High Nitrite! What do I do???

[Skyler]

I have a 11 month old cycled 3.5 gallon tank, almost 2 weeks ago (Nov 4) I re-scaped it and put live plants in it. I rinsed the new sand, and the live plants with the old aquarium water. I didn’t scrub or clean the glass, the heater, the sponge filter, or the small rock cave. All of which have been in the aquarium since I started it in the beginning of January. I put root tabs in on Nov 10th, I tested the water on Saturday (Nov 11) and the Nitrite was at 10.0 PPM. Right now the ammonia is at 0 PPM, Nitrate 20 PPM, Nitrite 5.0 PPM, GH 25 PPM, KH is in between 40 and 80 PPM, PH is in between 6.8 and 7.2 PPM. I’ve been doing water changes to try to get it down… I removed my betta fish (Angie) from the tank for the first part of the week but, I put her back in yesterday (I don’t have another tank so she was in a medium-large Tupperware container) (she wasn’t happy with that and neither was I) Strange enough she seems to be perfectly fine in there despite all the Nitrite… she’s eating great not breathing heavy at all and swimming around like she always does, seems happy. This is my first aquarium ever, And everything was perfect before I re-scaped it.. did I do something wrong? How do I fix the Nitrite? 

Edited November 17, 2023 by Skyler

[JettsPapa]

Welcome to the forum.  You said you've been doing water changes, but how often, and how large?  If they weren't at least 50% each time you really weren't doing much good.  I'd recommend doing one at least that large daily until it gets under control (down to no more than 1.0 ppm).

It might also be a good idea to get an independent test.  I wonder about the test accuracy, because I'd expect your fish to be in bad shape with it as high as 10.0 ppm.  Most places that sell aquarium fish will test your water for you.  I believe they usually use strips that don't test for ammonia, but that's not a concern here anyway.

[Skyler]

Monday I did a 70% water change. I’ve done three 50% water changes this week. I was second guessing my test strips as well so I tested some distilled water and it said 0 Nitrate and 0 Nitrite so I think they’re good. I got some different ones too and they test the same as the original ones I was using for my tank. 

Thank you for the advice 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/17/2023 at 9:36 AM, Skyler said:

This is my first aquarium ever, And everything was perfect before I re-scaped it.. did I do something wrong? How do I fix the Nitrite? 

Just through water changes and strong filtration. Essentially, let's say that some of a root tab or some detritus in the substrate got released into the water column. If the filtration isn't up to the tank of handling the spike quickly, that's where you can run into issues.

If you're running a sponge filter, maybe it means turning up the air a little bit. You can also add some ceramic media in a small media bag near (or on top of) the sponge filter and that will help with stability.

Water changes are your friend. 30-50% daily if you have to. Siphon the substrate just to check for some major excess debris. You want to limit yourself to dosing dechlorinator once per 24 hours based on manufacturer recommendation.

If you have a major spike, you did the right thing. Move the fish for the sake of reducing stress and then you can do as high as a 90% water change in a situation like that. Then proceed with the smaller WCs, 50% max, as need be.

[Galabar]

What type of sponge filter is that?

 

[Skyler]

On 11/17/2023 at 8:37 PM, Galabar said:

What type of sponge filter is that?

 

It’s a nano sponge filter I got from KGTropicals. Right now my tank has two sponge filters in it I left the old one in it and I have the new one I got from Aquarium Co-op in there as well. 

[Odd Duck]

Is that driftwood new?  Sometimes wood can be a source of ammonia / nitrites.  Was it cleaned well and well aged?

[Skyler]

On 11/17/2023 at 11:44 PM, Odd Duck said:

Is that driftwood new?  Sometimes wood can be a source of ammonia / nitrites.  Was it cleaned well and well aged?

It is new, I got it 3 months ago I boiled it for an hour. I’m not too sure if it’s well aged, It looks like it is to me. I got it from Buce plant. 

[Odd Duck]

This won’t be fun, but you might try pulling it out and see what happens with your parameters.  Put it in a bucket to keep it wet then test your water parameters in your bucket after it’s been in there for a few days. If your bucket water climbs and your tank sorts out, you probably need to soak the wood for a few weeks outside the tank or boil the wood a couple more times at least.

I would have thought any problem would have shown up much sooner so I don’t think it’s highly likely the wood.  But there’s nothing else I can think of that hasn’t been covered already.

[Skyler]

On 11/18/2023 at 8:56 PM, Odd Duck said:

This won’t be fun, but you might try pulling it out and see what happens with your parameters.  Put it in a bucket to keep it wet then test your water parameters in your bucket after it’s been in there for a few days. If your bucket water climbs and your tank sorts out, you probably need to soak the wood for a few weeks outside the tank or boil the wood a couple more times at least.

I would have thought any problem would have shown up much sooner so I don’t think it’s highly likely the wood.  But there’s nothing else I can think of that hasn’t been covered already.

Ok, I will try that and see what happens. Thank you for the advice!

Edited November 19, 2023 by Skyler

[Guest]

On 11/17/2023 at 11:36 AM, Skyler said:

I have a 11 month old cycled 3.5 gallon tank, almost 2 weeks ago (Nov 4) I re-scaped it and put live plants in it. I rinsed the new sand, and the live plants with the old aquarium water. I didn’t scrub or clean the glass, the heater, the sponge filter, or the small rock cave. All of which have been in the aquarium since I started it in the beginning of January. I put root tabs in on Nov 10th, I tested the water on Saturday (Nov 11) and the Nitrite was at 10.0 PPM. Right now the ammonia is at 0 PPM, Nitrate 20 PPM, Nitrite 5.0 PPM, GH 25 PPM, KH is in between 40 and 80 PPM, PH is in between 6.8 and 7.2 PPM. I’ve been doing water changes to try to get it down… I removed my betta fish (Angie) from the tank for the first part of the week but, I put her back in yesterday (I don’t have another tank so she was in a medium-large Tupperware container) (she wasn’t happy with that and neither was I) Strange enough she seems to be perfectly fine in there despite all the Nitrite… she’s eating great not breathing heavy at all and swimming around like she always does, seems happy. This is my first aquarium ever, And everything was perfect before I re-scaped it.. did I do something wrong? How do I fix the Nitrite? 

First of all let me congratulate you on your first tank, and a beautiful betta fish (I envy the coloration, its so unique). But to answer your question, personally I wouldn't know how nitrite could spike that high after a rescape, and the fact your fish looks fine and unaffected, either A, you misread or the reading is out of wack, or B, your beta is invulnerable and bulletproof. 

[Skyler]

On 11/19/2023 at 7:51 AM, Kaiju said:

First of all let me congratulate you on your first tank, and a beautiful betta fish (I envy the coloration, its so unique). But to answer your question, personally I wouldn't know how nitrite could spike that high after a rescape, and the fact your fish looks fine and unaffected, either A, you misread or the reading is out of wack, or B, your beta is invulnerable and bulletproof. 

Thank you! I’m not really too sure what happened but I know the Nitrite was at 10.0 PPM I tested multiple times throughout that day and it stayed the same till I did a water change. Since then I have gotten the Nitrite to 3.0 PPM. So it is going down thankfully.

Thank you for the advice! 

I guess she’s just tough as nails, I was afraid she was going to die. So grateful she didn’t! 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Skyler

[Guest]

@Skyler Good to hear! Hopefully everything goes well for you and your betta, might I ask although, what's its name? It's adorable.

[Kiefer]

Anabantoids can breathe air which is probably why your betta was relatively unaffected. Nitrite's toxic because it binds to hemoglobin in their blood which makes it unable to bind to oxygen. Longer term you'd still see it hurt the fish but on the short term bettas are capable of breathing more air to keep their oxygen levels up. I find that nitrite actually takes awhile to start causing problems though unless you're already dealing with a tank that's short on oxygen.

[Skyler]

@Kaiju

Her name is Angie 🙂