Nitrite High

[Eslireyes]

Hey guys. I am a new tank owner. My tank is a 55 gallon tank and this is about the 5th week running.
My readings are
pH: 7.6
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 5.0 ppm
Nitrate: 10 ppm

My tank is obviously not done cycling.
I have fish in my tank because i was not aware of the cycling process being this crucial.
Am i close to being done with the cycle ? I am worried about my fish. I only have a few and they are small fish.
I started doing water changes every 24 hours to make it more liveable for my fish.
Can someone help me please

 

[seangee]

Keep doing the changes - perhaps every 12 hours even and keep testing. You probably have a few more weeks to go. What happens to your nitrate level between changes? When it starts going UP its a good sign because it means the nitrite is starting to break down.

 

[Essjay]

With a nitrite of 5.0, your fish should be dead!

What type of tester do you have, strips or liquid reagent?
Is that reading of 5.0 accurate, or should it be 0.5?

Any reading of nitrite above zero is harmful to fish. The first thing you need to do is as big a water change as possible, leave only enough to enable the fish to swim upright. Make sure the new water is the same temperature as the tank water with such a large water change. After refilling, wait half an hour for the new water to mix with that tiny bit of old water, then test nitrite again. If it is still above zero, do another water change immediately, and test gain after half an hour. Once your nitrite reading is zero, you need to keep it there by doing water daily water changes, large enough to get nitrite to zero.


I would also test your tap water for nitrate. Deduct the tap water reading from the tank nitrate reading to see if any nitrate is being made by the 'nitrite eating' bacteria.