Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ok, i didn't see your last post. thanks for all the great info. biofilter and salt!

It's not a matter of if the nitrites turn out to be the problem... it is quite simply that the nitrites ARE the problem....

Your ammonia would also be a problem... if it were not for your pH and water temperature...

Even so, with constant exposure to ammonia... and fish stressed/poisoned by nitrites.... it is ultimately a fatal combination for your fish unless you address the fundamental problem.... no bio-filtration...

yes, it is all making more sense now. We are juggling about 10 tanks. indoor and outdoor. To many things going on for a beginner. We have many filter systems in all our indoor tanks , not sure what i was thinking. Getting the little shrimp guys in there will speed up the ability of the biofilter. Any links or suggestions on biofilters? We already have a full size garbage can connected to our system. But we have no medium in it. The pvc pipe goes through the middle of it. WE are goign to get a second garbage can tmrw and add in different filter medium and work on getting gamorus..the shrimp guys in there too.

Look up the top of the page - there is a link there to The IBC of Aquaponics. Have a read of it. Shrimp can be great for cleaning up the organics that might accumulate but they do not deal with ammonia or nitrites. That's what the bacteria are for. And to get them working you have to have surface area for the bacteria to colonise - without that you will keep having problems - adding in yet more livestock will exacerbate the problems, not solve them.

Yep....

One way to see for Nitrite poisoning is to open the gill flap on a newly dead fish,the gills will be a much darker colour than normal. The high Ammonia did them in,the following Nitrite finished them off.
Even with the bio filter fitted and eventually maturing to the point of filtering your system, Ammonia poisoning is irreversible unfortunately.