Nitrite and Ammonia Spike! Help!

[FishieKeeper429]

I have a 10g Aqueon tank that holds about 5 live plants, three fake and two decors in it (shown in profile picture). For fish it has one female lyre tailed mollie, one baby female Betta and three albino pristella tetras. I've had it running for about two and a half weeks and when I first got it, I got the normal ammonia/nitrite spike and then last week it went down to 0ppm on both. I thought everything as good but I wanted to check again this week. To my utter dismay I found my nitrite at 0.25 and my ammonia at about 6.0! I don't know if this is normal or I had a "fake" cycle last week or something! Am I just overdue for a water change? Help!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

It would still be cycling. A tank won't cycle from scratch in 2.5 weeks unless you had seeded filter media. You need to keep checking daily even after you think it's cycled just to make sure.

 

[FishieKeeper429]

It would still be cycling. A tank won't cycle from scratch in 2.5 weeks unless you had seeded filter media. You need to keep checking daily even after you think it's cycled just to make sure.

Ok. Thank you. Also, I think my filter pad ripped, would that affect it? And is 0.25 nitrite and 6.0 ammonia normal?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Ok. Thank you. Also, I think my filter pad ripped, would that affect it? And is 0.25 nitrite and 6.0 ammonia normal?

It shouldn't. Just don't replace it. You can add extra media though if it will fit.
It is normal if you don't change enough water. High ammonia and little nitrite suggests you are still in the beginning stages.

 

[FishieKeeper429]

It shouldn't. Just don't replace it. You can add extra media though if it will fit.
It is normal if you don't change enough water. High ammonia and little nitrite suggests you are still in the beginning stages.

Ok thank you so much!