How can I quickly reduce Nitrate/Nitrite?

Question

I thought my tank was clean. But, today I did a water change and I am using the Eheim Automatic Gravel Cleaner. I noticed that it pulled out a lot of waste from under the gravel. So, I measured the nitrate/ite and it was not good. It is about 1.0. Then, I noticed my betta has the looks of beginning tail rot. I was devestated because his tail is such a beautiful blue. So, I added AmnoLock to the water immediately and I will have to continue the water change tomorrow. So, what else can I do to remove that nitrate/ite in a hurry? And should I treat my fish for tail rot? He was treated last month and I treated him with Maracyn-two. I treated him because I had used the same utensils in his tank after my other fish had tail rot. So, it was just a precaution.

Answer 1

Adding things like amnolock will not reduce the nitrites in your tank.

When you are doing water changes are you removing 25% of the water one time per week? making sure to vac the gravel? Doing this weekly will help keep the "junk" off the bottom of the tank. DO not keep doing water changes. Only when the nitrites are elevated above .5. Stop using the ammonia lock keep the tank running as is. Nitrates are not that toxic to your fish. They can be elevated to well over 60 with no ill effects. If your fish't tail seems injured, do not treat yet. Get your water undercontrol first. It doesn't sound like his tail is that bad yet. Fin rot is caused by poor water conditions. Stick to your weekly cleaning schedule. If you find within the week the tail is getting worse, then treat your fish. I would suggest medicated food not a tank antibiotic.

Treat one thing at a time here.

Answer 2

Just keep doing the water changes, around 25% once a week, unless your ammonia and nitrite are building up too quickly. Maracyn is an antibiotic, so using it will have an effect on the good bacteria in the tank as well as the bad. You should also be aware that using products like AmQuel and Ammo Lock may bind with the nitrite and nitrate to make them safer for your fish, but they will still show up in your water testing results. Because of that, I really don't care for their use - you can't tell from the test results how much is in a "safe" form, and how much is potentially toxic to your fish. In time, your bacterial population will be replaced and you shouldn't have the nitrites again.

If you use the gravel vacuum with each cleaning (do about 1/3 of the tank each time), you shouldn't have much waste. Be careful you aren't overfeeding the fish, as this will aslo cause your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate to increase. Only give them what they can eat in 2-3 minutes, twice a day.

Answer 3

how big is your tank and what is in it? you probably just need to do 10% water changes a day or every other day for a week or two and everything will level out again.

if his tail is just kind of eaten looking its not fin rot caused by a bacteria so don't use the antibiotics. if you have melafix or aquarium salt they will help his tail get better. by reducing bacteria in the water it helps with tail growth.

Answer 4

There's really no way to quickly reduce it accept for doing drastic water changes. You didnt give me your tank conditions what your params are at for all.. how big your tank is...

If we are talking about 20 gallons or more.. do like a 40 % change on the water. Water changes are believe it or not the best thing to do.. resetting the paramaters is what it's about.

You probably have this issue because your using a hang on canister filter and you clean the filter and remove all the beneficial bacteria and your tank starts to "cycle" all over again. If you dont know what a cycle is.. research it on google.

Id suggest you research how to cycle your tank and what it's about because ti seems like your tank is cycling again if your having that big of spikes to it.

Join me on www.fishaquarium.org and ask me more questions there

Answer 5

40 per cent water change Now.
Before adding medication to the tank remove the filter. It will filter out the meds and kill all the good bacteria that has built up.

Answer 6

doing more than a 30 percent water change can spike your levels easily since you mess up the bio filter your tank worked so hard to make. i use aqua safe on my tank and it works just fine

Answer 7

This is a great site about beta diseases

http://majesticbettas.com/diseases.htm

I usually use "Aqua Safe", "Easy Balance", and also AmmoLock in my tank

Answer 8

water changes weakly at least 10 percent maybe 20 would be better