Cycling problem?

[KevinM]

Hey everyone I have a quick question about cycling.

I have a 29G tank that has been running for 2 weeks, Its still cycling I know that.

I did the n00b mistake of adding fish within days of setting it up =( But everyone is doing fine and Ive only lost 1 Daino(not sure what happened he was fine for a week then dead after a feeding) None of my other Dainos are showing signs of anything and even my Hatchet Fish are doing great.

But here is my question. Im testing the water every day, the ammonia is 1-2.5ppm(its hard to really see the color on the color chart) my Nitrite spiked to 2+ and now is showing around .25-.5 but my Nitrate is showing 10-20.

Im doing at least a 20-30% PWC every evening and even after that my ammonia is still Light Green, .5-1?

Im using the API master test kit, even bought a new ammonia test in case something was wrong with the other one.
I use Prime every water change.

my Fish are 3 Treadfins, 2 Hatchet, 1 Gold Longfin Daino, 1 Blue Longfin Daino, 3 Guppies, 2 Pearl Daino, 2 Ghost Shrimp, and Bob my Mystery Snail. Everyone is swimming around and eating when I feed them(fiighting to feed them every 3 days but its hard to not feed the little guys every day)

I have many live planets going and they are all growing roots now(which is cool cause I was worried the new LED hood wouldnt do it)

What can I do to lower the ammonia? It just seems not to be going down.

Thank you in advance

 

[boadams87]

Have you tested your tap? My tap has.25 ppm so that could be your issue as well.

 

[KevinM]

yup Tap Water is 0 0 0.

 

[boadams87]

What kind of filter do u have

 

[KevinM]

Penn Plax 700 Cascade runing 2 Bio Sponge a Bag of Bio-Rings and 1 Bio Floss Pad

 

[boadams87]

Ok so I have no clue. How much and often do u feed?

 

[KevinM]

right now The Fish once every 3 days, Well trying really hard not to feed them any more than once every 2 days, my Shrimp I feed 1 pellet every other day

 

[boadams87]

Since your still cycling just keep doing the wc

 

[jlk]

At 2wks, your definitely pretty early into the cycling process. Fish-in cycles can take 6-8wks (or longer). Have some patience & stay on top of your testing & water changes. I honestly would up the changes to atleast 50% (do not be afraid to do more!)- if your ammonia is reading 1ppm, then a 50% change will drop it to .50ppm, a bigger change or two 50% changes will drop it further. Just make sure the water temperature matched & properly conditioned.

 

[KevinM]

Thank you for the help everyone, I was just worried that something went wrong with the ammonia really high but everything else showing some what normal on the tests.

 

[librarygirl]

I agree with Jlk. You're pretty heavily stocked for an uncycled tank as well. The more fish you have the more ammonia they'll produce.