Just add prime straight to the tank. It will neutralize the nitrite... Then you can figure out what the nitrite came from.. If it's cycling, the cycle will continue without hurting your fish.
Quick Nitrite Fix?
- Thread starter Aesop
- Start date
Water changes do not disturb the cycling process, as a majority of the bacteria that keeps a tank established does not live in the water column, it lives on surfaces. Especially in the case of such high nitrates--they must be removed, above all else!
this is a long shot but mabie worth a mention. a couple of months ago i added a big chunk of mangrove root that i bought at a pet store to my tank. i soaked the wood before adding it. after the wood had been in the tank for a couple of days i noticed one of my cichlids was paying extra special attention to one percise crack in the wood. after close inspection i found a very large dead cricket in the crack in the wood, undoubtedly from the pet store. i never did see an increase in the nitrite levels, but it was only in the tank for a couple of days and i remved the cricket as soon as i found it. the point being is that there might be something desd in your tank that you never meant to add.
johnptc;1347017; said:water changes remove their food source
Remove too much of the BB food source and the BB die off....so YES as john said...massive water changes are counter-productive in these cases and can lead to a cascade failure. Don't forget that when BB die they act just like a rotting fish corpse.
Eliminate the possibility of a bad test kit before doing anything else. If you don't want to buy a new kit then take the water to a couple of differant LFS's or chains and ask them to test the nitrites for you. Most will.
Next step is to test the TAP water going into the tank...this is all too often overlooked. If you have a high reading at the tap...water changes will only make the problem worse rather than better.
Personally I fill all three baskets in my FX5's with bio-media...usually ceramic rings..This is the best combination for them. The stock foam is more than enough mechanical filtration for a 200 gallon tank.
I'd also recomend adding a pair of E400's with supercartrages to the back of the tank. The Wet/dry action of the bio-wheels is very effective and responds MUCH faster to changes than the bio-mass in a cannister filter.
