Nitrites + Nitrates High!

[Florida_Fin]

Hello everyone. I have a 10 gallon that I've had for about a month now with 3 zebra danios inside to cycle it. They appear happy but I know fish dont smile so its hard to tell.
My problem is that my tank has very high levels of nitrites and nitrates. Ammonia is 0, and the water is cloudy.

Is this normal, and is there anything I can do?

 

[Louiseness]

It's 'normal' but not good.

What you're doing is a fish-in cycle - to do one of those and lessen the risk of health problems to the fish, you need to be changing water pretty much every day (which, no offence, I doubt you;ve been doing if your nitrites are sky-high).

What are your actual readings for nitrite and nitrate?

I'd suggest you do a BIG (90%) water change (replace with warm, dechlorinated water of course) to help the fish out a bit as they're swimming in poison right now.

 

[The Taffy Apple]

Hi there. Yes, it is normal, as you are doing a 'fish-in' cycle.

Daily water changes of 50% or more maybe your next step, you state your ammonia is '0' so i'm presuming you have a test kit (of some sort, but liquid drop kits are recommended on here).. do your daily readings, then change as much water as you need to get your Ammonia and NitrIte down to '0'.

Terry.

 

[Florida_Fin]

Ive been testing everyday. I did a 60% water change 4 days ago, and put some Prime in (decholorinates water, kills nitrites) directly to the tank yesterday. I was advised to wait 2 days, test again and start doing water changes every 2 days (30%) until the nitirites are down.

 

[fluttermoth]

That's not very good advice, I'm afraid. Any amouint of ammonia or nitrite (especially if over 0.25ppm) can cause long term health problems for the fish. You need to do as many, large water changes as is neccessary to reduce those readings to zero and not let them creep up to over 0.25ppm before you can next do a change.

Your filter will still cycle with an amount of ammonia and nitrite that is too small to register on a test; the cycle will be slower, but your fish will come to harm if you don't keep the levels down.

 

[Florida_Fin]

So do a .80 water change tonight, and test tomorrow? Or test right after? What's my two week plan?

 

[creeker]

So do a .80 water change tonight, and test tomorrow? Or test right after? What's my two week plan?

As everyone has suggested, daily water changes to keep the nitrites down.

 

[Florida_Fin]

Am I going to be doing water changes everyday for years? Or just until the tank is stable?

 

[fluttermoth]

Test straight after, as if the nitrite isn't zero, you may have to do another one. It' going to take another month, maybe six weeks for it to properly cycle. Aas you have only a few small fish you might not need to water change every day, but you must test daily, just in case the levels have risen.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Am I going to be doing water changes everyday for years? Or just until the tank is stable?

Only until it is cycled.

 

[Florida_Fin]

Ok Ive done one water change, and left it alone. Feeding very sparingly and nitrites are still off the charts. its higher than my sheet will go. nitrates are low and amonia is now low (no longer null). ideas?

Also this is taking a really long time it seems to cycle. I use live bacteria, i take all the precautions but nothing. Also i tested my tap water and its normal.

 

[creeker]

Ok Ive done one water change, and left it alone. Feeding very sparingly and nitrites are still off the charts. its higher than my sheet will go. nitrates are low and amonia is now low (no longer null). ideas?

Also this is taking a really long time it seems to cycle. I use live bacteria, i take all the precautions but nothing. Also i tested my tap water and its normal.

Ok, let's recap. You need to do daily water changes until it's cycled. Apparently, you should have changed a higher percent of the water. It's not taking too long to cycle, you are where I would expect you to be at four weeks. It's going to take another four. If the bacteria you're referring to is the junk they sell in a bottle, everyone here on the forum will tell you it doesn't work. The only thing that would help speed up the process would be some mature filter media from an established tank. You might check with your LFS. I wouldn't expect there to be anything wrong with your tap water, there's no fish in it.

 

[Florida_Fin]

Okay, I guess the biggest confusion stems from me not knowing EXACTLY whats happening when I do a PWC. Im removing ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates with them? Aren't nitrates good? If I do a 10% PWC every day will that not disrupt everything?

I tell ya, fishkeeping isnt for the faint of heart, especially in the beginning. I love it though so just bare with me.

 

[fluttermoth]

No, nitrates aren't good, they're just not too much to worry about, unless they get up near the 100/200ppm mark, and maybe even more, which isn't going to be happening in a well maintained system.

Your filter will still cycle with an amount of ammonia too small to register on our tests; it just might take a bit longer, which is why fish in cycles can be quite slow.

You won't disrupt anything by doing 50 or 60% water changes; even more if needs be, and it's better for the fish than swimming in poor water anyway, they must be done.