I need some help. I have a 60 gallon freshwater tank. It's been stable for about 4 months and now the Nitrites are extreemly high. I've been doing water changes and such the only thing I can think of that has changed is our 3 snails died. we removed them and treated the tank with salt just to make sure the other fish wouldn't get sick. Could the tank need snails to help with the nitrite?

here is a little more info we have 3 different catfish, 4 frogs, 5 ghost shrimp, 8 neons, 4 red barbs, 3 white clouds, 2 darf platties,1 blue plattie, 4 baby blue platties, 3 other platties, 4 female guppies, 3 male guppies, 4 zebra danios and 2 small tetras sorry I can't remember the name. We also have 5 live plants.

my other question is could we just have too many fish? I mean they don't seem to be crambed at all. But I've heard that nitrite and nitrate can be cause by having too many fish in a tank. Anyways if someone could help it would be nice.

we just did a 50/50 water change the water has been treated with salt and the clhorine out stuff. The fish seem to be happy but the nitrite levels are still high. I've dropped them back to one feeding a day..not sure how well that will go since we've been feeding them twice a day other wise we end up with dead fish because the others were hungrey. :hmm:

Are you adding salt to treat for some illness?

If you cut back on your feeding you may loose your fry if they are very young.

There is an excelent article on the nitrate cycle "Aquarium chemistry 101 " and some good links "Useful Info About The Nitrogen Cycle " right here in this forum that you may want to check out, they should help.

Good Luck!

How many fish did you add at one time? And has it been recently. If so you could have thrown the tank into a mini cycle by adding more than what the filter can handle at once.

Did you cycle this tank before adding fish?

What type of catfish do you have. I also see you have a few livebearers in there also. You don't seem to be overstocked with the exception of what type of catfish. As some are major waste producers.

I would add some more plants to the tank as they help keep your nitrites down. How often are you doing water changes.? Have you tested your tap water for nitrites? With the bioload that you do have with all but the catfish you should be doing at least 30% weekly.

The salt will help your fish survive the nitrites but some fish can't handle salt and some and most catfish fits that catagory. Do some more water changes with out the salt and try that, also you can get some amquel + to help with the nitrite problem.

How much salt are you adding and how are the nitrites looking now?

To be honest I'm not sure what kid of catfish we have my father bought them. I can tell you one is like your basic catfish, I call one a Shark he looks like one and the other one is silver or white with black spots and long attenas. Hope that helps LOL! I have not checked my system today I just woke up to an early 4:30 thanks to my 2 and 1 year olds! I will check everything later and get back to you on the results. The plattie Fry are pretty big i'm not really sure when they were born i thought they were guppy fry at first. They are about the size of a neon thats why we put them back into the tank but that was about 2 months ago. However we did just add 2 female guppies and two female platties 2 weeks ago. Anyways I'll post something later thanks for all the help!

Alright I tested the water again. I tested the tap water and it had 0ppm of Nitrite. However the Tank is still setting at .50 - 1.0 ppm. I went ahead and tested the Ph's and Ammonia. the Ammonia was clearly 0ppm. High Range pH was 7.4-7.8 and pH was 7.6........I'm really not sure where these levels should be. When I added the Salt I followed the box directions which was 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons so about 12 teaspoons. Should I be adding more or less? How often should I be doing water changes? I have been doing 25-30% changes once a month but last month I did one every other friday. I would love to add more plants I wish I could remember the names of the ones we have. are there one type that would work well for lowering Nitrites or will any work and how many would you reccomend having for a 60 gallon tank. I really need to thank all of you. I was stressing trying to find info and you responses have helped so much. I'm glad I found this place.

That amount of salt is fine until you get a nitrite reading, then slowly remove it via water changes. I would ask if you washed you filter media recently?

I just cleaned the filters yesterday they didn't seem to be too nasty.

With the tank size and you are having nitrite problems, I would change 30% once a week. I would say part of the cause is the catfish as it don't sound like cories but the bigger variety, like syno's , Plants, just about any fast growing plants will help. If you want it to be heavily planted do about 75%. Plants like hygrophilia, hornwort, elodea and waterprite are good at removing nitrites and nitrates from the tank. They are also easy to trim and just put the cuttings back into the substrate and in no time you will have lots of plants.

Most plants are good for nitrates but not nitrites. There are a few that will consume ammonia as well but most will only consume nitrate.

I asked about the filter media because I wonder if you rinsed it in old tank water or under the sink, the first method is the way to go.

The catfish that's silver with black spots and long wiskers sounds like a Pictus Cat and if I'm right it should top out at about 6 inches.

I did clean it under tap water not fish water. I never knew that bit of info. I'll be checking the levels again tomorrow and probably another water change.

I went ahead a tested the Nitrite Levels tonight and to my shock they are 0ppm's That seemd fast. I'm still not sure what kicked them up there but at least they are back down. Would it hurt to do another water change or can I go back to doing them every 2 weeks? I also looked up our plants we have they are Green Myrio, Cabomba, Hornwort, Red Ludwigia and Money Wort. The only one looking poorly is the Green Myrio and I'm not sure how to fix it. the others look great. Infact the Money worth is floating on the top and has roots so i'm assuming I can cut them and start another bunch. Anyways Thanks again for all the help again!

You experienced a mini cycle do to cleaning the media in tap water. In the future drain some tank into a bucket and use that to clean it. I am happy to hear it was only a mini cycle.

:woo: I'm glade it's over! :thanks:

Hmmm....Tulsa water has chloramine, high phosphorus, pH around 7.8, is extremely hard. Also, after big rains over the poultry farms in Arkansas, there are often high nitrates right out of the tap...

I'd strongly recommend switching to "Prime" for your water conditioner, I'm not sure your "Chlor-out" is treating for the Chloramine....

Also, you probably want to step up the frequency of your water changes...

...I also wanted to make sure that we are not confusing nitrites with nitrates

The pH levels you want are going to depend on what kinds of fish you have. Generally, with your average community fish you can shoot for a pH of 7 and be fairly safe.

****Edit*****OOps! I didn't see that you had already solved the problem**********

Seedy The Adivce wont go to waste I promise! At least I know some more info on the Ph levels and more about Tulsa Water. Thank You!