72 replies to this topic

[bigjohnnofish]

nitrite 5 ish

omg.... poor fish.....

[nvrenuf]

I did a small Water change , but made no difference,
I also put another batch of cichlid salts in.
will check levels again this morning.

[Ivan Sng]

Well I doubt any water changes would change your nitrite level quickly. Instead water changes would drop your salt level and expose your fishes to nitrite poisoning.

A symptom of nitrite poisoning is gasping, hence why fishes that are affected by nitrite poisoning look like they are gasping for air. But no amount of aeration would fix this problem because the nitrite stops the uptake of the oxygen in the fishes. Called brown blood disease. And as Mr_docfish explains it, salt blocks the uptake of nitrite.

So if you don't see your fishes show this symptom, they should still be fine... hence even after your tank is cycled, I would recommend keeping a good level of salting to mitigate against nitrite spikes, either due to normal feeding or abnormal events. Cheap insurance IMO.

And as Mr_Docfish explains, there are different types of chlorides, depends on your pocket. Personally because I have big outdoor tanks, I use pool salt (20kg $6.50).

[nvrenuf]

How long does it normally take for the nitrite to go away ?

I am keeping the salts in there, Fish look happy.

[kesaph]

Approximately twice as long as it took the Ammonia.

[gibbs]

Only add salt to the water you are replacing from now on. If you are adding 100 litres then only treat 100 litres

[Ivan Sng]

Well unfortunately it does take a while to get the nitrite level down. But keep up the good work and it will be cycled soon..

[nvrenuf]

Levels today are

Ammonia 0.15 ish
Nitrite 0.25 ~ 0.50 Massive drop from the 5 it was at,
Nitrate is around 20ppm ish

So is there anything more i should do at this stage ?

[Ivan Sng]

Good work... Maybe the nitrite was actually 1 instead of 5. I have problems differentiating between 1 and 5 in the API test kits, but it does not really matter since any nitrite is bad and require mitigation with salt...

What is your pH?? The nitrification process naturally lowers pH, but you don't want it to drop too quickly as it affects both the fishes and the bacteria.

Well if your fishes have not eaten for over a week now, it should be alright to give them very small feeds alternate day to start with. Just remember that every time you increase the feed, the tank will need to carry out mini-cycles to get up to the new bioload... So watch your ammonia levels... So test before you feed... if the levels have gone up, skip a day and feed the next day.

Continue this process patiently and before you know it, you will be feed them their full feed without impact on increase ammonia and nitrite levels...

[nvrenuf]

Nitrite was defiently much higher, well maybe its was deep purple , now its defiently a very light shade of purple now, almost over a night time.

It is so hard to match these colours I always doubt my self lol painful, need a probe that sits in there tests for everything electronically on a digital meter lol.

Levels this morning are

PH : 7.4
Ammonia : 0 ~ 0.1
Nitrite: 0~0.1
Nitrate: 5.0

I say 0~0.1 Becuase it isnt either of the colours above and below , so figure there must be the smallest partical of detection in the test.

[Ivan Sng]

Yes, you can certainly start feeding as I suggested.

[nvrenuf]

excellent, Glad to see my poor little guys made it through the drama.

tonight after work levels are

PH 8.2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 ppm
Ammonia 0.1 this is hard to tell it basically looks 0 though just a slight slight tint of green barely enough to recognise so just guessing 0.1

Tim

[gibbs]

Well done. Now you can relax and enjoy it