my fish are slowly dieing i changed the water and put the meds they need in there butt the nitrite is so high?

Question

so what do i do its a fresh water tank anyone have any ideas.. i could use some. the nitrite is high is what the test says and the water is hard and the alkalinity is 300 in the green on the test says its high well i hope some one can help thanks Denise

Answer 1

There are many chemicals that are used to "doctor up" poor water, but by the time your finished dumping them all in the tank, your fish will be swiming in an unstable, chemical concoction.
I will use good quality tap water after dechlorinating it. If it needs to be dechlorination as well as a PH adjustment I won't use it.
Water that has high alkalinity/acidity has a "memory" or a tendency to return to it's original PH level, after it has been treated with the chemicals that are used to adjust the PH, at this point, more chemicals are needed to again adjust the water quality. This constant fluctuation is what will shock, and ultimately kill your fish.
Your best bet, is to start fresh with bottled water, assuming that your tap water is of really poor quality, once you fill the tank, allow it to cycle for at least a month, but two would be better. upon establishing a tank, it is normal to see drastic fluctuations in the waters PH levels, as the tank is settling into a state of equilibrium. If this is a fresh water tank, an undergravel filter is MANDATORY, and dont power it with goofy bubbles, a proper setup requires powerheads in order to move a sufficient quantity of water. A good undergravel filter will eliminate your nitrate problems also.
I personally, have had great success, with fresh water tanks, using only a decent undergravel system, provided that the initial water quality is good, and that the tank is not overstocked, or the fish overfed.
An additional filter with a charcoal canister is quite helpfull though, as the charcoal will absorb, and neutralize the harmfull Amonia produced by the fish. This should also help control the Nitrates.
Also, and only after the tank has cycled, do weekly water changes, changing no more than ten percent of the tanks total water volume. once the tank is esablished, it's smooth sailing,
maintaining the tank only requires the afformentioned water changes one a week, and changing the filter cartridge once a month. I have seen angelfish grow to be as big around as a large dinner plate using this system of maintenence. And again, remember that an aquariums bread and butter, is it's biological filtration, via an undergravel filter.

Answer 2

Alkalinity can't be 300. Alkalinity is measured in pH which goes from 1 to 14.
Anyway, more fish are tolerant of a range of hardness and pH - so don't mess around with it. A fluctuation is what will kill your fish.

Anyway, do you know why your nitrites are so high? Do you have too many fish in your tank? Not enough filtration? Is it a new tank that has not yet cycled? It takes 2 to 6 weeks for enough benificial bacteria to build up to convert the ammonia and nitrites into less toxic nitrates. If it hasn't been a month yet, this could be why - do small (10%) daily water changes to keep the nirtrite levels down. If your tank is overcrowded or underfiltered, you will have to act accordingly to reduce the amount of nitrites.

Try to avoid using chemicals to bring down your nitrites. They work, but only temporarily, and have other side effects. Do daily water changes until you bring your nitrites down, then do normal weekly water changes.

Answer 3

Did you change all the water? This is bad. You should never change more than 25% at a time. The only way to remove nitrate/nitrite is water changes. Keep doing them every day, no more than 25% at a time, until levels are normal. Make sure you add a dechlorinator every time, I suggest Novaqua or Amquel. Take a sample to a pet store, and they could give you a better idea of what's wrong. Make sure the dead fish are removed right away as this hurts water quality also. Leave the tank light off also.

Answer 4

Um, you never want to take out all the water during a water change, and you NEVER want to wash the stones. You change the water by using a water siphon. This simply sucks out 2-5 gallons of water out of the tank. At the same time it will suck out the gunk between the stones/gravel in the tank. This is all you need to do with the stones. Then you replace the water you removed. Fish are very intolerant of water chemistry changes, so you are better off doing more frequent, smaller water changes. Say 20% weekly.

Answer 5

Do you have a water purafacation machine? Cuz' if you don't,your fish are going to fish heaven. Try that to keep your fish alive.

Answer 6

try to filter the water first or by bottled water

Answer 7

This stuff is good for getting rid of all bad chemicals. (It stinks to high heaven, to warn ya, but that dissipates pretty quick.)

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