Nitrites too high, Ammonia low, all other test just fine. What can I do?

Question

I’m doing a water change weekly trying to keep the nitrite down and then I have to buy distilled water to get the pH down. My water change is 3 parts distilled water to one part tap/well water. This is a lot of work! It’s a 10 gal freshwater tank with 3 black tetras and 4 Serpae tetras. Too many fish??? Oh, and I only feed them twice a week. Tank is one month old and has been a problem from the beginning.
What do I have to do to my tank to keep the nitrites down without a weekly water change?

Thanks for the quick response. I love Y/A!
Well, it seems that I've been doing everything wrong. Thanks, at least now I know what not to do. The pH on the well water is 7.8 and that seems to stress the fishes (panting bad color, ets.) They seem happy at 7.0 or less. They really like 6.6 go figure! There is no nitrite in our well water. Oh, all the store waters tested about 7.6 - 7.8. We bought every brand we could find. The reason for so many fish is that they are hand-me-downs. I'm thinking of getting a bigger tank if I can survive this one and find a place for it.

Answer 1

Your tank is still in the cycling process. This is when you're builing up a population of bacteria that will convert the ammonia produced by the fish to nitrite, then to nitrate. You seem to still be in the intermediate stage where you have enough of the bacteria to convert the ammonia to nitrite, but don't yet have enough of the type that converts the nitrite to nitrate. This probably has nothing to do with your water source.

To address your nitrite problem, this is just a waiting game to get the amount of bacteria needed. This can take 3-6 weeks or longer, but there are some things you can do to speed it along.

First, what temperature do you keep the tank? If you have it around 76-78o, turn it up a little. The warmer the water, the faster the bacteria multiply. Since your fish are tropicals, they should be able to take temperatures to 82-84 easily as long as you maintain good aeration in the tank.

Having 7 fish in a 10 gallon may be too much to start (it would have been better if you only added half that to start and added the others later). But by only feeding them twice a week, you're "starving" the bacteria which depend on the wastes from the fish for their food source (the ammonia and nitrite) so you may actually be drawing the cycling process out longer. It's okay to feed the fish more often, just don't overfeed. If you do this now, you'll probably see another spike in the ammonia as well, since more wastes will be produced than you currently have the bacteria to handle.

How are you cleaning the tank? Cycling usually comes with cloudy water (a result of the bacterial reproduction, which is something you want - once there are enough bacteria, the reproduction will slow down and the cloudiness will go away on its own). Many think the cloudiness is because of a "dirty" tank and overclean which again, only prolongs the process. It's best to do 15% water changes twice a week or a 25% change once a week (unless more is indicated by the water tests) using a gravel vacuum to sipon debris out of the gravel. Also, don't clean the filter media on the same day you clean the tank - this can cause the loss of the cycling bacteria from both places they live at the same time. When you do clean the filter media, don't rinse it with tap water if you add chlorine to your well water - the chlorine kills the bacteria. It's best to just rinse the media off in a separate container with tank water or dechlorinated water, then reuse the same media (don't replace it until it's falling apart - this is one of your sources of bacteria that you need, especially while the tank is cycling - changing the media every two weeks or so as the manufacturer suggests is just a way to get you to buy more of the product!).

If you know of anyone else who has a tank that free of disease and algae problems, ask if you can get one of their old filter pads and put it into your tank - this increases the amount of bacteria you have to reproduce and and makes the cycling process shorter.

You may also want to test your well water for nitrite if you haven't already. Nitrate is more common (from it's use as a fertilizer), but you might be getting nitrite in the water as well.

What is you well water pH? If it's between 6 and 8.5, your tetras should be able to do okay in that, although their natural waters are slightly acidic. You just may need to take a little longer to acclimate them to the chemistry of your water - unless where you buy them is on a similar source (ask the pH of their water the next time you're in). It's not necessary to keep the water in the tank at a perfect "7" as people seem to think. And rather than use distilled, try using reverse osmosis water - it doesn't go through as much processing and still contains some beneficial minerals. If you have a Super WalMart near you, you can probably find a Culligan water dispenser where you can get this for $0.33 per gallon once you get a refillable container. Another possible solution for you would be to add some driftwood to the tank or a small mesh bag of peat moss to your filter (note that both will tint the water bown). Both of these will help neutralize the higher pH.

Answer 2

Braga is right in what he is saying.
Right 1st of, you got ammonia down, then come the NitRites, these are the 2 that can kill fish, then comes along NitRtes, which is what you need in your tank. Both Amonia and NitRites when a tank is fully cycled should be at least Nil. and about 20-30ppm NItRates. Your tank is going through a cycle. You can get some Ammonia lock, this will help a little while tank is cycling. Keep doing your water changes and the tank will soon settle. No more fish be added untill or your chemistry is right. Give it time and things will settle down.
Best of luck.

Answer 3

High Nitrites

Answer 4

Your tank is still in the cycling process. You did add to many fish to quickly but as a final stocking scheme it is ok. You want your ammonia to be low (it should be zero), Your nitrites will also drop to zero once your tank has time to finish cycling. It is just taking a while to catch up to that many fish all at once. After your nitrites zero out all you will have to worry about is nitrates which will be controlled by your water changes.

Answer 5

You cant prevent mother nature. its going to happen. This is something that only takes time. Yout tank has only been established for a month now. So you got about another 2-3 weeks left. Eventually the tank will grow bacteria to keep nitrite on the low. Give it time.

Answer 6

of course all the numbers are high quality,no longer something has got here approximately. The micro organism which you're able to be able to desire to domesticate are present day each the place,and including greater won't likely velocity up the approach in any respect. the reason for that's that the mere presence of diverse the micro organism does not help till the little adult adult males have formed colonies interior the porous surfaces interior your tank(gravel,clear out sponges,or surprisingly lots the rest).that's all approximately floor section. And oxygen ranges are the different difficulty that inspire the bacterial colonies. So wait and notice. A pH of 9.0 could desire to intend which you wiped sparkling the tank with some form of cleansing soap and did no longer thoroughly rinse all of it out. to try this concept get a sparkling try tube of a few sort and examine the pH of your faucet water,that's going to be someplace close to 7.0. That pH is only too severe for any fish yet Rift Lake Cichlids and wasteland Pupfish,or in step with threat Mollies. If the tank pH is a lot larger than the faucet water pH you have have been given some form of an infection an shouldn't get any fish till the priority is resolved. this could mean an entire tear down and re-start up,yet do no longer try this till you comprehend the reason. some achievable supplies ought to be coral skeletons used for adornment,coral gravel,plaster of Paris adorns or like I reported cleansing soap.

Answer 7

plants are a great option they add beauty and realisticness to your tank. plants will use the nitrates as food and will decrease the growth of algea too. you really sould feed your fish more often like 2 times a day and you are maxing out your tank so monitor this if this nitrate problem dosn't clear up it may be you just are pushing the bio load and need to make some more room in the tank.

Answer 8

what is the pH many fish will tolerate high pH my tank is kept at 8.6pH and its about keeping the pH stable and at one level not trying to lower it all the time.
you have to many fish in your tank to start with,distilled water is not going to lower pH level,i would be doing 10 percent water changes daily for a week and see what happens and reduce the amount of fish you have in your tank