My nitrite is to high

[HisMineandOurs]

I have good test strip results in every other test but my nitrites are too high. The test strip readout says "Stressed". I have 50 neon tetras, 4 sel.(sp?) cory, 6 kuhlie loaches, 4 nerite snails and a clown loach in a planted tank. How do I get the nitrite down so I am not stressing my tank?

[HisMineandOurs]

By the way, it's a 29 gallon tank.

[CT_]

did you make any changes recently?  I think water changes and waiting for the nitrifying bacteria to adjust. 

[HisMineandOurs]

Thanks, Yes we just added the neons and the corys two days ago. The tank has been set up with the rest for about a week with previous water from our 55 gallon which was good. Thanks for the answer. This is the first time in this area of the web site. I didn't know how easy it would be but I thought I would give it a try. Thanks for answering that question too.

[Squeegee79]

Is the filtration all new? If yes, then the tank is going through it's cycle. That is A LOT of fish for a brand new tank. You may find yourself doing 20-30% water changes DAILY until things get cycled and settle down.

[HisMineandOurs]

Thank you. Is it too much once it is easier? It's the first tank my husband has chosen the fish for so I really want it to work well.

[CT_]

Maybe swap a piece of filter media, or the whole filter into the new tank.  There's plenty of nitrifying bacteria in the old tank to keep that going.

[Schwack]

I'm not sure what kind of bioload 50 neon tetras produce, but I'm guessing it's fairly high in a 29G which is already heavily stocked. If you only used water from your 55, you probably didn't bring much bacteria over, the nitrifying bacteria you need doesn't spend much time floating about the water column. Is there any hardscape/filters/plants you can swap from the 55 to the 29? That might help speed up this tank's cycle.

If not, you're likely going to end up going through what sounds like a very bumpy fish-in cycle. Even with some hardscape from the 55, it's likely going to take time for the tank to catch up to your stock level. How are ammonia levels in the tank so far? Nitrite is rough enough, but I wouldn't be surprised to see ammonia running at detectable levels too. Since you have the 55, have you gone through a fish-in cycle previously?

edit: I missed the part about the other test strips. Assuming ammonia reads 0, that'd be a good thing. Any chance you have a liquid test kit that might give a clearer picture of your water quality?

Edited January 29, 2021 by Schwack

[CT_]

adding to schwack's point, I've never seen a test strip with ammonia on it.  Did you test for ammonia?

[HisMineandOurs]

No I just have the 6in1 strips. But everything else looks perfect. 

[HisMineandOurs]

The ammonia is on a separate strip, but it says, "ideal".

[CT_]

a tank without nitrifying bacteria will look perfect on those strips but have toxic levels of ammonia pretty quickly.  Whats your pH.  fish can tolerate a lot more ammonia at lower pH.  "stress" levels of nitrite means you're starting to get the first kind of nitrifying bacteria (the kind that convert ammonia to nitrite).

Looks like you have sponge filters.  I'd swap the filters between your tanks.  so the old one with all the good bacteria can jumpstart your cycle.

[HisMineandOurs]

Isn't alkalinity and ammonia the same thing?

[CT_]

Just now, HisMineandOurs said:

Isn't alkalinity and ammonia the same thing?

nope.  ammonia is nitrogen with 3 hydrogens (or sometimes 4 hydrogens in water)

"alkalinity" test strips measure the "carbonate" which is carbon with some oxygens attached.

[Schwack]

1 minute ago, HisMineandOurs said:

Isn't alkalinity and ammonia the same thing?

Alkalinity/Acidity is a measure of your water's pH (presence of hydrogen.)

Ammonia strips measure how much NH3 is present in your water. NH3 is produced through decay of organic matter and fish waste.

[HisMineandOurs]

I would do that but I just swapped from hanging filters to sponge filters on all my tanks.

[HisMineandOurs]

Oops,

[CT_]

4 minutes ago, HisMineandOurs said:

I would do that but I just swapped from hanging filters to sponge filters on all my tanks.

Ah, maybe some gravel then?  Or tetra Safestart plus is 5-10$ at petco and sped up my cycle quite a bit

 

[Schwack]

Seconding some handfuls of seasoned substrate in a mesh bag. They're $2-3 at big box stores and might help get things moving, but I'd still consider changing up the stocking in the 29 gallon. I'm not enough of an expert to trust my gut, so I use AqAdvisor to get a ballpark idea of what "too many fish" looks like. They put your tank's capacity at 209%. Just means you could be in for a lot of water changes down the road in order to keep your levels of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate under control. I could very well be wrong on this front though!

Edited January 29, 2021 by Schwack