nitrite (no2)?

Question

i have a nitrite (no2) lvl 0f 1.0 ppm (mg/l) in my turtle tank
they are red eard sliders it has been at 1.0 fore 2 days that i know of now is that a moderitly safe lvl or should i be woried

remeber im talking about NITRITE NO2------ NOT nitrate NO3

Answer 1

Nitrites are not a big issue- they are the end result of ammonia digestion. If your ammonia levels are OK and the biological filtration part of your filter is working OK, then I would not worry about it.

Still concerned? Check out http://www.austinsturtlepage.com for the Water Quality section- an in-depth article that DOES NOT spend much time on nitrite levels.

If this was a problem, it would be being blared on every website dealing with turtles, and yet you are having problems finding the numbers, aren't you? That is because it is not really a big deal- almost no keeper measures it!

Look at turtles in the wild- these things THRIVE in waste-water settling ponds- pits of human filth full of nitrates, ammonias, etc. Certainly- they get some protection fromthe natural high-UVB levels, good diet, etc., but if nitrites were harmful, they would not be able to live in those palces.

We measure things like this in captivity mostly to keep tabs on how everything in our set-up is working. If your nitrites spike then you want to wonder what part of the system is not working right.

Behavior is a far more important indicator of turtle health than the test kits. Does the water look and smell clean? Is the turtle behaving properly? If so- stop worrying!

Answer 2

1.0 isn't dangerous at all if you have some aquarium salt in the tank. It will block the fish's uptake of nitrites & make them irrelivant until they get to more toxic levels. It takes a while for the gravel borne anaerobic bacteria to colonize fast enough to convert the nitrites to nitrates. Just keep an eye on them & do small water changes if they continue to creep up. Try not to disturb the system too much though. You need a slightly elevated level of them to cause a bacterial bloom. When you start to see nitrates appear on your test strip, its a sign that the anerobic critters are doing their job and things are normalizing. The primary role of water changes is to eliminate nitrates and phermones from the water. These can't be removed from an enclosed system unless you have a billion plants to eat them up. After the nitrates creep up, you shouldn't have to worry about testing for ammonia or nitrite any more.