Forced_Induction

Hello everyone. Im new to the forum, and this is my first post. I have a question:

I know that I cant expect my tank to be cycled yet as it has only been about 10 days, but Im not exactly sure if everything is going like it should. I have a 10 Gal tank with 6 zebra danios right now. I had bought the fish before i understood the nitrogen cycle, and i dont have any other aquarium to put the fish in, so there is nothing i can do now unfortunately.

Right now im getting readings of:
ammonia: 1.2
Nitrites: 0.3
Nitrates: 10

After about 6 days, the readings went up a bit. From what i read, i thought the ammonia should have gone down once the nitrites began going up, and the nitrites to go down when the nitrates start climbing. Right now im seeing everything going up.

Maybe im just expecting too much too soon, im not sure. This is the first time for me. Is everything ok?

Nick G

Welcome to Fishlore! Don't worry about it! Everyone has made mistakes before,thats how we learn. And the pet stores don't exactly give the best advice. Your ammonia is spiking at the moment and this will be poisoning your fish. You need to do a 50% water change. Do this now. It will dilute the Ammonia. If you have a water conditioner add that too,Prime is good. You'll need to do a 50% water change everyday until the tank is cycled. At least the tanks only 10 gal though! Any questions just ask! Everyone is really helpful on here! Good Luck!

agabr123

First of all, I would definitely recommend that you do a 50% water changes using Prime (if you have it) ASAP. An ammonia reading of 1.2 is doing some pretty bad damage do your fish. In order to get yourself through your cycle without causing your fish too much harm, you should continue 50% water changes daily, also with Prime. Prime detoxifies ammonia for 24 hours, so for your first change you can add enough for the whole tank. Getting through your cycle this way will take longer, but will help ensure the health of your fish.

Your readings do look strange, almost as if you have a mini-cycle going or something. I can't really advise you on what to do about that, but do the water changes and I can guarantee you someone with more experience than me will be along to help soon.

Welcome to FishLore!

agabr123

Lol, Nick beat me to it.

You are right about what you read though, ammonia should spike first, then nitrite, then nitrate should level off around 5-20ppm (below 10 is preferrable) and needs to be kept down with weekly water changes of about 20% using Prime or some other water conditioner.

jdhef

If you are using testing strips instead of the API liquid test kit, your readings may be inaccurate. Also, have you tested your tap water? My water out of the tap shows 10 for nitrates, so that could explain the nitrate reading.

Forced_Induction

I am using Hagen liquid test kits, not strips. I didnt really trust strips either, they seemed like the cheaper alternative and not as reliable. I have not tested my tap water either. I will do that before i do the water change.

Thanks for the help.