Nitrites at .25ppm in almost 2 year old tank.

dougedoug

dougedoug

Member
Just did a 20% water change today and swapped out the filter pad.. Last change was two weeks ago. Checked my nitrites about 6 hours after the change and noticed they were at .25ppm. They are always at 0 for me. I did some light cleaning up during the water change. Is it possible that I stirred up some decomposing waste/food cleaning? The tank has been active for almost 2 years. Been feeding a little more than usual cause this past 8 days, I am trying to get a dragon eel to eat. usually I feed my fish prawn and silversides, mysis, but to get this eel eating my fish have been actually eating better scallops, clams, baby octopus.
Any ideas? I usually feed every other day with nori everyday for the tangs. I think the additional feeding is causing this, but I wanted to get some input from others. Should I do a 25% Water Change everyday and keep doing them until numbers go down or should I just wait a day and check again? What is my plan of action besides stopping to try feeding this dragon? I am going to go back to regular feedings cause and this dragon is going back to the store.
200 Gallon FO tank
Hippo 5"
Pilot about 7 inches
Snow flake about 18"
dragon eel approx 24"
sailfin angel 5"
tassle filefish 4"
lion 5"
purple tang 4"
 
dougedoug

dougedoug

Member
Ammonia is at .5ppm. WT*. I used amquel . Paraguard, cupramine. mixed it 24 hours before, salinity was good. Now I got high ammonia and my nitrates are not 0. Do I got a mini cycle going on or something?
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
If the nitrates are .25ppm you are fine. But you may mean 25 ppm which is still pretty good for a FOWLR system... BUT if you are now getting an ammonia reading, than something might be amiss. Smart move adding the Amquel to the tank. The Amquel is not doing this to the tank, its keeping the ammonia from doing damage to the fish.
You are probably going though a mini cycle. If you doubled the feeding load on the tank trying to get the new eel to eat your bio filter was probably not strong enough to handle it.
I would cut back on feeding for a bit and give your biological filter a chance to catch up. Keep testing for ammonia and dose the Amquel as needed and directed.
Water changes will never hurt!!! I would get some water mixing and get ready to keep some on hand (have it ready to do a WC at a moments notice, at least until you don't get any ammonia reading).
HTH's!! Good luck. BTW the dragon eel is a great looking fish.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by dougedoug http:///t/395925/nitrites-at-25ppm-in-almost-2-year-old-tank#post_3526222
Ammonia is at .5ppm. WT*. I used amquel . Paraguard, cupramine. mixed it 24 hours before, salinity was good. Now I got high ammonia and my nitrates are not 0. Do I got a mini cycle going on or something?
Quote:
From the Seachem Website
Cupramine contains an organic amine which is very similar to ammonia in structure and the test kit is likely not able to distinguish between the two.
 
dougedoug

dougedoug

Member
All makes sense now. Checked today and all my levels look back to normal. Thanks so much for everyone's advice. Thanks for the compliment on the dragon, unfortunately he will not eat frozen. Literally tried everything. He did eat bird wrasse which means he has to go. Thinking of trading for a smaller one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top