zero ammonia My nitrite throght the roof help!!

[neptune]

I have a 90 gallon tank started after 1st of year with 80 gallons live rock
I am curing it in the tank

I have done 4 large water changes
2 35 %
2 50%
I had put lr in tank without cleaning first found out in I needed to clean it took it out cleaned it off after 1st water change
so I have had three water changes after cleaning rock


my ammonia for the past two weeks is 0
my nitrite is high
my nitrate is low to nonexistent
I put 5 damsels in tank two weeks ago
3 died
2 lived and are healthy eating, swimming, playing, chasing each other


I even took water to lfs 3 days ago and they said ammonia is fine
nitrite is deadly, there test kit showed my nitrite as being off the scale

what is going on?
this does not sound right.

 

[Hara]

actually, it sounds perfectly right. Your tank is cycling. That is why it is a bad idea to use fish to cycle the tank. The water turns quite toxic for a good long time. First you see a high ammonia spike, followed by high nitrites followed by nitrates.

 

[canyon15]

Your right on track. The only thing i would suggest is don't do any more water changes untill your cycle is complete. Then do the large water change of 50%. There is no need for doing them now and you maybe slowing the cycle down by doing these water changes now.

 

[Macrosill]

You are in the middle of the cycle. You will still need to do pwc regularly to keep from killing the 2 damsels that are still in the tank. It may slow the cycle slightly but it is necessary when doing a cycle with fish. You should keep the nitrite low. It is very toxic to fish. What are the actual readings?

Good Luck,
Brian

 

[melosu58]

Agreed that your cycle is going on right now. This is a good example of why you dont use fish to cycle your tank. Even though I`m not blaming anyone. This is why I recommend the fishless cycle. What`s done is done now, Help those remaining fish by taking back to LFS or keep nitrites low.

By the way welcome to AA

 

[neptune]

Thanks for all the input !
Adding fish before my nitrite was zero was not my idea
Perhaps I need to clarify something:
The fish tank was a Christmas present - for someone else in the house.

Now
I love it
Its fun frustrating, rewarding, and EXPENSIVE.
All the things I though when I had freshwater fish

So the damsels were not my idea, but they are doing great
The only stress they have is wanting to eat every time someone looks at the tank.