lingering nitrites!!!

Question
I have a 55gl. african cichlids tank 1 mo old, I have 6 juveniles for
about 2 weeks.. I have done several water changes, gravel cleaning,
and some chemical adjusting (nothing major.. I have been afraid to
change filter (emperor 280 with under gravel filter) anyway I am
really stressing about not being able to fix this problem and afraid
of loosing my fish... any help would be great.....
thanks.... coleen

Answer
Dear Coleen,
Maybe your aquarium is not yet finished cycling? If this is the case, you'll have to be patient and be prepared to also do 30-50% water changes if the nitrite levels are above safe bounds.
How about your other readings? Ammonia, nitrate?

If your aquarium has been established and just recently begin having problems with nitrite levels there must certainly be a problem in your aquarium. Could there have been anything that polluted the water to the extreme? Any loss of a fish, a large feeding? or even an change of all the filter media can certainly promote a spike.
I wouldn't clean the filter too thoroughly, just a good rinsing of the dirty filter material in aquarium water is all that is needed.

Have you done anything different in your aquarium that you can think of that could have spiked the nitrite? Any kind of pollution or disturbance of the bacterial colonies?

This would really help. I'm with you on this and if you would like to give a bit more info, i'll be glad to help.

Best wishes and Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~