Hi, please help!! My oldest fish of 6 years has already died, and my others are going too!!

My tank is around 6 weeks old, im not sure of the capacity without working it out but it measures 99cm x 40cm x 40cm.

Before transfering my 7inch goldfish from his old dirty tank I left the water a week and tested the water as instructed by the pet shop. Everything was fine so I transfered him, and bought some more fish after a few days.

Everything was fine until his top fin flopped a bit, I didnt realise there was a problem till he got worse and layed at the bottom of the tank. Upon testing my water then the nitrate and nitrite levels have gone off the scale!!

I have tried everything to bring the levels back down but nothing is working. I have done two water changes, the first 10% with tap water conditioner. The second 40-50% with tap water conditioner, aquarium salt, and cycle (to increase good bacteria).

I have added king british clear/safe water, which says it will reduce nitrites and amonia. I have added a lot of cycle. I have removed a rock and wood that I thought may not be helping, and stopped feeding nearly a week ago. Still no change.

I have a juwell compact filter running, which I think I made a mistake by changing the nitrite filter on.

The oldest fish has now died after showing symptoms of red spots, fin tear, lying at the bottom. The other three, some are showing red veins, patches of red on fins, pinkish colour on my white comet. And all seem to be around the top of the tank!!

I think it may some sort of blood poisoning, but I cant get the nitrite and nitrate levels to drop, please help!!

(ps, I have 4-5 bunches of oxygenating plants in my tank too)

Can you post the actual water readings, including pH?

I think your tank is a 36 gallon, how many fish do you have in the tank?

Please give more info on the "nitrITe filter" you changed on your jewel compact. It sounds like you may have removed a great deal of beneficial bacteria when this happened and now you tank is cycling again.

The only way to reduce the nitrIte is to do water changes, everyday if necessary until the tank cycles and your ammonia/NitrIte readings are zero. I'm not familiar with King British Clear water conditioner, if it is reducing the nitrItes that may not register on the tests. The nitrIte may still be there and registering on the tests but in a non-toxic form.

Also if your fish still have an appetite don't stop feeding them altogether, just reduce the amount of feed.

HOLD ON!!!! This nitriIte filter, is it designed to absorb nitrItes? Is so them adding salt to the tank can release all the stored nitrITes into the water. I'm not sure about this, I ask someone to check it out.

Hi and

Just to add to Annette - the fish you brought in may also be attributing to the problem. Did you quarantine them at all? There could now be the addition of a parasite or bacterial infection.

The redness - is it all over? Or is it more of a spotting?

How does their poop look?

Is there any flashing or scratching?

Can you check the gills? Are they a nice meaty red colour?

If your nitrites are off the charts, then doing a 70% change may be the way to go... and continue to change as much as needed so that they're less toxic.

What is a nitrite filter? If I'm not mistaken, they can also be run on saltwater tanks - so am not sure if this is the problem (hopefully someone can step in here)

PS - Your tank is just on 42 gallons - so room enough for 4 fish

Hi Brightpinkstar. Don't panic!

Okay, panic a bit, because speed is of the essence with new tank syndrome!



It does sound from the laying on the bottom that it's ammonia toxicity / new tank syndrome.

Your nitrite is spiking because your filter's bacteria are processing a lot of new ammonia. The NO2 doesn't come from nowhere, it comes from ammonia being broken down. So your filter's working fine, but there's just not enough bacteria there yet to deal with the ammonia from three new fish as well, so it needs time to grow (if your filter is actually big enough). In the meantime, you'll need to keep the water changes happening to keep the concentrations at safe enough levels for your fish.



Try a larger water change. Even 90%. Twice a day if need be. Change as much of the water as often as you have to until it does start to reduce the nitrite levels. 10-40% isn't enough.



The older fish = ammonia. The newer fish = nitrite. You're basically experiencing a double whammy. If the ammonia / new tank doesn't sink them to the bottom, then the nitrites will send them to the top looking for oxygen because...



High nitrites is indeed a form of blood poisoning! Nitrite blocks the oxygen absorption by the fish's gills and bloodstream and literally suffocates them to death. So they raise to the surface where there's more 02, but that doesn't help much because they can't breath anyway.

So add salt to 0.2% concentration (include what you've already added so far), which is 2 teaspoons per gallon (4 litres). The chloride electrolytes improve the oxygen absorption of the gills and counters the effect of the nitrite poisoning, allowing them to breath better.

Apart from that, water change. Water change. And water change again until both ammonia and nitrite reads 0.2ppm or less. And keep doing water changes to keep it there or lower until your filter can eventually catch up and take over once your tank is fully cycled. Which may take weeks.

Good luck!

PS. Trash that Cycle stuff. It's useless. It gives false hope. Go and buy Seachem Stability instead if you can. It actually works, unlike Cycle. Following the instructions on the Stability bottle will give you a cycled tank in about 7 days whereas otherwise it would take weeks.

Disregard what I said about your nitrITe filter and salt - I must have been thinking of something else and got it mixed up. Sorry if I alarmed you.

PS. Awrieger, I like Cycle.

Maybe if it's Zeolite ammonia remover, adding salt actually releases it all back into the water. Could that explain the increase in ammonia?


Annette, I tried Cycle a while ago and nothing happened. It didn't do anything and I lost my fish! Maybe it was just a bad bottle or something so I shouldn't say the product is bad, just my experience with it.

Seachem Stability on the other hand I have nothing but praise for as it works exactly as it says it's supposed to. I highly recommend it.

Aha, that must be what I was thinking of. So I wonder if brightpinkstar is using zeolite in her filter?

i just had a look on the juwel website, and the only filter sponges for a Juwel filter are : Poly pad, Carbon Sponge, NitrAte removal sponge, filtersponge fin and filter sponge coarse.

if thats any help to you,

i use cycle sometimes and it seems to work,

Thanks Claire, I wonder if the NitrAte removing sponge or carbon sponge contains zeolite? Carbon sponges sometimes contain charcoal and zeolite. Personally, I just stick with ordinary poly sponges.

i use fine and coarse sponges in my fluval aquarium. i had a look to see if the carbon filter sponges contained zeolite, and it wasnt stated that it did.
the juwel website doesnt say very much about the diferent sponges, maybe if someone uses them it might say more on the box.

Thanks again Claire for looking that up.

its ok, trying to keep busy.

i had to do daily water changes, well my mum did! to get my nitrites down in my hospital tank. 50% each time.

How are things with the fish?