how do i lower my nitrite levels in my tank?

Question

I have a 20 gallon tank with now 5 soon to be 4 fish i have had the tank for about 3-4 weeks i have let it cycle and my water was at safe levels until just recently. when my first fish to die started acting sluggish i tested my water and my nitirite levels were pretty high . i did 25-50% water change and did some extra vaccuming of the bottom the next moring another fish was acting the same way and my nitrite levels are still high. Ive added stress zyme and some more salt to it to help as much as i can.

Answer 1

Time and water changes are your friends in this fight. Given a little time the bacteria in the tank will take care of the nitrite problem, but until then you will need to keep it low through water changes. You may have to do a 50% change every day for a few days during the peak of the problem, but it will settle down fairly quickly. Just keep up what you are doing and hang in there.

MM

Answer 2

Your tank is still a new tank. Have you been over feeding? That will cause a rise. You should cycle your tank for about a week with no fish, add slime layer protection in the tank, add your salt. Now you can add some cheap fish to start the environment. Do a weekly 20% water change & monthly clean the gravel.

Sometimes the levels jump all over the place until you have the righ eco-system. That is why the cheap fish. If you are going to loose fish during this process it best to loose cheap ones. Your eco-system may take a few months to really develope properly.

You are doing too much too soon. Before things settle out all you are doing is stiring the pot when it should be left alone. Don' forget the stress zyme that helps the fish to maintain their slime layer during all the stress.

Water temp at 78 degrees.

Just give it time to adjust. Watch how much you feed, no more than they can eat in 3 minutes, feed twice a day. Watch your temp, do weekly water changes, watch the amonia levels & all will be well.

Answer 3

If you add in a lot of fish to a newly cycled aquarium it can cause it to go into another cycle. Basically fish waste makes ammonia which gets converted to Nitrite which then gets converted to Nitrate. Add fish slowly to prevent small cycles and give time for your bacteria to catch up to the new bioload. Doing a lot of small water changes can keep your nitrites a little lower as your system catches up but is going to extend the cycle period quite a bit. If your feeding your fish too much this will cause elevated ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates as well. Only feed what the fish can eat in 3 min. anything left over in the tank becomes waste and a bioload. Make sure you have enough filtration and oxygen for the tank as well. If you have the means taking the fish out while your tank finishes it's cycle would be ideal. Your tank isn't truelly done cycling until ammonia and nitrites are 0 ppm and you have a good amount of nitrates.

Answer 4

It takes a while for a tank to cycle. You don't mention what type of fish you have in the tank. First, their waste (both feces and from breathing) as well as decaying excess fish food have to start producing ammonia. This is toxic to fish as it burns them: their eyes, their gills, etc. After the ammonia levels reach their highest point, the next bacteria, nitrite, shows up. Nitrite is also toxic but on a different level: it makes it more difficult for the fish to absorb oxygen so they asphyxiate. Even fish that make it through the cycling are stressed and will have weakened immune systems.
It takes about 2 weeks or more of high nitrite before there is enough of the third chemical component, nitrate, the good bacteria to start eating up the other. This is when the tank is fully cycled.
I think your safe levels were perhaps the build up of the chemicals instead of the removal of them and that's why your levels were showing okay.
The best way to remove nitrites is to keep doing larger water changes as you are doing now.