# Help-my nitrites have spiked



## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

I'm doing a fish-in cycle in a 10 gallon. The only live plant I have is about a dozen strands of Anacharis. I have 7" of fish in this tank. (And I am counting the Mystery snails at 2.5," there are two of them).

I started the cycle 15 days ago. Up until today, I've had no nitrites. Only ammonia, and the highest that has gotten is .5 except for twice when I got a 1.0 reading. I freaked out when I got a nitrite reading of 5.0 this morning! Ammonia read at .5, as it has for the last three readings. Last time I checked for nitrites was day before yesterday. 

I got online immediately, and saw my nitrite level was toxic (which was pretty obvious, as its the highest reading on my API Master chart). I did about a 40% water change, with Stress Coat. I always use Stress coat when I do WCs. Well, I know this means my tank is at least progressing in its cycle, but nitrites this high scared me. When I started cycling 15 days ago, I only had a betta, then added the other fish about 4 days later. I've been doing an average water change of every 3 days (whenever the ammonia went above .25 in the beginning, then only when it went above .5, and this has only happened twice). So. . . . when do I check Ammonia and nitrites again? In 24 hours? All the inhabitants look fine, and are active.


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## FW Fanatic (Nov 5, 2011)

Check now. A 40% PWC isn't going to cut it. The nitrites are still too high. I would do another large water change. I would use Seachum Prime for your dechlorinator, especially during a fish-in cycle. When doing your pwc's add enough for the entire tank volume and not just the water you are adding, and it will neutralize the remaining ammo/nitrites for atleast 24 hours.

Mystery snails create a lot of waste for a smaller tank. Their bio-load is quite large so they aren't the best candidate for fish-in cycling. If you plan to keep them both in there until full grown I would consider the tank at 100% stock.


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

Any time it's above 1ppm with fish in you should do a wc. Keep after it, with fish in and doing wc a lot it may take longer then if you did fishless but it'll get there eventually


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You can and should, if necessary, do consecutive water changes to get the values down. I generally use the 1ppm rule to tell me to do a water change. If it is in the 1-3 range, possibly a 30-40% will suffuce to get it down to 1ppm or below. If it is in the above 3ppm range I would do 50%. If after the water change it does not get down to 1ppm or below, do another the next day...and so on. After the water change wait about 30-40 minutes and test again.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

*You guys are the greatest! * Thank you so much for coming so quickly to my rescue. I'm testing again right now, as I type this, and if its over 1ppm, will do a water change tomorrow. I only have Stress Coat--no Prime. I've heard for so many years that Stress Coat was the best, but I guess things have changed. I haven't had tropical fish in a very long time. I have been using enough Stress Coat for 10 gallons every time I do a pwc, by the way. I'm sure glad now that I didn't go get some red cherry shrimp that I was planning on doing today. They would surely have perished. OK, I waited to post this until I had the results. Nitrites are between .5 and 1.0, but closer to .5. WHEW! What a relief! I'll test again tomorrow morning to determine if I should do a pwc tomorrow. Again, thank you for being such a wonderful group of people!


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

This morning, the ammonia was .25 and the nitrites were 2.0. I did about a 40% WC and now the nitrites are .5. Any idea how long I might have to continue doing daily partial water changes? How much longer do you estimate until its cycled? Should I be checked nitrates now too? I am feeding every other day.


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## seaecho (Jan 31, 2012)

Just checked nitrates, and they are 5.0. Don't know if that has any significance, but just so you'd know.


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