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My nitrate and nitrite readings are really high, they are not even on the comparison chart the my LFS had. What can I do? I did a water change, added new cycle, salt, and nothing changed. Also my PH is acidia, I added proper 7.0 but nothing changed. I have a 46 gallon tank, and I have not lost any fish yet. Please help

first of all stop using the proper pH stuff, most fish will appreciate water that is slightly acidic. It is also much better for your fish to live in stable pH conditions than to have it moving about around 7.0 all the time. Fish stores tend to perpetuate the myth that all fish need a pH of 7.0 so they can get you to buy stuff you don't need.

Now, before I can be of much help I'll need you to answer a few questions:

How long has the tank been set up?

Has the tank been fully cycled?

What fish do you have? List them please.

What is the pH of the water out of the tap compared to the pH in the tank?

Do you have your own test kits or are you having your water tested at the store?

If you have numbers from those test readings, post them please.

Try not to panic too much, nitrIte and nitrAte is not nearly as toxic to fish in the short term as ammonia. In fact, nitrIte is only considered toxic at more than about 15 ppm....Nitrate is toxic at over 40 ppm.

If you really feel that your water is reaching dangerous levels, try a larger water change. if you have your own test kits, do a few water changes of about 15% followed by tests until you're happy with the result. Don't go overboard though, overcleaning could actually make the problem worse. Aim for a nitrite reading of about 5-8 ppm to be safe, and under 20 ppm nitrate.

If you don't have test kits at home, try a larger water change of about 25%, then take your water into the store for a sample.

Check to make sure that your fish aren't being overfed. Although I would not suggest a gravel vac while your tank is mini/cycling, you may want to siphon any surface detritus or mulm (fish poo and rotting food) from the gravel. The reduction in waste will lower the ammount of ammonia in the aquarium, and in turn lower nitrite and nitrate.

If you haven't already read the site's FAQ on the nitrogen cycle, please read it here:

[link=http://www.fishprofiles.net/faq/begin-cycling.asp]http://www.fishprofiles.net/faq/begin-cycling.asp" style="COLOR: #FFF9DD[/link]

That should help to get you started, once we have some more info we'll be able to give more help. Try not to panic too much, I know it is hard not to when you're worried about your fish.

1. My tank has been set up for about 3 weeks, but I used some of the water from my old tank.
2. I do not think the tank has fully cycled.
3. Right now I have a few tetras, 2 dwarf gourami, 2 red tail sharks and 1 algae eater.
4. I'm not sure will have to check on the PH of my tap water.
5. I have a test kit at home that uses the test sticks with the colored pads.
6. I do not have the numbers becasue the readings were so high that they were not on the comparsion chart.

I was thinking about doing a water change to see if that would help. How often should I do a gravel vac?

Water from the old tank don't really help as the bacteria are not free-swimming. taking some gravel from your old tank, or even better, taking one sponge from the filter of your old tank and putting it in the new filter will help.

Doing water change will surely help, as it will dillute the levels of ammonia and nitrites in the water. However, a too big water change will just stress the fish. Daily water changes of 10% - 20%, in my opinion, will help.

There are also some products on the market that detoxify the ammonia and the nitrites and make them safer for the fish. Two that I know of are AmQuel Plus and Prime. Both reduce the oxygen levels in the tank, so you must make sure that you have an air stone running. I use AmQuel+ and I think it's very useful in such cases and well worth the money.

Another thing that would help is not feeding the fish for about three days. That limits the amount of ammonia produced by the fish (and therefore the amount of nitrites). If you feel that you must feed them, do it *very* sparingly.

I agree with Sheilah about the pH proper thing. Unless you pH is way low, it's better to keep it as it. When checking the pH of your tap water, it's best to let the water stand in a bucket overnight, as the pH is not stable when it comes out of the tap, and becomes so only after several horus. What is your tank pH at the moment?

At the moment don't do any gravel vacuuming at all as the nitrifying bacteria are colonising the gravel and vacuuming will disturb them and therefore make the cycling of the tank take longer. If your gravel is really dirty, move the vacuum just above the gravel so that it sucks the mulm off the gravel without disturbing it. Then, when your tank is cycled, gravel vacuuming should become part of your maintenace schedule (I do it on a weekly basis, some do it every other week).

Doing all that will help your fish through that difficult time, and hopefully you will not lose any of them.

All the best to you and your fish!

I have noticed that my fish are swimming every slow, is this because of lack of oxygen in the water?

Fish who are suffering from lack of oxygen would mostly be breathing rapidly, and gasping at the surface. Nitrite poisioning limits the oxygen intake in the blood and fish behave in the same way as if there was a lack of oxygen. Do they look as if they're swimming fast but staying at the same place (shimmy) or just swimming slow? Shimmy is a sure sign of a stressed fish (probably ammonia and nitrites). You might also have high levels of ammonia (if I remember correctly, those test strips don't actually test for ammonia...), and together with high levels of nitrites, your fish are really suffering. Although, as Sheilah mentioned, nitrites are considered lethal at above 15ppm, even lower of nitrites are very stressed, which might lead to more serious problems (ich, fin rot, etc). Your main issue now is to go through the cycle to the end, while making it as less stressful for your fish as possible.

Thanks for the information, I did a water change tonight about 20% and I will do another tomorrow, hopefully this will correct my problem. What do you think about aquarium salt?

I think that aquarium salt can be very useful at times, but I don't think it is necessary to use it all of the time. I don't think you have any fish there that would benefit from salt on a permanent basis.

Salt might help you with your high nitrite, as it helps the fish with the oxygen intake, but it would mostly be helpful with low levels of nitrite, and yours seem to be very high. I think that salt can be very helpful to fight off diseases, either as bath treatment or as dip treatment, but I don't think it can prevent diseases. I'm sure there are lots of people out there who will disagree with me on salt. Some would swear on it, and some would say that it's completely useless. My opinion is according to my experience with it.

The only way to prevent diseases, in my opinion, is by making sure your water conditions are perfect, that is 0ppm ammonia and nitrites, low (<20ppm) levels of nitrates, and routine maintenance. It doesn't guarantee 100% disease free tank, but even 90% guarantee is very good.

Right now, if I were you, I would invest in AmQuel+ or Seachem's Prime, as it would help your fish through the cycle. When the cycle is over, both can be used as water ocnditioners (and in future emergencies), so it's money well spent.

Any changes in your tests? Can you see the nitrites coming down?