how to help my nitrite levels

donk18 · 09-24-2007, 07:16 PM

I have two tanks one 10 gal. and one 29 gal. i have had them for about 6 wks. in my 10 gallon i have 6 guppies, 3 zebra danio's and 1 quary cat. in the 29 gal. i have 5 zebra danio's, 1 bala shark, 2 dalmation molly's, 1 gold dust molly, 1 powder blue gromi, a four line cat, 1 normal placo, 1 quary cat and 4 white skirt tetra's. the nitrites are really high in both tanks. what can i do to fix them. Will real plants help. i have lost 6 fish in the last week and a half. what do i do? please help thanks

kmies · 09-24-2007, 08:48 PM

I'm sure most will agree more info is needed to really diagnose/help, but what are your levels? Most will say depends on the level, low levels while possibly harmful but not deadly can be sustanined until the nitrifing bacteria catches up. I was faced with the same problem a couple weeks ago, and broke down and tried the Bio-Spira product. I saw improvement overnight!!!!! I certainly dont want to endorse it, but it did work. Here is a link...
http://www.marineland.com/science/nspira.asp

It is bit costly, but so are your fish

I dont have expierence with live plants, but there are tons of experts here to help.

Good Luck

Nereaga · 09-24-2007, 08:49 PM

Welcome to FTF's!

donk18 · 09-24-2007, 09:33 PM

i don't know what my level's are. all i know is when i took my water to the pet store it was the darkest purple on the key so i know it is very high.

kmies · 09-24-2007, 09:44 PM

Could you give some more info? Filtration on each tank and water change habits, frequency, amount of water, I have made the mistake of moving too much water and in turn bacteria, and found myself in a similar situation. I'm sure there are alot of opinons out there, I would use the Bio Spira for levels that high.... Your LFS should carry this, again a bit expensive, but was worth it to me.

donk18 · 09-24-2007, 10:02 PM

i have a clear view 50 for my 29 and a clear view 20 for my 10. i did a 30% water change last thursday. i am using a bio buster that the guy gave me from the pet store.

RoxiesMom · 09-24-2007, 10:06 PM

How often to you do a water change? And how much do you change each time?

I would start with an immediate water change of 50%, and repeat it tomorrow. Get some test kits - not STRIPS - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate to start with. Test after each water change. Test your tap water. Let us know what the results are and we can go from there.

donk18 · 09-24-2007, 10:11 PM

i will do it tonight and see if it helps any. thanks

RoxiesMom · 09-24-2007, 10:36 PM

You could try to help lower nitrates by putting in some hornwart. It's more like a weed, (IMO) but does help. I don't use chemical additives in my tanks, other than fertilizer for my plants. I test my water every week and do 50% water changes. Since I have well water, I also test my tap weekly. My 3 tanks range from no live plants, moderately planted, to my 70 gal heavily planted tank. My "no plant" tank is the hardest to keep the nitrates low in, but the water changes take care of it easily. If you have the standard flourescent bulbs over your tanks, don't go too heavy on the plants. Use low light plants like the hornwart, java fern, anubia, to name a few...

cichlidgirl · 09-24-2007, 10:54 PM

change some of your water tonight . I am cycling two tanks with small fish in them, if your nitrites were the darkest purple then that is what is killing your fish. What has happened is you have many fish in these tanks, as they release amonia into the water from waste and also uneaten food bacteria form in the gravel and filter that basicly eat amonia as their food, they inturn release the chemical nitrite at this time a different bacteria is formed in the same way as before that eats nitrite . after it eats the nitrite it releases the chemical nitrate which stays in the water and you manage or remove this by vacuming your gravel, not over feeding and the most important of all doing your normal water changes. I have been cycling a 125 gallon tank and a 30 gallon tank and so far i have had good test readings on all my tanks because everyday i test the water for these chemicals and if they are getting high i do a water change imediatly. In general i have been changing a minimum of 10 percent everyday or every other day in both tanks. I am getting nice readings on both tanks and have had no fish loss. With that many fish it is possiable that the bioload overpowered your cycle and made the cycle crash, but im not too sure on that and would have someone else confirmthat by studying your readings. I bought a api master test kit for 29 dollars at my local shop and i works very good, just follow the directions on the package for the nitrate test, my instructions tell me if i dont shake the sample and solution number 1 for a certain time and the whole bottle of solution number 2 and the finished sample bottle as instructed i will have inaccurate readings.