High nitrites won't go down

[ajcall93]

Hello all! Haven't had a fishtank in years. Decided to get back into the hobby. I do love it. Purchased a 29 gallon tank with HOB filter and heater. The floor of the tank is a layer of small river rock with red substrate on top. (Odd, I know. I like to try new things) planted aquarium with root tabs and regular dosing. Maybe once or twice a week. Cycled with ammonia in a bottle and fritz enzyme. Let the tank do its thing for a few weeks, monitoring the levels, adding fish food and such for the bacteria to eat and multiply. Added some fish, waited 2 weeks, added the rest. Tank is now fully stocked, I have biofilter media in the filter as well. A week went by, tank was doing well, no spikes in ammonia. Nitrates would increase, everything else at 0 ppm. Then suddenly, nitrites spiked and won't go down. Added more bacteria, hoping that would help. No luck. It's been a week or so now since the spike. The fish seem fine, the tank has salt and I use stress coat when needed. All is well with the fish. But I'm sure it's not as healthy as if like. Any tips or tricks to help with the spike? I've looked elsewhere and the only info I'm ever given is to just wait. But how long will it take? Will I lose fish in the process? Thank you very much for your input. 

[Colu]

What level have your nitrites getting to as nitrite poisoning effects fish immune system leading to secondary infection it can also effect the swim bladder causing buoyancy issues it will kill your fish aquarium salt will help provent nitrite up take though the Gills of your fish what I would do is test daily and do daily 50% water changes and add a double dose of prime to help detoxify any nitrites till they constantly stay at zero I would also test your tap water for nitrite @ajcall93

[PerceptivePesce]

I started my first tank almost 4 weeks ago.  90g. I ghost fed from day one for ammonia and used an enzyme.

I was given about 2 dozen females guppies.

I think I just got over my nitrite hump.  I didn't take notes during the ammonia spike, but it only lasted about 5 days.  I did take notes for my nitrite cycle.  I'm on day 9 of high nitrites. Yesterday it finally dropped into mid-range danger zone (ACO test strips), and tonight it was lighter- on the low end of the danger zone.

Two days ago I noticed white stringy poo from my guppies, and their gills looked like maybe they were a little more rosey.... idk, maybe my mind is playing tricks.  Other than that, I haven't noticed anything different about their behavior... yet

[nabokovfan87]

You could have leeching from the substrate or the root tabs and that could cause the constant ammonia readings. Adding the dechlor would make the ammonia non-toxic for a certain amount of time, but it would still show up if not removed and dealt with.

Water changes are your friend, dose in bottled bacteria, and then keep testing to track what is going on.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/5/2022 at 6:55 PM, ajcall93 said:

But how long will it take?

It could be days up to weeks. It happens unfortunately. Normal I would say is ~3-5 days and the upper end of concern is two weeks that I've dealt with it. You could also have it go one week on, one week fine, then it spikes again.

In that case, you would do water changes and give the biological filtration a chance to catch up. Dosing the bottled bacteria for 7-10 days usually solves it by the end of the week.

[Sun.singh1991]

High nitrites can be caused by over feeding or too many root tabs in the substrate leeching nutrients. Your best bet would be to do a water change, and make sure you have plenty of oxygenation. 

On 11/5/2022 at 8:55 PM, ajcall93 said:

Hello all! Haven't had a fishtank in years. Decided to get back into the hobby. I do love it. Purchased a 29 gallon tank with HOB filter and heater. The floor of the tank is a layer of small river rock with red substrate on top. (Odd, I know. I like to try new things) planted aquarium with root tabs and regular dosing. Maybe once or twice a week. Cycled with ammonia in a bottle and fritz enzyme. Let the tank do its thing for a few weeks, monitoring the levels, adding fish food and such for the bacteria to eat and multiply. Added some fish, waited 2 weeks, added the rest. Tank is now fully stocked, I have biofilter media in the filter as well. A week went by, tank was doing well, no spikes in ammonia. Nitrates would increase, everything else at 0 ppm. Then suddenly, nitrites spiked and won't go down. Added more bacteria, hoping that would help. No luck. It's been a week or so now since the spike. The fish seem fine, the tank has salt and I use stress coat when needed. All is well with the fish. But I'm sure it's not as healthy as if like. Any tips or tricks to help with the spike? I've looked elsewhere and the only info I'm ever given is to just wait. But how long will it take? Will I lose fish in the process? Thank you very much for your input. 

What is your pH and temperature at?

Edited November 6, 2022 by Sun.singh1991

[ajcall93]

On 11/6/2022 at 12:30 AM, Sun.singh1991 said:

High nitrites can be caused by over feeding or too many root tabs in the substrate leeching nutrients. Your best bet would be to do a water change, and make sure you have plenty of oxygenation. 

What is your pH and temperature at?

Temp is at 78. Ph was high a little bit ago but it's in the comfort zone now

[Sun.singh1991]

On 11/6/2022 at 4:28 AM, ajcall93 said:

Temp is at 78. Ph was high a little bit ago but it's in the comfort zone now

Things look good. Just do a large water change and keep dosing bacteria. Eventually the colony will be able to handle the bio load.

[modified lung]

I've found that the bacteria grow or recover from a crash a lot slower if nitrite is above 1 ppm. I always recommend to make sure you stay below that level with water changes. Otherwise, if you're ammonia and nitrite levels stay low enough, it's best to keep all the other parameters as stable as you can and wait.