Where, oh where, could my cycle be?

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OK I would let your nitrites get to 1.0ppm but with this recommendation, add sodium chloride (aka table salt, aquarium salt, kosher salt) at a rate of 1 level tsp per 10 gallons of water. It is a very, very negligible amount of salt (for example the "official" aquarium salt dosage calls for 1 Tbsp per 5 gallons so this is much less). Don't make them mounded, just level. If you are using table salt or kosher salt check the label. There is going to be some kind of anti-caking agent. Most of them are ok except for "Yellow Prussiate of Soda" or something like that. It has Prussiate in the name. Iodized or non-iodized is fine (there are a lot of stupid myths about salt out there, so people are inevitably going to protest what I'm saying, but I'll pull out my references if needed)

But if you see EITHER ammonia or nitrite hit 1.0 you need to do a water change.

Only add new salt when you do a water change and make sure it's the appropriate dosing (if you pull out 50% water, add back 1/2 tsp per 10 gallons). Don't add salt if topping off evaporation.

Once you are done with the ammonia phase and only have nitrite you can continue this method as needed.

Prime is also good to detoxify ammonia and/or nitrite but it needs to be dosed every day, so this can be more expensive. But if you have concerns you could do it along with the salt.
 
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Also - no matter what my recommendations -

If your fish seem in distress, CHANGE THE WATER. No matter what levels you see.

If they are gasping at the surface, change the water
If they are really red around the gills or seem lethargic or are behaving poorly, change the water

All of my recommendations are based on an assumption that your fish look "well". Hope that makes sense :)
 
I can totally manage that. Between normal table salt and kosher sea salt, which would you think is more preferable? And I need to dissolve the salt in conditioned water before adding it, right?

And just for giggles.. What will the salt do? I'm sure it's a really complicated thing that is over my head.. But I'm curious. Does it aid in detoxifying ammonia?

I will be keeping a very close eye on the fish during this process, of course. I'm really not worried about the tetras, but I am a little hesitant with my little froggie in there.. I've formed quite the attachment with little Trent:)

If something seems odd with the fish I'll do a 50% water change, no salt, and I'll go back to trying to maintain levels well below .5ppm (as I've been doing)

Again, thank you! Wow!
 
I can totally manage that. Between normal table salt and kosher sea salt, which would you think is more preferable? And I need to dissolve the salt in conditioned water before adding it, right?

And just for giggles.. What will the salt do? I'm sure it's a really complicated thing that is over my head.. But I'm curious. Does it aid in detoxifying ammonia?
I would go table salt just because it's easier to get a level teaspoon, since kosher salt is chunky. You can dissolve it in a bit of water, or just sprinkle it along the top of the tank over a couple hours until it is all in. It dissolves pretty quickly.

Sure, here's the short of what it does - the salt is actually just for the nitrites. The gills of the fish will take in nitrites which indirectly reduces the oxygen in their blood. This is kind of like hypoxia in humans where your blood isn't properly oxygenated and eventually it can damage your internal organs.

So their gills take up nitrites, BUT the gills actually "prefer" to take up chloride instead. So if there is a source of chloride, they will take up more chloride than nitrites. Salt is a source of chloride as it is NaCl - Sodium chloride. So doing this you give the fish a source of chloride to take up instead of the bad stuff.
We haven't read any studies on how fast it is taken up and depleted so I don't know when specifically you are supposed to add more. Just always add the proper % dosage of salt with each water change and there should be enough.
 
Wow! That's cool. You learn something new every day:)

I'll add the salt tomorrow, keep testing over and over again, and I'll change the water when ammonia/nitrites get above 1.0ppm!

I'll update when my ammonia zeroes out! :)
 
No problem, I just hope it all works out.
If anything seems to give you trouble just report back and we'll come to a different solution.
 
Three weeks in and ammonia is still hanging tight at .25ppm. I haven't changed the water in over a week. Shouldn't I have more ammonia than this if the bacteria aren't there yet?

I'm probably just being impatient..
 
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