Nitrite in established tank.....URGENT PLEASE HELP

[Kaman8]

My tank is 9 1/2 months old and my nitrite was always 0 after the cycle. I have always use tap water for my tank, but last week i change to distilled water and did a 30% wc. The next day i tested my water and saw that there is nitrite in my water , ammonia is 0. How could that happen? I put prime in the water immediately and tested the water today again and there is still nitrite in the water.The reading was 0.1-0.15 , the same as yesterday. Then i tested the distilled water and result was 0.
The prime didn't remove the nitrite, but the bottle said if there is nitrite emergency dose 5 times normal dose.
Fishes seem all normal and not gasping for air at all and all corals are fine.

Please help me

[scott3569]

just a newbie here, but maybe for some reason your test is bad, take it LFS and have them test see what they come up with

[Indymann99]

1. STOP dosing ANYTHING.

2. Read this article
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

How Toxic is Nitrite to Fish?

For the reason described above, nitrite is considerably more toxic to many freshwater fish (Table 1) than it is to most marine species (Table 2). The data in these tables are primarily the LC50, which is the concentration at which 50% of the test organisms die (24-h LC50 is the concentration that kills half of the tested organisms within 24 hours). As Table 1 shows, some freshwater fish can die at nitrite levels below 1 ppm. This toxicity is the reason many aquarists worry about nitrite in aquaria. It can be a significant problem in freshwater aquaria. Tests in marine species, however, showed the toxicity to be much lower. None of the thirteen marine fish species for which I could find nitrite toxicity data had LC50 values below 100 ppm, and half had LC50 values of 1,000 - 3,000 ppm or more.

3. Retest with different test kit or different re-agent

my 0.02

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by Indymann99

1. STOP dosing ANYTHING.

2. Read this article
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

How Toxic is Nitrite to Fish?

For the reason described above, nitrite is considerably more toxic to many freshwater fish (Table 1) than it is to most marine species (Table 2). The data in these tables are primarily the LC50, which is the concentration at which 50% of the test organisms die (24-h LC50 is the concentration that kills half of the tested organisms within 24 hours). As Table 1 shows, some freshwater fish can die at nitrite levels below 1 ppm. This toxicity is the reason many aquarists worry about nitrite in aquaria. It can be a significant problem in freshwater aquaria. Tests in marine species, however, showed the toxicity to be much lower. None of the thirteen marine fish species for which I could find nitrite toxicity data had LC50 values below 100 ppm, and half had LC50 values of 1,000 - 3,000 ppm or more.

3. Retest with different test kit or different re-agent

my 0.02

I will buy another test kit tomorrow and see how it goes.

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by scott3569

just a newbie here, but maybe for some reason your test is bad, take it LFS and have them test see what they come up with

my test kit is 5 months old........I hope nothing will happen to my tank

[Kaman8]

Do you think i need to change out all the media filter??? Like carbon , bio pellets.

[ajcanale]

Originally Posted by Kaman8

Do you think i need to change out all the media filter??? Like carbon , bio pellets.

No, quit thinking of new things you can do. Go with what's already been said. Get a new test kit, and wait it out. 9.5 months is still a very young tank. Might just be a mini-cycle or biproduct of something that died (like a snail or worm). The nitrite will be converted soon enough.

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by ajcanale

No, quit thinking of new things you can do. Go with what's already been said. Get a new test kit, and wait it out. 9.5 months is still a very young tank. Might just be a mini-cycle or biproduct of something that died (like a snail or worm). The nitrite will be converted soon enough.

So the nitrite will be gone soon? Will it affect my fishes and corals?

[GroktheCube]

Nitrite isn't that toxic in low doses compared to ammonia, and virtually harmless to corals. I'd pick up a new test kit before anything else.

Why did you test nitrite? Was something looking unhappy?

[Peter Eichler]

Originally Posted by Indymann99

1. STOP dosing ANYTHING.

2. Read this article
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

How Toxic is Nitrite to Fish?

For the reason described above, nitrite is considerably more toxic to many freshwater fish (Table 1) than it is to most marine species (Table 2). The data in these tables are primarily the LC50, which is the concentration at which 50% of the test organisms die (24-h LC50 is the concentration that kills half of the tested organisms within 24 hours). As Table 1 shows, some freshwater fish can die at nitrite levels below 1 ppm. This toxicity is the reason many aquarists worry about nitrite in aquaria. It can be a significant problem in freshwater aquaria. Tests in marine species, however, showed the toxicity to be much lower. None of the thirteen marine fish species for which I could find nitrite toxicity data had LC50 values below 100 ppm, and half had LC50 values of 1,000 - 3,000 ppm or more.

3. Retest with different test kit or different re-agent

my 0.02

#3 doesn't really follow #2... Why both testing at all. That's my advice, don't bother wasting money on a nitrite kit and don't waste the time testing.

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by GroktheCube

Nitrite isn't that toxic in low doses compared to ammonia, and virtually harmless to corals. I'd pick up a new test kit before anything else.

Why did you test nitrite? Was something looking unhappy?

Nothing wrong , but i always test everything once a month. This is the first i see nitrite in my water after the cycle. That's why i am so scared. I thought it is toxic like ammonia.

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by Peter Eichler

#3 doesn't really follow #2... Why both testing at all. That's my advice, don't bother wasting money on a nitrite kit and don't waste the time testing.

So you mean i don't need to test nitrite and buy nitrite test kit at all?? Do you only test ammonia and nitrite when there is coral or fish dying? How come the nitrite won't go away after i put seachem prime in my tank? Does the prime don't work????

[Peter Eichler]

Originally Posted by Kaman8

So you mean i don't need to test nitrite and buy nitrite test kit at all?? Do you only test ammonia and nitrite when there is coral or fish dying? How come the nitrite won't go away after i put seachem prime in my tank? Does the prime don't work????

No, you don't need to test nitrite as it's only toxic at very high levels. The only reason to test is when a tank is cycling, and even then I don't think it's worth owning a test. Ammonia might be worth testing when something is clearly wrong, but that's about the only time.

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by Peter Eichler

No, you don't need to test nitrite as it's only toxic at very high levels. The only reason to test is when a tank is cycling, and even then I don't think it's worth owning a test. Ammonia might be worth testing when something is clearly wrong, but that's about the only time.

But how come the prime isn't working? And why is there suddenly nitrite in the water?

[ganjero]

Originally Posted by Kaman8

But how come the prime isn't working? And why is there suddenly nitrite in the water?

IIRC Prime doesn't remove the nitrite it just makes it non-toxic, it will show on your test kit until removed by other means (including nitrogen cycle) but as stated above it should not be too harmful a low levels anyway.

This could also be a sign that you test kit is bad.

[Musicmacd]

The Prime wraps the Nitrite and it still shows up on a test kit. Just wait it out.

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by ganjero

IIRC Prime doesn't remove the nitrite it just makes it non-toxic, it will show on your test kit until removed by other means (including nitrogen cycle) but as stated above it should not be too harmful a low levels anyway.

This could also be a sign that you test kit is bad.

Does mean that I have mini cycle? I haven't done anything in the tank and didn't add anything. Just did a wc. I will throw the test kit away. Never trust API test kits. Luckily other test kit that have are all from salifert. I only had nitrite and ammonia test kit from API.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

0.1 ppm nitrite isn't worth the time you are spending on this thread.

Even if it is real, and even if it is a mini cycle, who cares? There's nothing that you should do about it. Don't overreact to tiny blips that may be testing error, or may be real, but are of no significance to the tank creatures. Adding prime is probably worse than the nitrite

[Kaman8]

Originally Posted by Randy Holmes-Farley

0.1 ppm nitrite isn't worth the time you are spending on this thread.

Even if it is real, and even if it is a mini cycle, who cares? There's nothing that you should do about it. Don't overreact to tiny blips that may be testing error, or may be real, but are of no significance to the tank creatures. Adding prime is probably worse than the nitrite

I thought the nitrite is bad for fishes and corals and that's why I was so scared. But since you all peoples said that I have nothing to worry about I will stop worry. Thanks again for all the advice.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Many people carry that over from their freshwater experiences. Luckily, it is one thing we do not have to worry about.

Happy Reefing!

[scott3569]

I am afraid I may have added to the confusion, I think I will stop answer questions, I am still to new. Sorry