Quarantine 8 gallon - nitrites worrying me

[reefnoob9]

Hey yall!

I'm on day 3 of my 30 day "copper" phase of the 2026 Current Quarantine Protocol. I measured copper to be 2.54 ppm as per Hanna checker.

Nitrates are around 5 ppm and nitrites around 2 ppm (as per API salt test kit). Ammonia shows SAFE as per Seachem Alert badge.

I added Copper Power over a 3 day period, and prior to that, had cycled the tank (added live Fritz Turbo Start and waited around 5 days, as well as SeaChem Stability the week before) such that our Alert badge went from ALERT to SAFE.

1. Is my fish gonna be okay? I read that nitrites bind to hemoglobin and make the fish darker and lethargic etc. So far I don't notice any lack of eating or lethargy..
2. If im not seeing a nitrate spike, can I just leave tank as is without water changes for these 30-days? Cause I dont have a good way to measure copper to dose, im trying not to risk the fluctuations of copper if i do water changes.

 

[Subsea]

With respect to line item #1, I find that doubtful. Please list peer reviewed article that says that.

With respect to line item #2, how is nitrification bacteria going to be established in a copper solution?

 

[reefnoob9]

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41224131/

2. Thats my question too, im following the Quarantine protocol listed on this site, with a newly cycled tank, hence my worry about how the cycle would work with copper at 2.5 ppm.

 

[overhead]

I asked most of my quarantine related questions in the "Fish Disease and Diagnosis" forum. I am new to this and had a bit of a problem at day 30 doing a large water change, so take what I say with a grain of salt. That being said, I used very porous foam filter material in a HOB filter that had been in my DT for more than a month and "seeded" a foam filter with bottled bacteria. I did not measure nitrates or nitrites the entire time as I did not think it important. I watched the ammonia badge (which some will say is inaccurate) and tested copper levels and ammonia levels with a Hanna checker. It is also my understand that copper can disrupt and slow nitrifying bacteria but will not kill it all off.

No idea how I would have done the quarantine without some way to check the copper levels, the dosage recommended on the bottle of copper power were not accurate, at least not in my limited experience.

​

 

[Michael Hughes]

Nitrite can be quite toxic in freshwater, but in saltwater, nitrite uptake is strongly inhibited by the increased concentration of chloride ions, meaning fish gills take in very small quantities of nitrite. In most cases nitrite isn't anything to worry about in saltwater. Keep an eye on your ammonia levels with the alert badge and you'll be fine. (They're inexpensive enough that I like to use 2 in my QT tank for redundancy and extra peace of mind).

You will likely need to do water changes during QT, especially if you're dosing prazi on days 7, 14, and 23 (Jay recommends doing a 25% water change before each prazi dose). You can use this tool to help calculate how much copper power to add to your water change refill water. Just double check with your Hanna Checker afterwards. Be sure to write down how many mL you dosed to how many gallons of water so you can be sure to use the same amount (or make adjustments) each time.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

It seems to me like the tank is still cycling. Do you know the ammonia level?
How many fish are in the tank?

 

[reefnoob9]

It seems to me like the tank is still cycling. Do you know the ammonia level?
How many fish are in the tank?

1 clown. 8 gallon. Alert shows safe, API kit shows around 0.25 ppm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The nitrite in a marine tank is no concern. I’d stop bothering to test it.

 

[Subsea]

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41224131/

2. Thats my question too, im following the Quarantine protocol listed on this site, with a newly cycled tank, hence my worry about how the cycle would work with copper at 2.5 ppm.

“Intensive and recirculating systems in aquaculture”

@reefnoob9
First sentence of abstract says aquaculture, which means fresh water. If marine fish, it should have said mariculture.

 

[W31Olds]

With an 8 gallon Tank you need to monitor Ammonia. That is your enemy.