fish in cycle still no nitrites?

[platycrazy19]

I have been doing a fish in cycle for three weeks now and still have not seen any nitrites. I didn't start with any seeded material. My ammonia levels keep showing up at .5 everyday and I am doing about 2 50% water changes a day to keep it down. Will I start seeing nitrite soon?

 

[librarygirl]

You should. It can take a while, particularly with fish-in cycling given the pwc you have to do to keep ammonia down, but you should see them fairly soon. When they do show up, stay on top of testing and water changes b/c the nitrites are going to shoot up fast and it's going to be a lot of work to keep them down. Good luck!

 

[bIGTIMER]

What size is your tank? I did 10-15% water changes everyday. Also used Prime. Prime will give you false readings with standard ammonia test kits though.

 

[platycrazy19]

I only have a 10g tank. and I've heard that prime will not give you false readings with the API master test kit

 

[librarygirl]

Prime should not give you false readings. You're doing well with the larger water changes; don't be afraid to do as many and as large as you need to keep that ammonia level down.

 

[bIGTIMER]

yeah mana water changes and testing. Fish cycles are stressfull bt ok. Lots of people dont like them but it is an accelerated way to go.

 

[bIGTIMER]

I think smaller tanks are harder given the margin of error. But you can do it!

 

[BHead707]

I'm pretty much done with my fish in cycle and I'm couldn't be more happy.like others Have said test often and if your on fthe fence about a water change,do it anyway it won't hurt good luck

 

[platycrazy19]

Thank you everyone I'm just getting disgraced waiting to even see nitrite.

 

[BHead707]

just keep at it! your fish appreciate the water changes! and youll be doing just as many when the nitrite starts coming.it rises crazy fast

 

[giants1249er]

Thank you everyone I'm just getting disgraced waiting to even see nitrite.

I was also doing a fish-in cycle with 3 platies. I think I am cycled now since I have had 3 days of ammo 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 10...and it took me almost 6 weeks to get to this point. I had to do a lot of pwc to lower my levels. Hang in there...you're almost there.

 

[platycrazy19]

OK so I had to leave last weekend (didn't want to because I wouldn't be home to monitor my fish but I had to). I tested the water on Thursday. I had .5 ammonia 0 nitrite (still) and 0 nitrate. tested it when I got home today and got .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5 nitrate! could I have really possibly have missed the nitrite spike over the weekend? I really thought the nitrite faze lasted longer.

 

[librarygirl]

OK so I had to leave last weekend (didn't want to because I wouldn't be home to monitor my fish but I had to). I tested the water on Thursday. I had .5 ammonia 0 nitrite (still) and 0 nitrate. tested it when I got home today and got .25 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 5 nitrate! could I have really possibly have missed the nitrite spike over the weekend? I really thought the nitrite faze lasted longer.

I doubt it. Did you do a pwc before you left to get the .5 of ammonia down or no? If you didn't and it's .25 now, then that's good that it dropped on its own, but a better read would have been 0. BTW, with ammonia at .25 (and potentially has been .25-.5 for several days with fish in there) it's time to break out the bucket and do a pwc. I forgot if you're using any seeded media? If you are then it's possible you won't see nitrites. It's good you have ammonia going down and nitrates showing up! But you're not out of the woods yet with ammonia still in there. Just keep monitoring and do pwc as needed. It'll cycle, in it's own time.

 

[platycrazy19]

I did do a big water change before I left. I knew that the cycle wasn't done yet if ammonia isn't at 0. But I was surprised to see nitrate and no Nitrite.