# Nitrites an Nitrates



## Juddg (Feb 23, 2018)

Hey everyone just joined. So my 6 year decided after saving for the past year he wanted a Betta fish. So I did a ton of research and seen that what I have seen in the last is not okay for Berta’s. I wanted to stay at good budget but also wanted to provide a great home for our newest member of the family. 

So I bought a top fin 3.5 gallon circle tank with the beta flo filter in the middle
If the tank. I put a live plant I picked up from pestsmart(I don’t remember the name, some type of fern). I put in stone for the bottom an 2 fake plants, I cycled the water an for several days an added a conditioner and a bacteria starter. Got the ph right along with everything else. He has a water heater and thermometer to make sure the tank temp is perfect. 

Once everything was up to the standards I could find on the internet we went to petssmart an picked up Melvin. 

Everything was great for the first 2 weeks, water was crystal clear, tested fine. Then I did a water change on Sunday. Weds I noticed his water cloudy an had a slight film on top. So I tested it an the nitrites are reading in the danger zone and nitrates are a color that’s not even on the chart. 

So I cut back on feeding for the last 2 days but nothing has changed. I’m gonna replace his fake plants with live plants. But also want to know if there is something I can add to lower the nitrate level quickly. 

He seems fine but I know his conditions are not ideal an I want to give him the best I can. 

Looking back I would have went with a rectangle tank for more room for him to swim an room for a sponge filter.

If I can get away with a tank change am doing filter for under $70 I will do it immediately. If
Not it will have to wait for a bit. 

Any tips for getting his water sorted would be great! 

This is the first fish I have ever had so I’m a complete newb!


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Welcome to the Forum! :wave:

For the Nitrite and Nitrate do a series of 25% water changes over the next several hours until both read 0ppm.

Letting a tank set up and run for a few days in not cycling. Here's this forum's tutorial on how fish-in cycling is done:

http://www.bettafish.com/30-betta-fish-care/507585-cycling-two-sentence-tutorial.html

If you want rectangular tank I can highly recommend PetCo's 5.5. It is only sold in-store. Add to that an Aqueon 16" hinged glass canopy and you have, to me, the perfect size for Betta. I have four of these tanks. 

PS: If the canopy is not available in PetCo you can get it here. It's on back order. Do not get the Marineland/Perfecto canopies! They do not fit and will drive you nuts. I'm waiting on these to be restocked and getting four.

https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3730+3731+3790&pcatid=3790


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## Juddg (Feb 23, 2018)

I have a nikken water filter that I use to filter my water. Should I bee adding anything besides a conditioner, bacteria starter and ph balance to the water before I add it?


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## Rainbo (Nov 23, 2015)

Juddg said:


> I have a nikken water filter that I use to filter my water. Should I bee adding anything besides a conditioner, bacteria starter and ph balance to the water before I add it?


Why are you adding PH balance? Personally I do not mess with PH mainly due to the fact that betta can adjust to high or low PH but fast swings in PH can shock and kill them. I'd rather just let them adjust to the PH that my water has coming out of the tap rather then try to play with it till I got the PH in the ideal range. 

When doing the 25% water changes that RusselTheShihTzu suggested you should just be adding the water conditioner. If you want to use the bacteria starter I'd wait till you had the water changes done and the Nitrite and Nitrate back in the acceptable range then add the bacteria starter. I'm wondering if the starter isn't why your nitrate level is so high. What one are you using and are you following the instructions on the bottle exactly? 

When you do a fish in cycle we do recommend using Seachem Prime as your water conditioner. The reason for that is that it neutralizes Ammonia and Nitrite for 24 to 48 hours giving you time to get your water change done without your fish being harmed by toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite.


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## Juddg (Feb 23, 2018)

Rainbo said:


> Why are you adding PH balance? Personally I do not mess with PH mainly due to the fact that betta can adjust to high or low PH but fast swings in PH can shock and kill them. I'd rather just let them adjust to the PH that my water has coming out of the tap rather then try to play with it till I got the PH in the ideal range.
> 
> When doing the 25% water changes that RusselTheShihTzu suggested you should just be adding the water conditioner. If you want to use the bacteria starter I'd wait till you had the water changes done and the Nitrite and Nitrate back in the acceptable range then add the bacteria starter. I'm wondering if the starter isn't why your nitrate level is so high. What one are you using and are you following the instructions on the bottle exactly?
> 
> When you do a fish in cycle we do recommend using Seachem Prime as your water conditioner. The reason for that is that it neutralizes Ammonia and Nitrite for 24 to 48 hours giving you time to get your water change done without your fish being harmed by toxic levels of ammonia and nitrite.


I did this because when I had my water tested they told me it was at an 8 an that is higher than recommended. 

I’m gonna do the %25 water changes today while added the seachem prime.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

FWIW, our water ranges from 7.8-8.2 but mostly around 8.0. I've never had a problem with any of my fish adjusting. I agree with Rainbo: Messing with the pH can do more harm than good. :-(


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## Juddg (Feb 23, 2018)

So I did about a 30% water change, and I pulled a silk plant an added a real plant. I put 3 drops of seachem prime in the tank(not wanting over do it). Water clarity is a little better, no film on top, still testing a little High for nitrites an getting a color for nitrates that’s not even on my chart that came with the test strips. But that was immediately after the change. I’ll check again in 30 min.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

The reason you want to do several 25% or so water changes in one day is so as to not shock the fish from a sudden parameter shift. When my Nitrates rocketed out into space I did eight 25% water changes over a period of 24 hours. I thoroughly vacuumed the substrate. Nitrates usually rise when there's dead or dying plant matter and/or too much leftover food or other waste.

I forgot to add that the cloudy water is what is called "New Tank Syndrome" and perfectly normal. If the filter is on a pump turn it up so you have more surface agitation which will get rid of the oily stuff.


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## Juddg (Feb 23, 2018)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> The reason you want to do several 25% or so water changes in one day is so as to not shock the fish from a sudden parameter shift. When my Nitrates rocketed out into space I did eight 25% water changes over a period of 24 hours. I thoroughly vacuumed the substrate. Nitrates usually rise when there's dead or dying plant matter and/or too much leftover food or other waste.
> 
> I forgot to add that the cloudy water is what is called "New Tank Syndrome" and perfectly normal. If the filter is on a pump turn it up so you have more surface agitation which will get rid of the oily stuff.


The filter is unfortunately is on the pump that comes with it, so I can’t turn up the agitation. I can however leave the water level about an inch low an that will cause greater surface disruption. 

I don’t have any dead plant matter. But I was feeding 2 times a day. After reading I settled on as much as he could eat in a 2 minute period, that was way to much. So now I feed him once a day. Over the last 3 days I haven’t noticed as much waste.

I believe that with the water changes, the seachem and a little less food I will have him sorted out. 

So far he seems fine. Very active and colors look great. Just hoping that I have this figured out an he is happy!


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I forgot something else. :-( You can use a turkey baster between water changes to clean up without having to do a water change.


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