presence of nitrite.
General or Carbonate hardness levels will have nothing to do with the production of nitrites. Don't be concerned about that.
 
Two things strike me here. The first is the cause of the problem is likely the result of killing off the worms. Their death and decay is likely the cause of the ammonia, now reduced, and thus the ensuing current nitrite spike. Water changes will lower your nitrite levels. Adding some salt to the water can help mitigate the harm nitrites can do. The salt helps to block the absortion the nitrite. If one adds salt for this reason, once the problem has passed, that salt should be removed via water changes.

The second is that nitrite is not more toxic to fish than ammonia. In support of that I would offer just two of the many studies which show this.

J Environ Biol. 2002 Apr;23(2):147-9

The toxicity of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate to the fish, Catla catla (Hamilton).

Tilak KS, Lakshmi SJ, Susan TA.Department of Zoology, Nagarjuna University, Nagarjunanagar-522 510, India.


Abstract

The acute toxicity of unionized ammonia; nitrite and nitrate to the Indian major carp Catla catla (Hamilton) was determined using static and continuous flow through systems for 24 hours. The median lethal concentration (LC50) values for 24 h of ammonia (NH3-N), nitrite (NO2-N) and nitrate (NO3-N) were 0.045 mg/l, 120.84 mg/l and 1565.43 mg/l in static test respectively and were 0.036 mg/l, 117.43 mg/l and 1484.08 mg/l in continuous flow through test respectively.
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from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12602850

and

Acute toxicity and sublethal effects of ammonia and nitrite for juvenile cobia Rachycentron canadum

[SUP]a[/SUP] Ricardo V. Rodrigues a , Michael H. Schwarz [SUP]b[/SUP] , Brendan C. Delbos [SUP]b[/SUP] , Luı˙s A. Sampaio [SUP]a[/SUP],⁎
[SUP]a[/SUP] Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande—FURG, Departamento de Oceanografia, Laboratório de Maricultura,
CP 474, Rio Grande, RS, 96201-900, Brazil

[SUP]b[/SUP] Virginia Tech—Virginia Seafood Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 102 S. King Street, Hampton, VA, 23669, USA

Received 7 February 2007; received in revised form 7 June 2007; accepted 13 June 2007

Cobia ceased to eat at 0.62 (0.56–0.70) ppm NH3-N and 76.1 (73.2–79.0) ppm NO2-N.
Swimming behavior was affected at higher concentrations: 0.80 (0.74–0.85) ppm NH3-N and 88.8 (82.6–95.5) ppm NO2-N. Even higher concentrations were necessary to kill juvenile cobia, LC50–96 h for ammonia was estimated at 1.13 (1.06–1.19) ppm NH3-N, and within the range of concentrations tested for nitrite it was not possible to estimate the LC50–96 h, as only 30% of the individuals died at the highest concentration after 96 h (210 ppm NO2-N). The results of the present experiments demonstrate that ammonia could be problematic at relatively low levels for the intensive rearing of juvenile cobia; however, it is unlikely that the high levels of nitrite needed to harm juvenile cobia would be reached in a well designed and properly operating RAS.
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from http://www.racua.org/arquivos/arqui..._effects_of_ammonia_ant_nitrite_for_cobia.pdf

This doesn't not mean that nitrite is not harmful, only that it is not as harmful as ammonia at any given level of ppm-N. Also note that the amonia being measured in the above is the toxic NH3 form vs the Total Ammonia Nitrogen (TAN), which includes both the NH3 and the NH4+ (much less toxic) forms, as measured by the API test kits.
 
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