High nitrates and nitrites?

Question

I just got back from a 7 day vacation today, and the nitrite and nitrate levels are higher than they've ever been.

I put in a 14 day feeder when we left, then took it out when I got home. The water is very clear, but my three red glass barbs seemed to be staying at the top to get oxygen. My two tiger barbs just go about their business. They all seem to want to eat and play, but occasionally the three red barbs will go to the top.

I did about a 15% water change. Will this help? Is there anything else I can do?

Answer 1

Water changes are by far the best solution at this point. Another 20-25% water change today plus one tomorrow evening would be a good idea. Then additional changes every few days to continue to lower the levels slowly and safely will be the best route.

By the way, to be honest what you are seeing is the result of the vacation feeder polluting the tank. Far better to allow the fish to go hungry a few days than to use one of those in the future.

MM

Answer 2

What are your readings? Although the nitrates can be well above 80ppm and still not toxic to your fish the nitrites are toxic at levels above .5ppm.

10-15% water change does nothing to remove the nitrites from your tank. A typical 25-30% water change is what you need. Unfortunately "vacation feeders" that are just chunks of food are not the best way to feed your fish while you are away on vacation. Battery operated feeders are much more effective and less excess foods floating around in the tank.

Vac the gravel and do a regular 25% water change. Your nitrite levels should drop quickly.

If the nitrites are elevated some fish will tend to stay near the surface of the water. Kind of their way of escaping the pollution.

Answer 3

you may want to do another 15% change and add more airstones. your nitrite and nitrate should read zero in a perfect world but his world isnt perfect. check the levels again and see what they read if still out of line then do the other 15% change. you could add some plants that will help the problem. Gasping at the top is a good indication that there isnt enough oxygen in the water. remeber you dont want to do a drastic change in the levels if the fish got use to the high levels...these levels got out of whck over a period of time so dramatically changing them can put the fish into shock even when going from bad water to more healthy water. good luck and post any other info so people can better help you. incluse what the levels are for nitrate nitrite amonia and pH.

Answer 4

I wouldn't recommend a water change unless your nitrite & nitrate levels remain high for 5-7 days. I have found that keeping the ammonia levels up helps the cycle to complete (between 2-4 ppm). I use to use fish food and shrimp as my ammonia source, but I could never figure out the right amount, so I now use pure ammonia on my new tanks. FYI - don't use ammonia found in local stores because they almost always contain fragrances or other chemicals that are toxic for fish. ACE Hardware sells pure ammonia; it's called "janitorial strength." There's also a product I found on Amazon, called zAMMOlution that too is pure ammonia.

Answer 5

PROBLEM: Excess food provided by the feeder wasn't all eaten, decayed and produced large amounts of ammonia which your 1st stage beneficial bacteria was able to keep up with (converting it into a quantity of nitrite which your 2nd stage beneficial bacteria WASN'T able to process as quickly, thus resulting in high nitrites; what nitrite it was able to handle was converted into nitrates, explaining your zero ammonia/high nitrite/high nitrate end state).

SOLUTION: 30%-40% water changes every other day until nitrites are reduced to 0.25ppm or below (ideally they nitrites should be 0ppm). Monitor nitrite levels daily until they fall and are maintained at 0ppm. The water changes required to reduce your nitrites will also significantly drop your nitrate levels.

PREVENTION: Ensure nitrates are 10ppm or below prior to departing for vacation and don't feed your fish if you're only gone for a week (your fish will survive a week's fasting, so don't worry, it takes weeks for a fish to actually die from starvation).

Answer 6

You have found out the down side of the vacation feeders. Too often they end up polluting the water.

I would do a 10% water change every other day for the next week to bring the water quality back up.

In the future you can leave your fish without food for a week. Just make sure to feed them very well for the week prior to your trip and they should be fine while you are gone.

Answer 7

Your nitrite and your ammonia levels are suppose to read 0, but not your nitrates, I think they should be somewhere around 1-10mpph

In the future don't use these feeders

Hope that helps
Good luck

EB

Answer 8

Go get a product called AmQuel. Do another partial change and then add this. Your tank will level itself out with a little routine maintenance. Good luck.

Answer 9

go for 70-80% water change that will help fixing ur problem