# No ammonia, but high nitrite and nitrate??



## Jnaakins (Dec 23, 2008)

:help:
Hi all, I'm brand new to the forum. I need some advice.
I have a "new" freshwater tank (about 4 weeks old) in which I have some fancy goldfish. I do regular 25% water changes about 1x per week and have absolutely no ammonia. However, I can't seem to get the nitrate/nitrite levels down to a safe level, even immediately after the water change. I am stumped because I'm not having this problem in the other aquarium in our house, which was also recently set up (about 6 weeks ago). Any suggestions?


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## Fishfirst (Jan 24, 2005)

add gravel from your other aquarium... this will at least take care of your nitrate which is toxic to fish at low levels.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

How many goldfish, how big is the tank, and what filter do you have on it?


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## Jnaakins (Dec 23, 2008)

I have 2 regular goldfish (that are pond fish in the spring/summer) about 3" and I just added 2 celestials and one black moor. I have a 10 gallon tank, and after doing some reading here on the boards I am appalled at undersized my tank is for them :chair:! But they will all be transferred back to the pond in the late spring so their aquarium is only a temporary housing situation. I am using a normal hang over the back filter, and I realize it's probably not enough filtration so I've been doing water changes like religion at least 1x week (twice this week) to keep the water clean.


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## smark (Dec 2, 2008)

Our gold fish gets real dirty fast. Nitrates are always high. Thats because all he does is eat and what he eats must come out allot. I do regular gravel vac to try and combat the waist he leaves. He is one five inch gold fish in a 10 gllon tank and he take allot of cleaning. Ive been thinking of sticking him into one of those clear plastic storage tubs to try and acomadate his size and growth. 
I hope it works out for you until next spring.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

If I were you, I'd pick up a BIG storage tub. Keep 'em in that, run a good quality canister filter, and you should be fine.

If you've only got the 10, all I can suggest is a bigger filter, and at LEAST twice weekly water changes.


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## Jnaakins (Dec 23, 2008)

Okay thank you for all the advice! I did another water change 30% and added some "seasoned" gravel from the other tank. I think I will definitely upgrade to a double filter and continue with the water changes. I did notice that the nitrates were in the safe zone today after the water change, but the nitrite was still in the stress zone. I just hope I can get it stabilized before any harm comes to my little buggers!!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Test your tapwater. Sometimes you have nitrite coming out of your faucet, which means all the water changes you make to get rid of it do no good.


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## OldMan (Dec 30, 2008)

Nitrite means that you do not have enough of the beneficial bacteria in your filter to handle the wastes from your fish. As long as you use a decent dechlorinator, you can do a 50% water change every day if needed to get the nitrites under control and you should. Nitrites above 0.25 ppm are high for the long term health of the fish and can kill the fish directly if allowed to get out of control. Nitrates are not as deadly but should be controlled to about 20 ppm above tap water values. With that many fish in a 10 gallon, the nitrates may become a challenge because nitrates are the end product of the bacteria and the input end is quite high compared to your water volume. Trashion's suggestion of a large storage tub makes good sense. It will give you a much larger volume until you can get those fish into your pond. If you move the filter and fish all at once, you should not need to do a new cycle on the storage tub.


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