Where am I in the cycle?

[shiftingsands]

HI, I have a tank set up for nearly 2 weeks. I had 5 platies for a week and then last Monday had to rescue my sisters fish from her leaking tank so now have in my 22ukgall tank:

Betta 1
Gupies 15
Platies 6
Cardinal Tetra 1
Glowlight tetra 1
Bronze Cory 1

I added her filter media to my filter.

Ammonia and Nitrates have been 0 all the way through, but have had 0.5 Nitrites for the last 3 days. I have done a 15% water change daily since I got a reading for Nitrites but the level isn't dropping yet.

How dangerous is 0.5 Nitrites for my fish?
Should I do larger water changes?
Should I stop feeding for a day or two?
I have also read that adding a little salt to the water can help reduce Nitrites. Is this a good thing to do with the fish I have and if so how much would I use?

Also, what I dont understand is: How do I have Nitrites when there has never been a reading for ammonia? I thought Nitrites were a by-product of Ammonia.


Hope you can help. Thanks in advance.

 

[rdd1952]

First off, welcome to the forum;

Second, even though you said you rescued your sisters fish, you will need to rehome them very soon or risk losing all of them. You are very overstocked even for a fully cycled tank. Since you added here filter media, hopefully you are almost cycled. Since you aren't seeing any ammonia, it sounds as if you are but the fact that you don't have any nitrates would lead me to believe you aren't.

Nitrite at .5 is about the max you want it to get to. That level won't kill your fish immediately but would over a long period. Do 15 to 20 percent water changes daily to keep it at or below that level.

The general rule of thumb is 1" of adult fish per gallon (US) of water. Your tank is about 26 US gallons. Based on the fish you have, you are at about 50" of fish or about double what you should have. On top of that, you have 21 live bearers so you will have a LOT of fry soon too.

The cory, and tetras are schooling fish so they need to be in groups of at least 3 of their own species and the betta really shouldn't be in a community tank, especially with tetras in small groups as theyget nippy when in less than schooling groups and may attack the bettas fins. A lot of people will disagree and say that bettas in community tanks are fine but I have seen what can happpen to one. It is definitely risky.

As for having nitrite and no ammonia, it is possible in a nearly cycled tank. The ammonia eating bacteria form first so they could be process all the waste being produced and the nitrite eating bacteria just hasn't completely formed. Keep a very close eye on both of them because with the amount of fish you have in that tank, I'm afraid you will be seeing a lot of ammonia and nitrite soon.

 

[shiftingsands]

Hi,
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post such a detailed reply.

I have rung my LFS and they will take my spare male guppies on Monday if they sell enough of their stock over the weekend - phew So that should solve the overcrowding and any Betta fin nipping. I'll just keep one male for my 4 female guppies. That will give me some credit to buy some more cardinals/glowlights and a cory or two. Can I get a different variety of cory or should it be the same type?

The Betta seems perfectly happy and had lived in my sisters community tank for some time. The Betta I had years ago appeared to lead a miserable life constantly displaying to his reflection in a corner of the tank, but this one is very laid back.

I bought a 2 foot tank yesterday in case LFS cant take the guppies for a while. MTS here I come LOL. So I shall be setting that up today- so thats more juggling of filter media ;-)

Nitrites are steady at 0.5 again today so I'll do a 20% water change every day, if you think thats the right thing to do and hope for the best.
Many thanks