# Nitrite Very High



## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Hi all,

I recently came down off a bacterial bloom and everything looks great. The water is beautiful. But I noticed my completely black Mollie fish had some white crust building up on him so I test the water again today and discovered the Nitrite level had exploded since I last tested on 12/8.

On 12/8 it was ~0.5. Today (12/16) it's off the scale on my test strips (10.0+) and my API Master Kit test shows it at off the scale too (5.0+). 

I understand this is very toxic to the fish, what do I do????


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## jaguayo (Oct 26, 2011)

Do a major water change immediately and keep monitoring. What did you do to control the bloom?


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

yes, major water changes as needed. how long has the tank been set up, and has it been completely cycled? If so, did you do/change something to cause a bacterial die off?


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

All I did to help control bloom was change 5 gallons of water and add Biozyme on 12/6 then waited it out.

Like I said the water tested fine on 12/8. I waited out the bloom until water was very clear just feeding a little bit twice a day. 

I tested the water again today and found the high nitrite. What caused this?


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## drunkenbeast (Nov 13, 2011)

make sure your fish are eating all the food you give them. if some of it falls to the bottom and is not eaten you need to remove it because it can cause a nitrate spike if left.

this could be one reason of the nitrate spike


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

drunkenbeast said:


> make sure your fish are eating all the food you give them. if some of it falls to the bottom and is not eaten you need to remove it because it can cause a nitrate spike if left.
> 
> this could be one reason of the nitrate spike


I said Nitrate in my last post but the problem is actually Nitrite. My apologies.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

To control nitrIte stop adding food until it drops down.


IME Mollys is Fw develop a white cotoney fungus. Which starts pealing off a few hours after adding FW salt per instructions. And also mollys never develop that fungus is full marine tanks.

I also only had the fungus in tank with no plants. So it very well could be tank conditions with no plants like nitrIte.

my .02


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

My one cent worth?... The Biozyme is a dry bacteria... (alleged) ... Bacteria is a living organism so i don't have much faith in the dried version. In the future?.. I'd do a 5 day black out. Followed up with a 33% w/c. The fish dont mind the dark.. the plants will suffer a tad but at least no chems and no "snake-oil" solutions. Bill in Va.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Well, it was a crummy night. I performed the water change and checked the Nitrite level again and it was still off the charts high. Then I looked down and saw all of my fish incapacitated. I went into emergency mode and got the fish into some large bowls of water. So far only one has died; the black Molly that had the white crusty stuff on it earlier. 

Since I couldn't nail down what the cause was of the nitrite spike I threw in the towel and did a complete rework of the tank. New filter, all water removed, rewashed substrate, the whole shabang. I'll probably catch some for doing this, but I wasn't sure where to start. I do know I could have done a lot better during the break-in before.

I will pick up some Aquarium Salt tomorrow when the shops open. And in the future, I'll put the fish into a clean bucket of water until I can get the Nitrite down to safe levels. Everyone give a shoutout to Shadow R.I.P


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## drzoom (Dec 10, 2011)

So sorry to hear about your loss. I'm going through the same process with high nitrites and ich taking their toll on the fish. I guess it's a bit too late to share what I've been doing to get over this phase of the cycle. If you have the old filter medium, you might be able to get a jump start on the cycling process, unless you washed everything with chlorinated water. That would've probably killed any good bacteria in your tank. If you feel that you have to put the fish back in the tank to save them, some folks have recommended Tetra's SafeStart which apparently accelerates the seeding of bacteria in the tank. Might be worth a shot. Good luck and I'm sorry that you're doing through this.


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## williemcd (Jun 23, 2011)

IF you have a high end LFS or an aquarium maintenance company nearby, there is a product for jumpstarting a tank in one day. The product ships ONLY overnight has like a shelf life of 36 hrs. We have 3 tank maintenance / "by appt only" shops in our community. This is the product they'll use for a client that want's an INSTANT tank. Google "Live freshwater aquarium bacteria".. Bill in Va.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Blackout for? If you mean for bacteria, bacteria in fw tanks is not reactive to lights that we use, or more correctly not reactive enough to make a difference. Salt is a different story. Many sw lights use lighting in the uv spectrum for coral growth.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Alright, after a troubling 15 hours I was finally able to get some Aquarium Salt in there and the remaining fish came to life within an hour of applying it. The exception is the single Algae Eater who is breathing but isn't moving a whole lot. He didn't move much before, but he was at least latching on to the glass or to an ornament. Now he's just hiding behind a plant and hasn't moved hardly at all unless prodded to do so.

Honestly, I believe he is malnurished because I didn't do my research on his appropriate diet when I bought him and since I don't have any actual algae in the tank I doubt he's had much to eat. This coupled with the Nitrite issue that started this thread I think has left him pretty weak. I did get some of the Algae waffers after discovering that he probably wasn't eating the leftover flake food that reached the bottom but he won't move towards them when I drop them in and the other fish fight over it after a couple minutes. 

I thought of catching him and putting him in a bowl to feed him but he flees whenever I get close and I don't want to stress him out anymore than he already is.

Any good advice here? Am I overreacting?


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

glad to hear the salt helped.

perhaps others can help but it might be the algae eater is sensitive to salt.

my .02


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Update

Algae Eater looking much better and has returned to normal. That is to say, he's lazing about the tank and sitting in his lawn chair ornament.

I've been monitoring the water daily and have been adding Nutricycle bacteria to to the tank to get the cycle back in process.

Ammonia remains low but Nitrite is on the rise again, will see how things go over next few days.


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## drzoom (Dec 10, 2011)

Thanks for the update. Daily large water changes are the only way to avoid damage due to high nitrite levels. Adding aquarium salt might also reduce the effect on the fish. I used API Aquarium salt at 1 tbsp. per 5 gallons during my cycle. The combination of salt and water changes seems to have saved all my fish. My aquarium finished cycling yesterday. The other two things that I did were adding Tetra SafeStart and planting some anacharis. Good luck and keep us posted.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

drzoom said:


> Thanks for the update. Daily large water changes are the only way to avoid damage due to high nitrite levels. Adding aquarium salt might also reduce the effect on the fish. I used API Aquarium salt at 1 tbsp. per 5 gallons during my cycle. The combination of salt and water changes seems to have saved all my fish. My aquarium finished cycling yesterday. The other two things that I did were adding Tetra SafeStart and planting some anacharis. Good luck and keep us posted.


I am also using API Aquarium salt at that ratio.

What % of water should be changed every day and how many days do I do it or is it just until Nitrite stabilizes? 

How did you pinpoint when your cycle finished?

Thanks.


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

you can pin point when your cycle is finished if you can get 0.ppm for ammonia and nitrites and under 40 ppm nitrates almost every day IMO


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## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

I also used tetra safe start and it definetly helped when i had my nitrite problem, it's alittle pricey but it's worth it, dont order it online unless your gonna pay for overnight shipping, my nitrites were through the roof even after my 50% water change, once i added that i came home from work and it went from 5.0+ppm to .25-.5 ppm, if anything it wont hurt your tank as it has no chemicals in it.


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## drzoom (Dec 10, 2011)

To answer your question about the quantity of water changes, it's a function of the level of nitrites in your tank. You can do the math to figure out how much to change to bring it down to <2 to 3ppm. For example, if it was 5ppm, a 50% water change would bring it down to 2.5ppm and so on. I had to do a 90% water change once and then 50% every other day to keep it low and avoid over-stressing the fish. Make sure to measure the concentrations every day. Also, I avoided feeding my fish for 3 days at one point and only fed a small amount every other day for about a week before the water changes until things settled. I hope this helps.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Grasor said:


> I am also using API Aquarium salt at that ratio.
> 
> What % of water should be changed every day and how many days do I do it or is it just until Nitrite stabilizes?
> 
> ...


The cycle actually never finishes but the tank is finally able to process the fish waste so that things remain healthy for the fish.

The first part of all that is ammonia and nitrItes are unmeasureable with our test kits. After that nitrates, phosphates, hardness, and pH all reach values which are acceptable to the fish.

NitrItes are extremely easy IME to control by simply not adding food until they drop down.

And with all things I believe a safe stable environment is rapidily achieved with fast growing plants. regardless of what else is being done.

but still just my .02


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Ok I've already stopped feeding now that they all appear healthy (except tonight when my Wife fed them not knowing that I didn't want them fed) and I will do a 50% water change. To be honest, my scale maxes out at 5.0 ppm for Nitrite w/ the API Master Kit so should I just keep doing it until it registers on the scale?

Also, the Aquarium Salt, this is dissolved in the water, so I should add it back in for however much water I replace, correct?


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## drzoom (Dec 10, 2011)

I'd start out with a 90% change 'cause nitrite levels are off the scales. Then measure again a while after the change to calibrate. You really shouldn't go above 2 or 3 for extended periods. Regarding salt, yes, make sure to add enough to maintain the correct ratio (usually 1 tablespoon/5 gallons) when you change water. Good luck!


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Grasor said:


> Ok I've already stopped feeding now that they all appear healthy (except tonight when my Wife fed them not knowing that I didn't want them fed) and I will do a 50% water change. To be honest, my scale maxes out at 5.0 ppm for Nitrite w/ the API Master Kit so should I just keep doing it until it registers on the scale?
> 
> Also, the Aquarium Salt, this is dissolved in the water, so I should add it back in for however much water I replace, correct?


In the tanks I have started in the past with no plant life I would peg the api test kig (5ppm) for a few days. When I kept feeding the fish that would last for weeks. When I stopped adding food nitrItes dropped down in 3 days and finally to 0 a few days after that.

Funny thing is that after that I could resume feeding and nitrItes remained at 0.

I just added salt according to the instructions but when replacing evaporative loss do not add more salt. The salt doesn't evaporate.

I guess if you are doing a water change I would first top off the tank, remove the water to be replaced and then add water with new salt at the concentration required for the replacement water only. than add the salted water to the tank. 

(At least I think. LOL)

my .02


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

beaslbob said:


> I guess if you are doing a water change I would first top off the tank, remove the water to be replaced and then add water with new salt at the concentration required for the replacement water only. than add the salted water to the tank.
> 
> (At least I think. LOL)
> 
> my .02


I think that's probably correct, since if water has evaporated the concentration of salt will be inordinately higher than intended in the remaining water. I had not thought of that, thanks!


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Update:

For the fourth day in a row Ammonia has held at 0.0. Nitrites continue to be off the charts. I have been performing daily 50% water changes which are treated w/ Aquarium Salt and Water conditioner as well as 15 ml of Nutrafin Aquarium Bacteria Supplement. For "with fish" cycling, how am I doing? 


My Algae Eater, Dyson, died a couple days ago; total bummer he liked to sit in the beach chair decoration which we thought was pretty funny.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

I retested my tap water today w/ the API Master Kit and it indicated 1.0-2.0 ppm Ammonia. I think this explains, at least in part, why Nitrites are so high all the time as there is plenty of Ammonia to go around and the Nitrite -> Nitrate bacteria haven't grown enough to control it. 

Should I attempt to render the tap water free of Ammonia via Ammo-Lock or proceed as normal? I checked my county's municipal water quality report and they use Ammonia to form Chloramines which they use to keep the water clean for us humans so it sounds "normal" for it to be in muni tap water.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If that is so, then I would just leave the tank alone for a few days and watch what happens. Large water changes in this instance are actuallt hurting you. When my kid cycled his tank recently he had a similar issue with the tap. Stopped doing water changes for a few days and the nitrites dropped to 0 in about 4 days. May not happen that way with your tank. His tank cycled in about 25 days using fish.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Here is a graph that supports my theory. Ammonia stays low (I measure 24 hours after putting in the water - just before a water change) so the bacteria are eating the ammonia, but all that Nitrite is off the charts. Then, it's being turned into Nitrates but the supply of Nitrites is so high this just keeps going on and on.








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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

FWIW I have had nitrItes remain high for weeks (almost 2 months) until I stop adding food. they dropped down in a few days.

Since that I always don't add food for a week. With that nitrItes spike up then down in 4 days or so.

Best thing to do in nothing. The bacterial will build up consuming the nitrItes.

my .02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

If your nitrates are climbing that is a good indication. I bet your nitrites are gone in 5 days or less.


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## Gizmo (Dec 6, 2010)

One thing I'd like to throw in here - are you sure you're testing nitrites properly? What testing kit are you using? Strips? Liquid titration (like the API kit)? With the API Master FW Test Kit, I know the nitrates can really be a pain sometimes, and I imagine some can say the same for nitrite.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

jrman83 and Beaslbob you both have been a big help on this; thanks. I do have one more thought on this however. 

If my tap water has a lot of ammonia in it, which is turned into a lot of nitrites, which is then turned into a lot of nitrates, won't it be impossible to remove the nitrates effectively? Looking at the graph, you can see where I did a 90% water change, which caused a big drop in Nitrate levels, only to shoot right back up again. Since, they've only gone down once and have otherwise been on a steady rise only dropping one other time when I did a 70% water change but this has been having a diminishing effect since the bacteria has grown to a level than can convert the nitrites very quickly.

I can stop feeding and doing water changes, which will cause the Ammonia & Nitrites to go down to zero, but Nitrates will still be high to the point where some sources say they are literally "too high." To get those out I'd need to do a water change, a pretty big one, only to introduce a ton of ammonia back into the system.

It's a nasty cycle! 

If I use Ammo-Lock to remove the ammonia from my tap water before putting it into the tank, would that work or cause other problems? It has to be converting it to something else after all. Maybe a lot of fast growing plants would be the way to go to help rid the nitrates.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Gizmo said:


> One thing I'd like to throw in here - are you sure you're testing nitrites properly? What testing kit are you using? Strips? Liquid titration (like the API kit)? With the API Master FW Test Kit, I know the nitrates can really be a pain sometimes, and I imagine some can say the same for nitrite.


I'm using the API Master Kit, which is definately a pain but is clearly beyond the 5.0 mark. I also have test strips that go to 10.0 and it's at least that on their scale.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

How can a nitrite test be difficult? I will say that the OP is reading some scale I'm not familiar with, unless there is an assumption of the value above 5 - since the API scale only goes to 5ppm. But...the test is one of the easiest to conduct.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Grasor said:


> jrman83 and Beaslbob you both have been a big help on this; thanks. I do have one more thought on this however.
> 
> If my tap water has a lot of ammonia in it, which is turned into a lot of nitrites, which is then turned into a lot of nitrates, won't it be impossible to remove the nitrates effectively? Looking at the graph, you can see where I did a 90% water change, which caused a big drop in Nitrate levels, only to shoot right back up again. Since, they've only gone down once and have otherwise been on a steady rise only dropping one other time when I did a 70% water change but this has been having a diminishing effect since the bacteria has grown to a level than can convert the nitrites very quickly.
> 
> ...


My suggestion would be to heavily plant the tank. Don't do large water changes and let you water sit for a day or two - aerating will help. If you want to do a large water change, just spilt it up into smaller ones throughout the week. Dont use ammo-lock.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> How can a nitrite test be difficult? I will say that the OP is reading some scale I'm not familiar with, unless there is an assumption of the value above 5 - since the API scale only goes to 5ppm. But...the test is one of the easiest to conduct.


I don't know about other test kits, but the API kit's range chart for Nitrite is kind of crummy. It's fine for if the tank has cycled, since light blue is all you'll ever see, but the higher the concentration of Nitrite the harder it is to pinpoint on the scale. There is no discernible difference between the 2.0 ppm and 5.0 ppm swatches. So if you have 2.0 ppm concentration, you will likely have to assume you have a 5.0+ concentration. 1.0 or below is easy to figure out though. That's why I use the Tetra test strips when my Nitrites are high, it has larger scale (0-10.0).

I'll go to the pet shop today and find some suitable plants, thanks for the help!


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Grasor said:


> I don't know about other test kits, but the API kit's range chart for Nitrite is kind of crummy. It's fine for if the tank has cycled, since light blue is all you'll ever see, but the higher the concentration of Nitrite the harder it is to pinpoint on the scale. There is no discernible difference between the 2.0 ppm and 5.0 ppm swatches. So if you have 2.0 ppm concentration, you will likely have to assume you have a 5.0+ concentration. 1.0 or below is easy to figure out though. That's why I use the Tetra test strips when my Nitrites are high, it has larger scale (0-10.0).
> 
> I'll go to the pet shop today and find some suitable plants, thanks for the help!


Try anacharis which I like for rapidily conditioning new tanks.

Test kit wise fortunately for nitrItes (and ammonia for that matter) the useful information is basically if you have some or not. I think you will find that once nitrItes start dropping in a few days at most they will be unmeasureable.

my .02


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## AllieLovesFishies (Nov 6, 2011)

If I were you I would do at least a 50% water change immitately, are your fish still even alive? Thats absoultely crazy, I've never heard of it being that high. Another tip (if the fish are still living) is to lay off on feeding the fish untill the level drops, also if you have stress relieving stuff, add it. I hope I may have helped


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

AllieLovesFishies said:


> If I were you I would do at least a 50% water change immitately, are your fish still even alive? Thats absoultely crazy, I've never heard of it being that high. Another tip (if the fish are still living) is to lay off on feeding the fish untill the level drops, also if you have stress relieving stuff, add it. I hope I may have helped


FWIW I have had nitrItes in marine tank peg the api test kit (5ppm max) for 6 weeks until I stopped adding food. Fish looked fine.

ditto for FW for up to 3 weeks.

my .02


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

AllieLovesFishies said:


> If I were you I would do at least a 50% water change immitately, are your fish still even alive? Thats absoultely crazy, I've never heard of it being that high. Another tip (if the fish are still living) is to lay off on feeding the fish untill the level drops, also if you have stress relieving stuff, add it. I hope I may have helped


No can do, I have to cease the water changes (see above!). Fishes look fine, the Mollies & Platys are apparently really resilient. Aquarium salt is helping too I believe.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

Grasor said:


> I retested my tap water today w/ the API Master Kit and it indicated 1.0-2.0 ppm Ammonia. I think this explains, at least in part, why Nitrites are so high all the time as there is plenty of Ammonia to go around and the Nitrite -> Nitrate bacteria haven't grown enough to control it.
> 
> Should I attempt to render the tap water free of Ammonia via Ammo-Lock or proceed as normal? I checked my county's municipal water quality report and they use Ammonia to form Chloramines which they use to keep the water clean for us humans so it sounds "normal" for it to be in muni tap water.


don't add the ammonia lock. the problem is that with most test kits you still test ammonia so you can get in a cycle of adding more and so on. And ammonia lock also lock up oxygen so when overdosed you can suffocate the fish.


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## Grasor (Dec 8, 2011)

Update: Looks like the tank has cycled. Ammonia and Nitrites both hit zero on 1/13/11 (28 days after start) and have remained that way through today, 1/25/12 (40 Days after start). 

The trick seemed to be stop the water changes totally and feed every other day. I also added 20ml of NutriCycle and a dose of BioZyme at every water change then a couple times after I stopped the water changes. I did not experience a bacterial bloom during this cycle.

Attached is a screen shot of my Water Quality Logbook w/ graph. Maybe it will help others.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Water changes have absolutely nothing to do with anything but saving your fish during a cycle if the levels get to those usually associated with dead fish.. If your fish can handle it, it is better not to do them. Higher levels dri ve things to occur at a quicker rate. Unless you're using fish you don't care about, usually it is best to do them. Fish exposed to long term high levels sometimes don't live very long either. Doing all this with lots of water changes just takes patience, but your fish will remain healthy longer usually.


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## beaslbob (May 29, 2009)

So basically your ammonia had already dropped down but nitrItes probably pegged your test kit at 10ppm. Then a week after stopping water changes, feeding less or not feeding, and a few days after adding biozme nitrItes dropped to 0.

That seems to agree with my experience. Which is why I now plant the tank wait a week, then add 1 fish and don't feed for a week. With that method I get low to no ammonia and nitrIte spikes with an initial nitrate spike. Then after 3-4 weeks nitrates drop down as well. FWIW it does take phosphates longer to drop down.

Nice graph.

and my .02


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I wasn't aware that you used biozyme. API test only go as high as 5ppm.

Performing water changes would have at most delayed the completion of the cycle, nothing more.


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## gar1948 (Jan 25, 2012)

I would suggest at least a 25% water change every few days and cut back on feeding. I use purigen in my filter. It does a good job of controlling ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.


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## King James (Jan 30, 2012)

Grasor said:


> All I did to help control bloom was change 5 gallons of water and add Biozyme on 12/6 then waited it out.
> 
> Like I said the water tested fine on 12/8. I waited out the bloom until water was very clear just feeding a little bit twice a day.
> 
> I tested the water again today and found the high nitrite. What caused this?


Major water change like someone else said at least 70% now and I change water almost daily while I am cycling, don't know if your tank is cycled or not yet, but if not change water often and test everyday if you are in the danger zone for sure. Good luck!


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