How dangerous is nitrite?

[lkoechle]

So I know its very toxic. At what level is it deadly?

 

I'm having a lot of trouble getting and keeping my nitrites below .05ppm in my hospital tank. I'm dosing cupramine so water changes are really my only recourse without making the copper turn toxic. I've done a 75% in the last 24 hours (25% yesterday morning, 25% yesterday evening, 25% this morning) and nitrite test is still reading .05ppm. I've checked it against my display which reads 0 so I know the test is working.

 

All fish behavior is normal right now, I'm just concerned that I can't get it any lower and I can't use prime or purigen or anything of that nature to help control it due to using cupramine.

 

At what level do I need to really fear for my fish?

[Nano sapiens]

Nitrite in saltwater is not nearly as toxic as in freshwater.

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

 

I'd be much more concerned about ammonium/ammonia.

[lkoechle]

Nitrite in saltwater is not nearly as toxic as in freshwater.

 

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

 

I'd be much more concerned about ammonium/ammonia.

Thanks for the article!

 

Ammonia zero according to both the badge and the seachem ammonia test. Which I think is unusual because I would think that with my nitrite levels never being below .05 ppm that I would see some ammonia at some point while testing. But luckily it has not made an appearance.

[Azedenkae]

Could be that you have enough bacteria to maintain ammonia at zero, but not enough to deal with the nitrites. Not entirely unusual actually.