Nitrite Levels wont go down HELP!!!!!!

[Mickey]

My nitrite levels have been up at 5.0 for over three weeks with no signs of going down will a 50% water change bring them down because i havent done one since i started the cycle which was over 6+ weeks
Thanks

[MikeS]

how's your ammonia and nitrate levels?

Mike

[Mickey]

ammonia is 0, nitrate is 10

[FishinInTheDark]

What test kit are you using?

[Mickey]

Saltwater Master Liquid test kit

[Doctor_Reef]

Can you have your water tested at a LFS...to verify the test results???

[Mickey]

Yes but if they are still high will a 50% water change bring the down?

[Doctor_Reef]

Yes...But there has to be something causing the high nitrite...in the cycle the ammonia goes up then as it starts to go down the nitrite starts coming up and the ammonia goes away and the nitrite stays up until the bacteria colonizes enough to take it down!!!

How long has your ammonia been 0???

[Sugar Magnolia]

Agree with Ron. Very strange. Go ahead and do a 50% water change and test again the next day and let us know where your numbers are.

[KDFrosty]

I have the same test kit. It's important when doing the nitrate test that you shake the "Nitrite Test #2" solution for at least 30 seconds before adding any drops to the test tube. After you add it to the test tube you have to shake the solution for 1 minute. Then you have to wait 5 minutes before reading the test.
if you've done all this I would recommend doing several small water changes as opposed to one large water change as previously mentioned. Large water changes (like 50%) can stress your fish.

[FishinInTheDark]

Those AP test kits frequently go bad. Currently, I have a bad nitrate kit, but I use my neighbor's occasionally. She has a bad ammonia kit, so I gave her mine. (When our interchangeable kits are empty, I'll order Salifert instead.) I would second the recommendation to get a reading with a different kit.

[EXVISOR]

heres something you can do as a last resort, I did this my self, I know allot of people dont agree with chemical but heres what I did
I went from a 55 to a 125, tank wnent into a majorcycle ,changing water everyday did not help ,I tried every thng out hteethat claimed it would work and it did not, wasted alot of money then I went to a store I have not been to for a while and I found th moved down the street, I told the guy what was happening and he told me he was having a major problem with all his tanks from the move but he used this stuff called stablizer made by seachem which states it will cycle your tank in seven days, something like that so ok here I go again but have no choice, already lost one fish ,so I add this stuff in every day like it says and I ad prime in which detoxifies the ammonia nad nitrites, its still there but does not hurt the fish one bit
Added prime every other day and stablizer every day like the directions said and to my surprise it worked ,could not believe it
The prime tessl you every day but I found it lasted about two days before the fish starting huffing an pufing again so I did it every other day, figured the less chemical in tank the better
Im not a fan of chemicals but I dont want my fish to suffer and die
Seachem works,made a believer out of me ,also it does not tell you but you have to unplug your uv if your using one or it will kill the bacteria before your tak will cycle

[shellydp34]

Just to reinforce what has already been said, I too was using the Saltwater Master Liquid test and was getting a high nitrate reading. I tried everything to bring it down and finally got a different test and found that my nitrates were at 0. You may want to check it again w/ a different test prior to resorting to chemicals.

[TranZ]

kdfrosty and shellydp34 ...i believe the problem is NITRITE not NITRATE.....i agree on water changes....only if u have any livestock in ur tank...if not let it sit for a few days and test it again or bring some sample to LFS for them to check it.....plus i'm not really familiar of what u have in ur tank so it might not be ur test kit at all...maybe something else can u tell us more on what u have in terms of equipments and filtration.. that will help a bit on why ur nitrite is still up.

[Mickey]

MY tank is about 23 gal and just has sand and a few rocks in it i have a HOB aquaclear filter with a carbon and foam block insert would it be that ive not taken them out of the filter since i started the cycle 6+ weeks ago

And also would this stuff help click on link

http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Stability.html

Thanks