2 seperate questions. Nitrite levels and small fish

sakura.seppun

First question, I just bought a full test kit, rather than just ph and ammonia tests. All of my levels are good. BUT my NitrIte levels are at the very top of the charts, 160 ppm as opposed to the desired 40 ppm. Now, I've heard that water changes can't really fix that as much as I would like. Do you find it a good investiment to get some of the Nitri-zorb stuff to take it out? Or are water changes the only way.

Second question, I just moved my newt to a 10 gallon tank. It's filled up to about 8 gallons of water, filtrated, gravel, and sitting at about 70 degrees. Are there any fish that could go in there? I was think a couple cories or a few bumblebee gobies.

Thanks for any advice.

Fish Addict · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:44 pm Post subject:

i would stick with water changes
and maybe a cory or two

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

You sure you mean your nitrIte reading is 160 and not your nitrAte? I don't even think nitrIte tests go up that high (I think mine only goes up to 5) and if your nitrIte rally was at 160, your fish would probably all be dead long ago.

If it is really the nitrAte reading, then there's a couple of possible reasons. A) Your tank is too small/overstocked. How big is the tank and what's in it?
B) You're not doing enough water changes (water changes are the only practical way to remove nitrAtes). How often and how large are your water changes?
C) Not likely to be a major contributing factor, but if you have an undergravel filter, it could have a bunch of waste trapped under it which will cause an increase in nitrAtes (although probably not that high all by itself).

-Chelle

sakura.seppun · Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:56 am Post subject:

Mmmph, Yes. Nitrates. Sorry.
Its a 40 gallon breeder with 5 sunset platies, 1 dwarf gourami, 1 cory (I recently lost his brother, I'm getting 2 more soon), and a betta. Yes, I know the betta and the gourami don't belong together, I had to move the betta in out of neciessity, my daughter broke the 10 gallon he was in, and I haven't taken him out as I have seen no signs of aggresion from either. I've actually seen them schooling... O.o
I change about 15% a week. I remember the chemicals every time. I've heard that sometimes tap water has higher levels in certain areas...perhaps that is the trouble?
And I don't have an undergravel filter, if that was the one thing the petstore employee actually knew to steer me away from, that was it. XD

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

You might want to test the nitrAtes directly out of the tap. Your stocking looks fine and although your water change amount is a little small, considering the stocking level, it shouldn't be causing nitrAtes that are off the chart. So right now, my best guess is you have some nitrAtes in your tap water.

-Chelle

sakura.seppun · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 5:42 pm Post subject:

I tested my tap, it has 5 ppm of Nitrates.
I;m scared to drink my water now. O.O

tyler_medeiros · Member Joined: 06 Feb 2005 Posts: 329 Location: Canada

almost all tap water has some nitrates in it. Where I live in Canada the highest the nitrates can be before they become harmfully to humans is 15 ppm so 5 ppm is normal.