# High Nitrite



## Juggalo

My ammaonia was high all last week, now my Nitrites are high, and the ammonia is down. I guess my tank wasn't fully cycled, and is doing so now. I thought 5-6 weeks was enough for cycling before I got my Rhom, but I was wrong. Now that my Nitrites are high, should I just let it finish cycling, or still do every other day water changes? Add salt? The Nitrites are reading at 5.0 now


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## boontje

how did you cycle the tank? with fish or fishless?

add a teaspoon of salt, it will ease the effect of the nitrite poisoning

if your rhom is in the tank, I would do daily water changes (10%) to not let the level of toxic products get too high


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## Juggalo

boontje said:


> how did you cycle the tank? with fish or fishless?
> 
> add a teaspoon of salt, it will ease the effect of the nitrite poisoning
> 
> if your rhom is in the tank, I would do daily water changes (10%) to not let the level of toxic products get too high


I cycled with fish for around 5 weeks before I got my Rhom. Just 1 teaspoon for a 30 gallon tank?


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## timmy

Juggalo said:


> how did you cycle the tank? with fish or fishless?
> 
> add a teaspoon of salt, it will ease the effect of the nitrite poisoning
> 
> if your rhom is in the tank, I would do daily water changes (10%) to not let the level of toxic products get too high


I cycled with fish for around 5 weeks before I got my Rhom. Just 1 teaspoon for a 30 gallon tank?
[/quote]

Read the directions on the container ..


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## Juggalo

timmy said:


> how did you cycle the tank? with fish or fishless?
> 
> add a teaspoon of salt, it will ease the effect of the nitrite poisoning
> 
> if your rhom is in the tank, I would do daily water changes (10%) to not let the level of toxic products get too high


I cycled with fish for around 5 weeks before I got my Rhom. Just 1 teaspoon for a 30 gallon tank?
[/quote]

Read the directions on the container ..
[/quote]Well, being that I am relatively new to keeping Piranhas, I didn't know if you used less salt with them or what----I thought maybe they might be more sensative to it or something

Also how long do nitrite spikes generally last?

The aqarium salt container says to add 1 TABLESPOON for every 5 gallons of water--so according to that, I should add 6 tablespoons? Doesn't that sound like a lot?


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## boontje

Juggalo said:


> how did you cycle the tank? with fish or fishless?
> 
> add a teaspoon of salt, it will ease the effect of the nitrite poisoning
> 
> if your rhom is in the tank, I would do daily water changes (10%) to not let the level of toxic products get too high


I cycled with fish for around 5 weeks before I got my Rhom. Just 1 teaspoon for a 30 gallon tank?
[/quote]

Read the directions on the container ..
[/quote]Well, being that I am relatively new to keeping Piranhas, I didn't know if you used less salt with them or what----I thought maybe they might be more sensative to it or something

Also how long do nitrite spikes generally last?

The aqarium salt container says to add 1 TABLESPOON for every 5 gallons of water--so according to that, I should add 6 tablespoons? Doesn't that sound like a lot?
[/quote]
1 teaspoon of salt is enough for even a 300g tank, if you want to use it against nitrite poisoning
(the larger amount is when you have to treat against ich,etc.)

next time, mabye go for the fishless cycle, it cycles the tank quicker


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## Juggalo

How long do nitrite spikes usually last?


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## Dr. Giggles

Juggalo said:


> How long do nitrite spikes usually last?


5 ppm is awfully high for a 30G tank after a month plus. You must have had too much of an ammonia source. Do as mentioned. 1 tbsp of salt will treat up to 300 gallons for nitrite poisoning, however if you been doing alot of water changes you need to replenish the salt. Make sure all goldfish are removed and don't feed the rhom. you should be good to go within a week. You can also dilute the ammonia/nitrite concentration with a 20% water change every day for a week.


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## Juggalo

I checked the water today it (nitrite) is around 2.0 today, I did another 25-30% change tonight.


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## TyDomi

boontje said:


> how did you cycle the tank? with fish or fishless?
> 
> add a teaspoon of salt, it will ease the effect of the nitrite poisoning
> 
> if your rhom is in the tank, I would do daily water changes (10%) to not let the level of toxic products get too high


I cycled with fish for around 5 weeks before I got my Rhom. Just 1 teaspoon for a 30 gallon tank?
[/quote]

Read the directions on the container ..
[/quote]Well, being that I am relatively new to keeping Piranhas, I didn't know if you used less salt with them or what----I thought maybe they might be more sensative to it or something

Also how long do nitrite spikes generally last?

The aqarium salt container says to add 1 TABLESPOON for every 5 gallons of water--so according to that, I should add 6 tablespoons? Doesn't that sound like a lot?
[/quote]
1 teaspoon of salt is enough for even a 300g tank, if you want to use it against nitrite poisoning
(the larger amount is when you have to treat against ich,etc.)

next time, mabye go for the fishless cycle, it cycles the tank quicker
[/quote]

I've heard that salt isn't good for piranhas.....
We have been dealing with high nitrite for over a month now....just make sure they have enough oxygen in the water

on this forum we were told to continue doing 10% water changes every day until the problem went away.


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