Help! Nitrites up to 0.25 ppm in main tank

Hi all,
Well, I have abit of an emergency as I discovered late this afternoon that my nitrites in my tain tank ( BB 80 gallon) were up to 0.25 ppm. I then did an 25% WC but nitrites are still at the same level. I also added Bio Spira and turned off my UV but I am afraid I have lost my biological filter....Being new to BB and discus, I guess that relying on only my 2028 Eheim for biological filtration was a mistake. In the meantime, my 9 discus (1 is stunted and very small) look okay but is there anything I can do to lower the nitrites?????? I don't understand what happened as this morning, my nitrites were at 0. It's after a 50% WC at about midday that things went wrong. I used Amquel + which I usually don't use, but I am sure I put enough of it..... Any help is welcome! I am going to get a sponge filter and hook it up to an air pum. Is that what you recommend????
Thanks!
Sophie

Nitrites of .25 may be of some concern but not time to panic. Keep checking. You can add some salt if they go higher but if .25 is the max I wouldn't worry. I forgot what the salt dosage is.
I have a book on Fish Disease. It say's that nitrites of 10 is where toxicity starts.
There are resins that take amonia,nitrites and nitrates out of your water. You put them in your filter. Fluval makes one, Nitrasorb is another. They do work but not in hours but days. Don T.
I had a similar problem. I thought the tank had cycled but I added fish and the bacteria couldn't handle the load. My nitrites went up to 5 and it took abought two weeks to get it back to normal Don T.

Relax NO2 at 0.25ppm is nothing to worry about at all. It would takes weeks at that level to have any effect on the fish and even then it would be minimial. If your ambient natural salt levels were high..depending on where you lived...it would never affect the fish.

So don't go messing around trying to fix something that really isn't broken

Hi Graham and Don,
Thanks a lot for your posts. I always thought that nitrites were highly toxic. I even remember someone telling me that even my nitrates had to be 0 or else...It is all making me paranoid....I will feed them very little until the water becomes normal again. Hopefully soon.
Thanks guys! :)
Don, I did read about your experience! That was crazy!!!!
Glad everything is fine now!:)

Sophie

Sophie, nitrites are more toxic than ammonia. While .25 is not a lot, to ease your mind and play it safe you can add 1 tsp. of salt (any salt as long as it has NO additives like anti-caking agents) per 10 gals. of water to prevent nitrite poisoning.

I use the Wallmart non iodized salt. I think it's $.33.
I could be wrong but I think Amonia is the most toxic. It will kill fish in a mater of minutes. I think Nitrites (at high levels) combine with the hemoglobin in the fishes blood and destroy it's ability to absorb oxygen. Graham knows a lot more than I do abought this. His suggestions got me thru a nitrite spike with no harm to my Discus. Good Luck; Don T.

HI Connie!
How are you? Thanks for your advice. I did add salt last night but this AM, my nitrites are still at 0.25ppm.I know it' s not a matter of life and death, but I am still worried because I am not sure if I should do more WC, which have not improved the situation so far. I am assuming WC help when you have a lot more nitrites...???? I also have another 80 gallon Bio Spira in the fridge, should I use that? What do you think? I trust your good judgement. The thing with the BS is that you cannot do WC for a while if you use it or you lose all the good bacteria. And the stuff is not cheap!!! So, of you get a chance, I'd love your opinions! The fish look okay so far, I am feeding them very little. They are acting normal and doing their little feed them dance...Sophie

BTW: tsp stands for teaspoon or tablespoon? Not sure...All this time living in the UK!!!!

Hi Sophie,
Just to be sure you understand...The salt mentioned doesn't lower the nitrites...It prevents the fish from taking up nitrites ( this is the main problem from nitrites)...You'll still measure nitrites unless your biofilter kicks in.

Also you mentioned using Amquel Plus..I have never used it..but understand it detoxs nitrite...if so it may give a false positive on a nitrite test depending on how it works.

I can't help on the Biospira...never used it... Easiest way to get rid of ammonia and nitrites in my book is water changes...in time the bio-filter will catch up.


Good luck,
al

The salt doesn't make the NO2 go away,.... it, the chloride ions in the salt, out-competes the nitrite at the gills surface, so that it isn't taken up by the fish.

Nitrite poisioning is a slow process, that combined with some salt in the water, the fish will be fine until the nitrifiers catch up....save the BS

oops posting at the same time

Sophie, whilst you can't have too much filtration the eheim should easily cope with this tank. Something happened to cause the nitrite reading, it may be the amquell plus, it may be that you have over fed or other such thing. Adding a sponge filter will not make the cycle happen any quicker and a sponge filter on its own will not match the eheim. Like the rest have said, no need to panic at these levels. I'd measure your tap water juct in case too.

Hi guys,

Thanks again for calming my nerves...I get very anxious when it comes to my babies....!!!!! I feel very humble compared to your knowledge..I wish I knew as much as you all do!!!! So, I will follow your advice and save the BS.
It's just that I am used to tanks with substrate and BB is different.
So, how big should my WC be? I would imagine not as big as 50%. But I am a newbie!!!:confused: :confused:

Nothing wrong with 50%...as long as the temp and the pH are the same as the tank

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Don Trinko

I use the Wallmart non iodized salt. I think it's $.33.
I could be wrong but I think Amonia is the most toxic. It will kill fish in a mater of minutes. I think Nitrites (at high levels) combine with the hemoglobin in the fishes blood and destroy it's ability to absorb oxygen. Graham knows a lot more than I do abought this. His suggestions got me thru a nitrite spike with no harm to my Discus. Good Luck; Don T.

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Hi Don. While ammonia is toxic, and the higher your PH, the more toxic, its not going to kill your fish in minutes, I guess unless the levels are so incredibly high... then I suppose anything's possible, especially at a high PH, however, after researching years ago, I did learn that nitrite is more toxic than ammonia. You can research this online yourself.

Hi Sophie. One more thing, just remember to replace the salt you removed when you do a WC. If you do a 50%WC in your 80 gallon tank and you've put in 8 tsps. of salt, just replace 4 tsps.