Cycling Confusion

[lola]

So I'm cycling my 10 gal. Right now I have 2 zebra danios in there. I'm doing 20% water changes every other day and feeding sparingly and the fish seem to do doing just fine. It been a little over 2 weeks. My ammonia levels seem to be slowing but I still have 0 nitrites. Is this normal? Maybe I'm being impatient? Any thoughts?

 

[tenohfive]

I've never done a fishless cycle (one fish in cycle, then media transfer after) but from what I've heard, thats normal. Alot of people post up saying the same thing.

 

[minxfishy]

Its usual to see the nitrites rise slower than the ammonia. Once the filter is processing the ammonia it will convert it to nitrite which you will also need to do daily water changes to keep at a low level for the fish, which will eventually convert to nitrates (as Im sure you know). Keep an eye on the levels and preferably keep them below 0.25 - 0.50 for the sake of the fish. With a fish in cycle the whole process is longer than with a fishless cycle, but you will get there eventually.

You sound like you are doing a good job, keep it up and with time your filter will finish cycling then after a couple of week with ammonia and nitrites at 0 you can add a couple more fish.