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Showing results for tags 'nitrite'.
Found 2 results
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First off some good news. In my intro I said I had 2.5 fish as the smallest one had his fins eaten off. As the water has started to become more stable the little guy (or gal I have no clue) is actually growing fins back. The rear fin was gone (very faint white line on edge where fins should have been and based on the articles/pics I saw online I figured it wouldn't recover). I don't know if it is because he is still missing most of his fins (all of them) but he seems to be getting smaller. Although it is entirely possible the other two fish might just be getting larger. The injured fish is still in an isolation tank that is inside the main tank. My three fish are rescues from a fish pond (one was laying partially on the ice for about 2-3 days when I realized he was actually alive) so they were put in a tank that was new with no biological filters in place. Until I got my testing kit in the mail I just assumed ammonia levels were high so I was changing 80% of water a week or 50% every 3-5 days. (55 gallon tank). Once I got the testing kit the levels were all critically high (but at least the ph was good). Our town water changes so 3-4 weeks ago the ph was 7.6 which is okay for goldfish but this week it is now around 8.6 so I've ordered an API pH down bottle. Eventually the ammonia levels went to 0 and the nitrates when down to acceptable levels. However, my nitrite levels are still really critical. But this is also the time my little guy started growing fins back and he is acting healthy again. I was told I should not be cleaning everything on each water change and so now I only do half the gravel each week and I only change half the filters every other week. I also only scrub half the ornaments/fake plants with a brush (started getting brown algae). With the fish acting much healthier and the ammonia at 0 and the nitrates being really low I am now changing 30% of the water a week but I'm worried about the high nitrites. The fish are doing the best they ever had and are pretty active (they were either fairly dormant before or jumpy and smacking into everything the first few weeks). I'm only guessing but I only had the filter that came with the tank. It should be plenty of filter but it is designed to be as quiet as possible so the water tension at the surface I fear is not creating enough current or oxygen in the water. Although the fish themselves use the entire tank pretty evenly (it's not like they hang in at the surface or one corner). I'm really just guessing why the nitrites are high so I figured it wouldn't hurt to get more circulation and aeration so I ordered a couple of small air stones and air pump. That should be here Monday. I've reduced the food to ensure they only eat what they can in 5 minutes twice a day. Does anyone have any ideas for the nitrites?
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I have a new 90 gal aquarium that I put 4 fish into 2 weeks ago. before I put the fish in I seeded the tank with a few hand fulls of substrate, rocks, accessories and the filter sponge from an established aquarium to try and get the cycle going. the tank has 2 Rena Filstar xp2 filters on it. My ammonia level is at a constant 0ppm but I can't get the nitrite's to come down. The seem to be sitting around 1 - 2 ppm (its hard to tell the shades of purple apart) for about a week now. I have been changing water daily and treating the tank with Prime water conditioner (it is supposed to also detoxify Ammonia Nitrite and Nitrate) but with no results. My nitrates are registering on the test at around 2ppm Am I just being impatient or is there something else I can to to get the nitrite levels to drop? Thanks
