Water Changes During Cycle

[mikeyerushalmi]

Hello all and thanks for your help. My tank is in it 4th week cycling with fish and my nitrite and nitrate levels have finally spiked. Ammonia is close to zero at this point. I wonder how many water changes and how much I should be taking out. Any suggestions?

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[plantnoob]

No reason to do a water change now unless you've seen some large change in water chemistry, say like a crash in pH below 6. You're close to the end of your cycling process. After you're done cycling, measure your nitrates and if it is too high, then do a partial water change to get it down to less than 20 ppm. Keep in mind that the 20 ppm is somewhat arbitrary, there really is no lower limit unless you have splinted tank. So just a little more patience and you should be good to get some finned friends!


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[plantnoob]

I meant to say planted tank.


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[mikeyerushalmi]

Wouldn't the high levels of nitrite be toxic to the fish?

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[plantnoob]

Wow, sorry. I did not see that you had fish in there! You need to be doing water multiple water changes to ensure that nitrite and ammonia levels are low or all your fish in the tank may die!


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[Caliban07]

Wouldn't the high levels of nitrite be toxic to the fish?

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How are the fish?


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[mikeyerushalmi]

They seem fine to be honest. There are even 2 fry in the tank hiding in the gravel rocks. I tested my water today and it looks as though nitrite levels are lowering.

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[plantnoob]

If you have any nitrites in the tank, I'd suggest a partial water change even if they look ok. Nitrite causes long term damage to the fish and their gills and even if they survive this, they'll probably die a lot sooner than they are supposed to. I'd definitely move the fry to clean water if you still want them. What kind of fish do you have?


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[mikeyerushalmi]

Platies and Cory catfish.

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