My Nitrite Spike Won't Go Down After 3 Weeks, Tried Everything

[ericaser]

I've been cycling my 55 gallon for 3 weeks now and nitrite is stuck at 2ppm no signs of dropping, i already added bottled bacteria twice and i'm doing 25% water changes every other day but nothing is working, i read somewhere that high nitrite can actually slow down the bacteria that's supposed to fix it which sounds crazy but now i'm wondering if my tap water is the problem since i never tested it separately, has anyone dealt with this and actually fixed it because i'm losing my mind and i have 6 fish in a bucket waiting to go in

 

[Gumbies R Us]

What are you testing with?
How did you cycle the tank?

 

[Jasonak]

Im guessing maybe a testing kit error. What are your other parameters ?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

What kind of test kit are you using?
Using tap water and having 6 fish in a bucket is raising red flags in my mind. Adding that many fish into a newly cycled tank might overload a new biofilter. Obviously no quarantine.

Ammonia and nitrate are the only parameters that matter, what are those levels?
Nitrite is not harmful in small amounts to saltwater fish.

 

[exnisstech]

I wouldn't add six fish to a newly cycled tank unless it was started with live rock. I also don't test nitrite or ammonia tho testing to verify ammonia is being processed is probably a good idea.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Stop testing Nitrite and Nitrate.
Ammonia is all that matters. If the system is processing ammonia, then it is cycled.

As somebody stated above the 6 fish in a bucket for a new tank raises other red flags.

How big is the tank and how was it started? Rock, sand?

 

[Fish Fan]

How are you mitigating ammonia in the bucket with the six fish? How long have the fish been in the bucket? Can you return them at least temporarily to a fish store? As mentioned, it's probably not a good idea to add six fish to a freshly cycled tank.

It is quite likely that your tap water is high in everything including ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and more; mine is. For most people, it's not a great idea to use tap water, it can fuel excessive algae growth. If you don't have an RODI filter to make your own purified freshwater, you can use gallons of distilled water, or many local fish stores sell RODI freshwater.

Nitrite is non-toxic in saltwater systems, so I really wouldn't be too worried about it. As long as ammonia is under ~0.25 ppm I think you're in good shape to add one or two fish

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I agree to just stop testing nitrite. It is not important and is a waste of time and effort.

If ammonia declines from 2 ppm to lower levels in a day or two, you are good to go.

 

[Science/G]

In the old days when this happened, we would add some macro algae to the aquarium. For whatever reason it seemed to work. Placebo effect? Or the macro sucked up the nitrite, I don't really know.