Slow Cycling help

[bkiggy]

So fish survived ammonia spikes for 8 weeks, now nitrItes are off the charts .
0 nitrAtes
Water changes to keep nitrites down ? Or leave it alone ?
How long for nitrAtes to show up.
40 gallon, heavy live plants, real wood and rocks
1 angel
1 baby pictus cat
1 Cory
1 baby upside cat
1 elephant nose
ammonia still about 1, nitrItes 5+ , 0 nitrAtes

 

[tiger terror]

I would do a large pwc to reduce your nitrites to 1ppm or less..if you were doing a fishless cycle I wouldn't worry about it but since your in a fish-in cycle definitely do so soon..excessive levels of nitrites can leave fish struggling to extract 02 from the water column...make sure you have plenty of surface aggitation as well to promote gas exchange..also you should be really close to seeing nitrates,what are you using to test your parameters?tank looks great as well..

 

[bkiggy]

API master kit

Have a large air stone and lots of surface agitation due to water fall in back of tank. I'm getting a new filter (bigger) in about a week.
Have a Aquaclear 70 right now. Getting a Fluval 100 canister

 

[bkiggy]

Ph went down too. From 7.6 to 6.4 ? Never meant to do a fish in cycle I know it is harmful to the fish , my poor elephant nose, they are so sensitive.... But all have lived so far
Goin to do a WC tonight.

 

[tiger terror]

Have you done anything differently? Is it filled w/treated tap,ro,mixture of both or did you change from one to another? Check your tap water source if so by testing ph right out of the tap&also fill an open top container - let it sit over night& test that to see if there's diff in the ph overnight...

 

[jlk]

Water changes, water changes!! Your good bacteria are working in overdrive to try & convert the ammonia- they need carbonates (KH) to do this. As they use up the carbonates, your ph becomes very unstable and will crash as you are seeing. You really need to stay on top of your testing & water changes especially if your nitrites are off the charts. You need to drop them down under 1ppm if your using a product such as Prime or Amquel Plus- any other water conditioner, under .25ppm.

 

[bkiggy]

Nothing different. Water quality is ok out of tap. I did back to back WC to get ammonia down and that dropped PH
Doing WC today to get nitrite down
if fish survive all this it is a miracle !!!!!!!!!!

 

[bkiggy]

Yes using Prime and Stability as bacteria additive

 

[tiger terror]

Yes using Prime and Stability as bacteria additive

Your doing good...keep patience through the process along with pwc's to keep ammo& nitrites at tolerable levels..fish-in can take while to get through,kudos to you for having the proper test supplies,prime&stability..

 

[bkiggy]

I NEVER meant to do fish in cycle. -my bad

I did a small water change and will redo in the morning. Keep an eye out for stress. Everyone seems ok and I have babies swimming around so it (water) can't possibly be that toxic !!!!!

 

[bkiggy]

Last night small water change, this morning small water change.
Ammonia still 1.0
NitrItes off the chart
NitrAtes showed up overnight 5.0/10

Still do water changes? NitrAtes take it all down right?