Nitrite problem

[fish don't sweat]

I noticed my fish were looking a bit pissed the other day so I checked the ammonia and got a zero reading. I then checked the nitrite level and it was off the scale.

How can I avoid this happening in the future ?

Thanks

[small_ranchu]

How is your filter? Is it cycle? For now, you can do a big water change 90%.

[suphi]

Has your tank ever gone through a complete nitrogen cycle? How long ago did you set up the tank?

Having high nitrite level means you have a lot of bacteria that digest ammonia (turning it into nitrite), but not enough bacteria that turn nitrite into nitrate.

If your tank has never been through the nitrogen cycle, then this is to be expected. But if the tank already has been through it then there is something that causes the system to off balance (such as increased number of fish, too much feeding, pH crash, ongoing infection wiping out nitrifying bacteria in the tank, etc.).

In either case, having high nitrite is detrimental (it is toxic to the gills) and could kill the fish. The best thing to do is water change and try to keep the nitrite level around 1 ppm or lower (depending on your comfort zone/fish behavior), until your tank develops enough bacteria that can turn nitrite into nitrate. Salting to 0.1% in this stage also helps protect the gills.

When your tank develops balanced amount of bacteria, this problem will go away. But in the meantime, frequent water change is important and it'll keep the fish alive through this process (which can be very harsh to the non-hardy fish).

I don't have to deal with this problem with my TVR setup, since I do daily water change and don't rely on the nitrogen cycle to get rid of ammonia. The disadvantage is that if I go on a vacation I have to starve the fish, or the water quality turns bad within a couple of days.

[fish don't sweat]

I have had my goldfish for about three months now. I had problems with the ammonia at first but got it under control when I got a used disposable filter from a friend. For about the last six weeks everything was fine , then all of a sudden near disaster. I did an immediate copmplete water change, and have done an 80% water change twice since. I had thought water quailiy problems were a thing of the past.
I have been feeding about ten times a day, and my fish have doubled in size, maybe I have been overdoing it.

PS what exactly is a nitrogen cycle ?

[suphi]

Nitrogen cycle is a biochemical process involving transformations of nitrogen compounds in nature. To simply put, this is how fish waste gets processed. Fish waste turns into ammonia, then nitrite, and nitrate.

So, now I'm pretty sure that your tank is still going through this cycle since you had problem with ammonia recently. We sometimes call this "new tank syndrome". Your ammonia problem is gone because it gets transformed into nitrite instead. Eventually, you'll have enough bacteria that transform nitrite into nitrate (they typically live in the filter) and you'll see nitrate spike instead of nitrite.

I recommend checking out this site, pretty good info on water quality and fish health in general.
http://fishdoc.co.uk/water/waterhome.htm

You'll continue to see nitrite spikes for a while, daily monitoring of nitrite level is a good idea during this stage.

[devins23]

From my experience - never do a big water change when using cycled filters. Even daily 20% water change from my experience will negatively affect the bacteria in the filter that converts nitrite to nitrate. These bacteria in my opinion tend to be sensitive to water changes compared to the bacteria that converts amonia to nitrite. Make sure u age water for at least a day or two and dechlor the water, but never do big water changes and daily water changes. Beneficial bacteria are very sensitive to chlorine. And check make sure ur PH is stable. Also add a few sponge filters in ur aquarium if u want to heavy feed ur fish so that u will have more spaces for beneficial bacteria to grow on.

[Ichthius]

PS what exactly is a nitrogen cycle ?

Well there's your problem... The nitrogen cycle is the conversion of Ammonia to nitrite to nitrate by two sets of bacteria. The bacteria use the ammonia as an energy and nitrogen source and carbonates out of the water as thier carbons source.

I regularly do 80% water changes using dechlorinator and have no impact on the biological filtration.

[bekko]

Salt will make the nitrite less toxic while you get the situationj under control. Also, stop feeding.

-steve

[devins23]

I think the important thing when doing water change is that u properly dechlor ur water or else it will harm ur beneficial bacteria especially for a new aquarium. My tap water is heavily chlorinated that I have to age it two to three days with prime before adding it.

[Ichthius]

Dechlorination is almost an instant reaction.

[fish don't sweat]

I have well water, it is not chlorinated but is softened with a water softener using salt, so it should be fine.

[fish don't sweat]

The nitrite problem seems to have sorted it's self out. There is just a little nitrite present now, between 0.1 and 0.3. I am mystified as to what went wrong.

[thomasn]

maybe it was the pigeon

[suphi]

....Pigeon???

[fish don't sweat]

maybe it was the pigeon

I'm sure it was not the pigeon that caused the problem, I'm still feeding pigeon and the water is fine.I tested it again just now and the nitrite is hardly measureable.

[fish don't sweat]

PS, I know birds of prey get their moisture from the food they eat, they do not drink at all. I was wondering if fish get their moisture from their food as well ?