editkid Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 My nitirite levels are spiking to 2 ppm in my new cycling tank. There are fish in it, and I read that you can add a teaspoon of salt per 20 gallons of water to prevent the fish from taking in nitrites through their gills, and that it won't hurt them at all. Any suggestions or second opinions would be greatly appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 They are freshwater fish. Why do people keep wanting to add salt?? Keep up daily water changes until the spike drops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayci Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Do twice daily water chages with 2ppm. I stress out if my nitrites are 0.1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editkid Posted October 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 Cool Thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Small salt doseages DO help with nitrite poisoning. There are lots of articles about how adding salt to your water temporarily has big benefits for fish (at the right time, dont just do it willy nilly of course!). Adding salt to the water will help prevent the nitrite from entering the fishes body (which contains a lower salt concentration). But personally rather than adding things, what I do is partial warm water changes (30%) with water ager, until the Nitrite reading just hits almost 0 or just on 0 then leave it. You don't want to 100% completely remove ALL the nitrite because the bacteria need something to eat to encourage growth Nitrite can kill fish quite quickly though so good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editkid Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 It seems to have gone well. I added a bit of salt, then did a 50% water change two hours later. After that the nitrite was on 0.5ppm. Now it's almost at 0, dropped by itself. So I'm guessing - hoping - that my cycle might be finished? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 If it stays at 0, then yep Sounds like the hard part is over Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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