# High Nitrite condition



## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

The books say that it's normal in a new aquarium for the nitrite to jump as high as 5ppm for four to six weeks.

When this happens, do you try to bring the nitrite down with products made for this purpose?

Do you bring it down another way without bottled help?

Or do you simply keep the aquarium clean and wait it out, the fish will be okay if it stays within the four to six weeks?


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Are you cycling with fish?
Nitrite is toxic. You'll want to perform smallish water changes to keep the nitrite around 1-2ppm and dose with a dechlorinator that will detoxify the nitrite. Prime will do this for up to 36 hours but will still allow the bacteria to convert it to nitrate.

Read this for a more thorough understanding: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/f ... _cycle.php


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

GTZ said:


> Are you cycling with fish?


Yes I am still cycling. I am on day 28.

I keep a daily journal.

Right now I have the following water conditions:

Ammonia 0 ppm
I had 0.25 for 17 days. It's been 0 for 2 days.

Nitrite 4 or 5 ppm
Nitrite is between 4 and 5 ppm, it's hard to tell, the colors are so close to one another. It's been like this for 3 days. It was 0.25 for 9 days then 1ppm for 1 day then 2ppm for 1 day now 4 to 5ppm.

Nitrate about 10 ppm
It's been like this, 8 to 10 ppm for 16 days now.

Ph 8.2
Ph never changes


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You don't want the nitrite to be > .5ppm with fish in the tank. Change the water.


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> You don't want the nitrite to be > .5ppm with fish in the tank. Change the water.


This morning the Nitrite appears to have dropped to 3 ppm or so. The colors are so hard to read. My wife says it's more like 2 ppm

I did a 40% water change this morning.

How soon after a water change do I test for Nitrite levels?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Test immediately. Anything >=1ppm is an emergency. I'd change at least 50% daily until you get under 1ppm. Don't vacuum or clean filters or décor.


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> Test immediately. Anything >=1ppm is an emergency. I'd change at least 50% daily until you get under 1ppm. Don't vacuum or clean filters or décor.


I'm so anxious it's not funny. I only had them a week and I'm already attached.

Is something like this a good idea or I'm I wasting my time? Simply keep up the large water changes and add Prime.

The box says "AquaClear 70 Ammonia Remover is ideal for new or heavily populated freshwater aquariums. It removes and controls harmful ammonia and nitrite, creating a healthy aquatic environment."

http://usa.hagen.com/Aquatic/Media-Inse ... p-On/A1416


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## firefighter5 (Nov 25, 2014)

I would buy prime and add it daily every 24 hrs untill you are cycled along with the water changes.Your fish will not survive with nitrites in the water.Prime will detoxify the nitrites but will need to add it everyday.


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## hisplaceresort1 (Mar 10, 2014)

firefighter5 said:


> I would buy prime and add it daily every 24 hrs untill you are cycled along with the water changes.Your fish will not survive with nitrites in the water.Prime will detoxify the nitrites but will need to add it everyday.


+1 on the Seachem Prime! ...this has been another public service announcement... yes, it is an emergency... do it now!


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

Follow-up

I made a 40% water change each day with Prime for the last 3 days now. The results are&#8230;

Nitrites: no charge, about 3 ppm for every day.
Nitrates dropped by half, 20 ppm to 10 ppm.
The rest stay the same. Ph 8.2 and ammonia 0.0 ppm.

I read yesterday in a book that we should avoid water changes during fish in cycles, is this accurate?

By the way, my fish don't show any signs of stress. It's been 6 days since the high nitrite reading. How long should it take before the nitrites go down naturally?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

It does not make sense that nitrites are not dropping by 40% when you change the water. You have tested the tap water?

If you cycle without fish you could avoid changing water. But if you have fish in there you have to remove the toxins that will kill them. They may not show stress, but the damage can be permanent.


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## Austinite (Jul 27, 2013)

The negative impact on the fish is not always immediately apparent, so don't be fooled by the fact that they seem fine for the moment. Things can change quickly from good to bad.

Definately change out water daily to try to minimize the impact of the nitrites on the fish. During the cycling process, there is no need to test for nitrates when you have nitrite present. The reading may not be accurate for the nitrate portion at this stage of the cycling. I'd save that portion of your test kit and not bother testing the nitrates right now. Begin testing for those once you get those nitrites to hit zero. Until then, change out water daily and keep testing for nitrite. I hope it works out okay, keep us posted.

What kind of fish do you have in there, and how many?


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

I did a tap water check, it say 0.0 for both nitrite and ammonia.

It's so difficult for me to read the nitrite color, it's almost like the color is not on the chart. My wife says its 2 ppm I say it's between 3 and 4 maybe even 5 ppm.

I tried to take a picture, don't know if it can help.



I could be wrong with some of the names but this is the list of my fish.
100 gallon tank with two filters funning.

6x Labidochromis caeruleus (Electric Yellow Lab)
1x Metriaclima estherae (Red Zebra)
4x Melanochromis auratus (Golden Mbuna)
1x Metriaclima callainos (Cobalt Zebra)
2x Aulonocara Rubescens (Ruby Red Peacock)
2x Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (Electric Blue Johanni)
2x Haplochromis Livingstoni (Livingstoni)
3x Synodontis lucipinnis (Dwarf Petricola), Catfish


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Ignoring the stocking issues for now, I'd do a 100% water change. The beneficial bacteria live on surfaces, in the filter media and in the substrate...not in the water. They are pretty well attached.

I'd agree that the nitrites are 5ppm. Really anything but pure blue is a problem. I am surprised that none of the Synodontis are lurking at the surface. They always alert me to problems in my tanks.


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> Ignoring the stocking issues for now, I'd do a 100% water change.


I will do as you all say. I can't do a 100% water change though. I don't have any place to put the fish so I will do 80% today and another change tomorrow.


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

First of all, Happy New Year's everyone. :dancing:

I made a second water change today. The nitrite is somewhere between 0.5 and 1 ppm. The colors are so hard to match. Maybe that was my problem last time. I'm also not feeding them for two days.



DJRansome said:


> Ignoring the stocking issues for now.


I'm guessing that my stocking is wrong by your comment. The way it's going for me I will be lucky if I, or more accurately, my fish will survive at all, I have so much to learn.

Let me have it. I'm a big boy, I can take it. What did I do wrong with my stocking? I think I need to know now so I can do something about it before it becomes a bigger problem.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

=D> :dancing:

What are the dimensions of the 100G? You might be OK with 5-6 species if the tank is 72" long.

6x Labidochromis caeruleus (Electric Yellow Lab)
1x Metriaclima estherae (Red Zebra)
4x Melanochromis auratus (Golden Mbuna)
1x Metriaclima callainos (Cobalt Zebra)
2x Aulonocara Rubescens (Ruby Red Peacock)
2x Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (Electric Blue Johanni)
2x Haplochromis Livingstoni (Livingstoni)
3x Synodontis lucipinnis (Dwarf Petricola), Catfish

The pairs and singles are a problem. Malawi are harem breeders so you want 4 or more females for every male...or no females at all. I'd lose the peacocks with those aggressive mbuna in there. Choose one Metriaclima to avoid crossbreeding and/or fighting. Estherae and labs will crossbreed so choose one. I'd do a group of 5-7 lucipinnis. Auratus and cyaneorhabdos are aggressive so I'd stock 1m:7f of each.


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> =D> :dancing:
> 
> What are the dimensions of the 100G? You might be OK with 5-6 species if the tank is 72" long.
> 
> ...


The dimensions are width 60, height 24 and depth 18.

I will do as you say because the store I go to has no problem with switching fish. But if I'm never going to breed any fish, do I still need to worry about cross breeding?

I also thought that since they are babies, I can't really tell the females from the males. Can I do a change when they get a bit bigger?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would not add fish until your cycle is complete, but you could return unwanted species now. I'd lose the livingstonii as too big for a 60" tank. Return one of the Metriaclima species and personally I would return the auratus...among the most aggressive mbuna.

Once your cycle is complete you would want to add unsexed juveniles...start with 2X the # of females you want to end up with. So if you want 4 females start with 8 or more unsexed juveniles. Then rehome extra males as they mature.


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> I would not add fish until your cycle is complete, but you could return unwanted species now. I'd lose the livingstonii as too big for a 60" tank. Return one of the Metriaclima species and personally I would return the auratus...among the most aggressive mbuna.
> 
> Once your cycle is complete you would want to add unsexed juveniles...start with 2X the # of females you want to end up with. So if you want 4 females start with 8 or more unsexed juveniles. Then rehome extra males as they mature.


I will wait till the cycling is complete to bring back the auratus. It's too bad, I really liked them. I'm almost tempted to take a chance and see what will happen. Is this a dumb thing to do?

As for the livingstonii, the shop keeper said it's a Metriaclima livingstonii. It would seem that it gets only 3 inches long.

I looked it up.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=900

Here is a picture I took of it in my tank. I think I took fifty pictures before I got it.



Finally the two Metriaclima, one is orange and the other is blue. I was told that if they are different colors it should be okay. Is this true?


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## Austinite (Jul 27, 2013)

The nitrite test should be easy to read, it needs to be blue. Any deviation from blue means nitrite is present, do another water change.

Many beginners choose the auratus because they are beautiful fish and readily available. This one will cause you a problem later though, and things can change overnight with that one. He will kill your other fish, it's almost a certainty. I've read many posts on the forum about troubles with auratus, do a search and read the threads, you will see the same.

Peacocks typically don't work with mbuna. They are more mild mannered and not aggressive enough to be combined with the list you've got.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

MSDdivers said:


> As for the livingstonii, the shop keeper said it's a Metriaclima livingstonii. It would seem that it gets only 3 inches long.
> 
> I looked it up.
> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=900
> ...


That's not the correct species, check here: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1158
The two Metriaclima fish are closely related and may compete with each other.


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## MSDdivers (Nov 24, 2014)

Okay I'm sold, bye bye Livingstonii, auratus and one Metriaclima.  As for adding new fish I will wait a bit.

Back to my original question, another water change today. It's down to 0.5 ppm, it's almost blue. 
I will keep this up until the cycling is done.

Thanks again, I feel better about my tank progress now. thanks to all of you.


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## firefighter5 (Nov 25, 2014)

During my cycleing my nitrites would drop immediately following a huge water change but would be off the charts high within a hour or two so I think thats normal.It can take quite a while to cycle,especially with fish in the tank.It may take two months or even longer,it all depends on many things.But use the prime daily until nitrites are zero.Its the only way your fish are going to make it through this.Thats why fishless cycling is so much better and quicker.But at this point it is what it is..It seems your heading in right direction


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