Nitrite spike?

Betta-Chetta · Mar 11, 2018

So my tank is a 60 gallon reef tank. It has been up and running for 3 months now and has 6 fish. Squirrel fish, tomini tang, 2 damsel and 2 clowns. Everybody has been doing great and then came home from work today and both the tomini and squirrel fish were dead and my nitrite spiked. What could cause this? Everyone got along just fine and havent had any issues except for losing my pom pom xeinas due to not enough nitrates in my aquarium. Just curious if anyone has had any issues with this before. Thank yall for the help!

EmdeReef · Mar 12, 2018

what was/is your ammonia? Fish dying could overload your biofilter and result in ammonia and nitrite spikes, especially in newer tanks. Ammonia spike could have easily killed your fish. it’s much less likely the deaths were caused by nitrities.

Although different fish can react differently to ammonia poisoning, in general you’d expect other fish to be somehow affected. Lethargy, gasping for air, swimming around the surface, redness around the gills etc.

If you are not seeing any of that, then I’d look for other causes.

Jesterrace · Mar 12, 2018

How often do you change your water? Is there anything else dead in your tank?

Betta-Chetta · Mar 12, 2018

EmdeReef said:
what was/is your ammonia? Fish dying could overload your biofilter and result in ammonia and nitrite spikes, especially in newer tanks. Ammonia spike could have easily killed your fish. it’s much less likely the deaths were caused by nitrities.

Although different fish can react differently to ammonia poisoning, in general you’d expect other fish to be somehow affected. Lethargy, gasping for air, swimming around the surface, redness around the gills etc.

If you are not seeing any of that, then I’d look for other causes.

Ya i am npt seeing anything different than them acting normal. They all ate like a pig the night before. As far as ammonia its at 0 and nitrate is at 5

Betta-Chetta · Mar 12, 2018

Jesterrace said:
How often do you change your water? Is there anything else dead in your tank?

Nope nothing else is dead and i do monthly water changes of 25%.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 12, 2018

Nitrite "spike" means what value?

Betta-Chetta · Mar 12, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Nitrite "spike" means what value?

Went from 0 to .5

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 12, 2018

I’d just ignore it. It is no concern, whether it is real or just testing error. [emoji3]

Betta-Chetta · Mar 12, 2018

Well tested it today and it went down to .25 but now some of my coral are not as happy as they were. But its literally only one side of the tank which im not worried about. Its just weird that two fish died so quickly for no reason and they were eating just fine

Jesterrace · Mar 13, 2018

Betta-Chetta said:
Nope nothing else is dead and i do monthly water changes of 25%.

A monthly water change is IMHO insufficient for saltwater in the long run. 25-30% every couple of weeks is what I would recommend.

Betta-Chetta · Mar 13, 2018

Jesterrace said:
A monthly water change is IMHO insufficient for saltwater in the long run. 25-30% every couple of weeks is what I would recommend.

Ive always have donr this with my saltwater tanks and have never had issues. This is the first time ive actually had an issue with as far as nitrites

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 13, 2018

Betta-Chetta said:
Well tested it today and it went down to .25 but now some of my coral are not as happy as they were. But its literally only one side of the tank which im not worried about. Its just weird that two fish died so quickly for no reason and they were eating just fine

Fish dying is certainly a concern, but if anything, the dead fish is the cause of the nitrite rather than nitrite causing the dying.

Betta-Chetta · Mar 13, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Fish dying is certainly a concern, but if anything, the dead fish is the cause of the nitrite rather than nitrite causing the dying.

Well then im lost as far as what caused my biggest fish to just die for no reason. My tank is completely fine now but still puzzled on why it happen

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 13, 2018

Betta-Chetta said:
Well then im lost as far as what caused my biggest fish to just die for no reason. My tank is completely fine now but still puzzled on why it happen

I don't know either, but I'm sure it wasn't nitrite.

How long had you had it?

Jesterrace · Mar 14, 2018

Betta-Chetta said:
Ive always have donr this with my saltwater tanks and have never had issues. This is the first time ive actually had an issue with as far as nitrites

I guess it's just me but I can't imagine going a month without changing the water in between. Then again, I do smaller weekly water changes as part of my regimen.