RBA

i have three zebra danios in my 10 gallon tank, for about 6 days now and my tank is going through a nitrogen cycle.* My readings last night were nitrite o.5 and nitrate 20.* Can i add 2 or 3 more zebra danio or do* i have to wait more?* Please help me out.* Thank You

armadillo

Hi RBA. You might want to to a water change, because your nitrates are really high. Better wait for the experts for the original question, though, but I would say it's always better to wait.

marek313

Something doesnt sound right. If you never had fish in that tank I dont see how your nitrates can be at 120 after 6 days. After 6 days of cycling you should have ammonia and maybe some nitrites but no nitrates. Either way if nitrates are at 120 your fish should be very sick if still alive. Nitrates should be below 20 in a tank. I'm not sure how you test your water but something is off. I would do 50% water change and retest.

Luniyn

If you are using test strips then that could be the problem right there. They are extremely inaccurate and can lead to false readings like that which simply aren't even close to reality. We had a member that found 100ppm Nitrate in his tank (which as mentioned is very toxic at that level to the fish) and went into water change mode only to find it kept going up. He went out and bought a liquid test kit and found that it was actually only 10ppm which is perfect. The test strips are just not accurate enough to trust for much of anything. The test kit that most of us recommend on here is this one from API.

As to when you can add more fish, you really need to finish the cycle before you subject more fish to those kinds of water conditions. There is a good chance of fish dying during the cycle process, which is why it's usually recommended to cycle without fish in the tank. But yeah I couldn't wait either and cycled with fish in my tank too . You might want to look into something to detoxify the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate like Prime or Amquel+. I used Prime in my tank (and still do) and didn't lose a fish during my cycle. Of course I was doing daily water changes though (twice daily once I hit the nitrite part of the cycle) but it all helps. Once you have a reading of 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite you can add more fish, but do it slowly or you will create another mini-cycle. Also in a 10 Gal tank, you can really only fit a max of 5 zebra danios and no other fish. Any more then that will overstock the tank and require a lot more water changes to keep the water quality clean.

Tom

Just do some water changes, about 10-25% everyday for about a week and everything should be fine, just check the water again in a week after the changes.
Tom

RBA

I just made a correction in the topic, my nitrate was not 120, it was 20. I appologize. Does it make sense now? Can you advise me now when i can add more fish?

Luniyn

That's much better, but you still need to do a water change. As to the fish, only when your ammonia and nitrite levels reach 0 should you add more fish and not sooner.

COBettaCouple

Zebra Danios are hardy fish and can survive a cycling, but i wouldn't add more until you have cycled the tank. what is your ammonia level at? Do you have any plants in your tank?

RBA

test strips that i am using does not check ammonia level. Is it very important to get ammonia level? I have plastic plants in my tank, 4 of them. I was told by a person in the shop that i dont have to do a water change until the cycle is over, for about a month, is that right? Thank you guys alot for helping me out. You guys are saving lives here

Luniyn

Nope that isn't right. If there are fish in the tank, waiting that long before a water change will almost certainly mean dead fish. You need to do about a 20% water change every day until your nitrite level reaches 0. At this point it's probably too far along in your cycle to have much ammonia left, though yes it is important to test for it to be sure it is kept low in your tank because that can be a killer. If you do the water changes daily, you might be able to get away with not getting a test kit but I'll leave it up to you to make that call. But as soon as you can today, do a 20% water change to help get those levels under control. Good Luck!

COBettaCouple

That person in the shop may have been a little confused.. you can go without a water change in a fishless cycling tank, but like Luniyn said that would mean dead fish in a cycling tank. The testing kit that Luniyn recommended includes ammonia testing and i'd switch to that as soon as you can to get the most accurate readings.

RBA

well i guess i ll do the water change today and i ll also get amonia test kit too. I ll let you guys know whatever happens.

RBA

I did water change today and baught amonia test kit. Amonia is almost 0 and so is nitrite. Nitrate is about 10. I think i should be ok if i add more fish tomorrow, what do you all think? Water change did help a lot. Thanks for the advise everyone.

armadillo

Just to confuse things (sorry to butt in, but am going through exactly the same thing as you right now, so we can compare experiences!). I had also bought an ammonia test kit, and it said that I had no ammonia. My paper test strip measured some nitrates and low nitrites. I now bought a more 'professional' test kit which tests everything, and it says that my ammonia is quite high , that my nitrites are getting dangerously high too , and that I have no nitrates . So I guess what am saying is that my experience of ammnonia-only test kits was not so conclusive. I thought I was 1/2 way through cycling and actually the worst is yet to come.

RBA

Well thanks for sharing this. I guess i ll have to recheck my levels with different kit. I should have never baught those test strips. We ll see how it goes. Thanks again

armadillo

Don't mention it. I've only just found out myself!

COBettaCouple

I wish they'd stop selling those strips.. they seem so easy and when we started we were going to buy them ourselves, but funny enough the lack of ammonia testing on the strip and a sale price had us lucking out with getting an API master FW kit since we didn't know the difference then.

armadillo

Yes, funny they don't have the ammonia test on it. Anyway, good riddance I say. I've been playing little chemist since I am back from work this evening. Those little pots are fun. They are a lot more time consuming though, but hey, why spend 2 minutes doing something meaningless, when you can spend 40 minutes and have real results (I tested the whole shebang on both tanks).