Nitrites Question (Not Nitrates)

I have always heard that almost any level of nitrites could be lethal to fish, but then I ran across this article Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com that says it's a essentially a myth.

At least to my untrained eyes his research looks sound, so are nitrites extremely toxic or not?

 

I will go out on a limb and say that any detectable nitrite level is problematic, and should be addressed.

Toxicity depends on many other factors such as SG, Temp, ph.

I am one of Randy Holmes Farley's biggest fans, with that being said, if you are seeing stressed corals and fish that should be enough to think about an intervention.

 

Nitrate is usually not problematic as it is usually the lowest of the three tested nitrogen compounds. The break down reaction can only happen as fast as its slowest link... In this case however, nitrite to nitrate is the fastest.

 

Thanks for the replies. I was just asking because that article contradicts just about every other site, but then again I do have a lot of respect for Randy.

He did state in it that if you have nitrites you probably also have ammonia which as we all know is highly toxic.

 

Everything that is a contradictory opinion from Randy, is wrong. I haven't read the article, so I'm just commenting on your statement here about the nitrite. Just because an opinion/product is popular, doesn't mean it is right/the best.

Low levels of nitrite really doesn't do a whole lot. Now if it starts to show up in an established tank, there may well be something going wrong in your tank. But just as a generalization, many fish tolerate low levels very easily.