Tank went crazy nitrite need some help. No clue what to do.

[inkyy]

What size is the tank? 14g biocube
How long has the tank been set up and running for? Over 1 month
How many fish do you have, and what are they? 1 mini albino bristlenose pleco
What is your Ammonia level? 0.0
What is your Nitrite level? 0
What is your Nitrate level? 0.5
What is your pH? 5.5
What is your KH?
What is your GH?
What is the temperature? 74F
What type of filtration do you use? Bonded filter pad, Charcole bag, Bioballs.
How often do you change the filtration media? 1x a month
How often do you perform water changes? aprox every 7-8 days
How often and how much do you feed your tank? Half a algea wafer once/twice a week
What chemicals do you dose in your tank? Amquel Plus, Aquarium salt, Nutrafin Cycle, API conditioner and stress coat.
Where do you gather your water from, and what conditioners do you use on it? the tap, no conditioners, had my water tested by LPS and levels are acurate and safe to the area.


have a 14gal Biocube. With a modified filter, bonded filter pad cut to fit, charcol bag, bioballs.

I have 1 fish, it is a mini Albino Bristlenose Pleco. Its fins seem to twitch now and it doesnt really sucktion onto the side of the tank as much as it used to. It will semi attach but not fully. Its fins are back which means its stressed right?

So my tank exploded with nitrites. It was up to 40 on the test chart. I did water changes, and it didnt bring it down at all so I put him in my quarintine tank and emptyed out the entire tank making sure to refill it 3 times with hot water trying to flush out anything in the tank that was causing the build up. I took out all ornaments and wood. Refilled the tank and let it run for a week with the water treated. I used Amquel Plus, Aquarium salt, nutrafin cycle and tap water conditioner. Followed the directions for all dosages pertaning to my tank and followed the instructions for the cycle treatment daily. The tank now tests at .5 Nitrite and smells like a rainforest.. quite earthy smelling. Not sure how else to describe it. I did a 2 inch water change and added 5ml cycle.

I havent put anything back in the tank ornament wise. my pleco eats algae wafers by hikari. but I break them in half and he really only eats half of one.

Why does my tank smell like rainforest/earth, how come it blew up? My pleco almost died from a regular water change that I did. The water was testing fine and then suddenly when I did a water change it stopped breathing and nearly died. I had my tap water tested and it came out fine! - Everytime I change the water it seems to explode with Nitrites.

I need help this has NEVER happend before in my time of having fish tanks.. ( since I was a child )

[mark razmandi]

your tank was cycling, this is a good thing....you should have left it alone and in a few days it would have been perfect

[Judge]

Sorry for the troubles. Not sure why your tanks appears to be cycling. My first concern is all the different chemicals in your tank. In a tank that small it does not take long for things/water to get toxic. I am assuming you cycled the tank? Try using RO/DI or water from Walmart. If your Nitrite explodes after a water change, well doesn't it seem likely it is your tap water? I have never used tap water, but if I had to I would test it myself (sorry I do not trust the local pet store, they are trying to sell me something whether I need it or not)and then use ONLY something to eliminate chlorine/chloramine and nothing else. You will essentially be starting from scratch and will need to cycle again.
PS: a cycling tank would not have the readings you reported. The readings you reported suggests a cycled tank. Did you test all during the cycle and did you ever see a spike? If so the tank was cycled so AGAIN I go back to the water supply.

[inkyy]

why would my tank cycle after already being in operation under normal peramiters for over a month? and why would it almost kill my fish who has been in there the whole time!

I tested my tap water with a test strip about an hour ago same kind that i used for my aquarium and it comes out with all normal levels with a bit of chlorine but nothing in a danger zone.

During the whole time my tank has been running the levels have been fine from checking at home on a weekly basis. When doing my water change it suddenly went NUTS and i tested it and the nitrites were through the roof.

Im so confused and puzzeld..

[inkyy]

Originally Posted by mark razmandi

your tank was cycling, this is a good thing....you should have left it alone and in a few days it would have been perfect

My fish was not breathing nor was it moving how is this a good thing? if i left it alone my fish would have DIED.

- doing water changes did not bring the nitrites down like the directions said and it only came down after i emptied the entire tank and washed it with hot water then it was down to .5

[Judge]

Sorry Inkyy. Let's back up please so I can understand. Are you telling me that you set the tank up, did not cycle it for two-three weeks and had your fish in there the whole time? If so I might can see how this happened. IF that is the case, one month is not considered long for a tank. A seasoned tank is one at least a year old. So, with your extreme diligence in water maintenance you just literally prevented the cycle from taking place. With only one fish to cycle the tank it was not enough "waste" to actually produce the cycle because you were changing the water. Does that make sense? This is one of the reasons we recommend cycling without using fish and instead use pure ammonia. No fish are harmed and you can keep the levels high enough to cycle the tank. If you check your water regularly you will see the Nitrite spike followed by a rise in Nitrates. Eventually when you add a few drops of ammonia it not longer registers and the tank is cycled. I had my 55 take almost two months to actually complete the cycle...long story, but I added too much ammonia and had to start over from scratch. Does any of this make any more sense? I am still curious if you ever saw a spike during any kind of a cycle...

[inkyy]

Originally Posted by Judge

Sorry Inkyy. Let's back up please so I can understand. Are you telling me that you set the tank up, did not cycle it for two-three weeks and had your fish in there the whole time? If so I might can see how this happened. IF that is the case, one month is not considered long for a tank. A seasoned tank is one at least a year old. So, with your extreme diligence in water maintenance you just literally prevented the cycle from taking place. With only one fish to cycle the tank it was not enough "waste" to actually produce the cycle because you were changing the water. Does that make sense? This is one of the reasons we recommend cycling without using fish and instead use pure ammonia. No fish are harmed and you can keep the levels high enough to cycle the tank. If you check your water regularly you will see the Nitrite spike followed by a rise in Nitrates. Eventually when you add a few drops of ammonia it not longer registers and the tank is cycled. I had my 55 take almost two months to actually complete the cycle...long story, but I added too much ammonia and had to start over from scratch. Does any of this make any more sense? I am still curious if you ever saw a spike during any kind of a cycle...

I cycled it for 3 weeks without fish, added 1 fish which is my pleco. It has been 1 month running the tank not including the 3 weeks of cycle. Then the nitrite explosion happend.

I have never added amonia to my water, once I added the Amquel plus ( nitrate,nitrite, amonia remover ) the cycle and the water conditioner + 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt i left the tank to cycle for 3 weeks without touching it at all. only testing it, levels checked safe first couple of days, then checked higher then dipped lower back to the safe zone then went into the safe zone completely and didnt change in the 3rd week out of the safe zone. I put my fish in. 1month and a bit later everythings going perfectly fine i do my shedual cleaning of the tank. Cleaned the tank by taking out 2inch of water then replaced it and nitrite explosion causing my fish to instantly stop breathing and drop to the bottom like a rock. I read my instructions for what to do after testing it and seeing that the nitrites were at 40 and it said do water changes till it drops. I took the fish out and put it in the smaller tank and it started breathing and moving. It was breathing extremely fast. So i did water changes to his main tank and nothing brought it down from 40.

I use test strips not the liquid test.

[mark razmandi]

if its not cycling judge (which it is) then its a mini cycle

[inkyy]

Originally Posted by mark razmandi

if its not cycling judge (which it is) then its a mini cycle

What would cause it to mini cycle like that after being fine all that time? When doing the water change I didnt add any chemicals to it and I didnt play with the filter or anything like that. I would really rather this not happen again and risk losing my fish..

[peanutbowl]

I have never added amonia to my water, once I added the Amquel plus ( nitrate,nitrite, amonia remover ) the cycle and the water conditioner + 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt i left the tank to cycle for 3 weeks without touching it at all.

For the cycyle to work, there must be a source of food (ammonia) for the beneficial bacteria to consume. Those colonies of bacteria will only grow to match the amount of ammonia present in the tank. If all you did was fill the tank with treated water and let it run for a few weeks without a source of ammonia, there was no cycle that took place. Once you added the pleco and began feeding, the cycle finally started. And yes, the nitrite portion of the cycle is the really bad part. Probably the best thing for your pleco would be to have him spend some time in a well established tank while you complete a solid cycle in your tank. There is an excellent video tutorial here that will walk you through the process of fishless cycling. If the smaller tank you have him in now is not cycled, you will go through the same thing soon in there.

Keep us updated. We'll try our best to help you through this stressfull time.