Cycling with fish aquarium....

[fishfriend]

Ok guys and gals, i have been cycling a tank with fish for the last 3 and a bit weeks and we are nearly at the end of the ammonia part but now we have problems with Nitrites here is the info

Size of Tank - 100 Litre
Stock inside the tank - at the moment 1 black moor, 1 choc oranda, 6 minnows, 1 bristlenose, 6 neons (yes i am aware of the tropical/coldwater problem and have another tank cycling for the goldfish so this one can be tropical)
Planted/Unplanted - 2 amazon sword plants
Nitrite Readings - 4.0ppm
Ammonia Readings - .5 - 1.0ppm
Nitrate Readings - .50
pH Readings - 7.6
KH/GH Readings Unknown
Percentage and Recency of water changes last 3 days 20 - 30% change of water
Proximity to sunlight - no direct sunlight
Amount of time lights are on - 8-10 hours
Any Chemical Usage IE - no
Dechlorinators -
pH increasers/decreasers - no
Medications of any kind - no
Fertilizers - yes Sera Florena once a week
As well as anything other product being added
We use Aquatan water conditioner made by sera
The ammonia, nitrite and nitrate tests are made by aquarium pharmaceuticals inc.

Now the problem if you have not spotted it is the nitrite, it looks too high should i be changing more water in my daily changes like say 50% or just leave it?
The fish by the end of the day look like they are having a hard time in there so if there is anything else i could or should be doing?
And no i can not give them to someone with and established tank and the LFS will not take them back

Thanks

[lilmissmolly]

yup, you spotted the right problem nitrite is too high, and the ammonia is too high too. once your tank is established the nitrite and ammonia reading should be 0.
the problem is that there are too many fish in that tank, acually only the oranda and moor are a problem

100 liters is 26 gallons approx.
goldfish create alot of waste(poop) , so much you wouldn't belive how much space they need. an orandas minimum is 30 gallons and that is just if that is the only fish in the tank. and I belive moors need more space, I bet the fish store led you wrong, unfortunally most of us have started out that way so don't feel bad, what I would do is go have a serious talk with your lfs!

how big is the tank you are cycling for the goldfish? and do you think you might be able to use biospira?

I think that once you can find another tank for the goldfish the 100 liter is pretty much full too.

I'm really sorry for all that bad news

[fishfriend]

We have a 300L tank cycling for goldfish
It is only just starting so it will still be at least 4 weeks before we can add them
I will probably be moving the white clouds to the goldfish tank also, LFS told me that as long as the goldfish are small when i get them and are use to the minnows then there should not be a problem with dissapearing fish LOL
SO in the 100L there will only be 1 bristlenose pleco, 6 neons and then we are going to carefully choose what else

The ammonia is now 0 so i am guessing that the first part of the cycle is done, now just for the nitrites to do the same, wish us luck.

Thanks for the kind words

[lilmissmolly]

If you take gravel from an already established tank it goes much faster ;D

its really nice to know that you want to take care of your goldfish, some people I've told are just like I don't care at least theyll live for a bit. cough walmart cough

thanks

[fishfriend]

Oh my Gosh.....if only you could see me when i think my fish are struggling
I literally want to pull them out of the tank and give them mouth to mouth, i hate seeing animals suffer and feel really bad when it is because of me that it is happening

Anyway the fish seem to be doing ok and the 30% water changes seem to be helping, please send cycle fast vibes this way so they can be happy again

[ctfishguy]

sending....sending....sending ;D LOL

Well just keep up the water changes and they will do fine hopefully, mouth to mouth won't help since most of them have gills i feel the same too, i paniced sorta when i saw one of my female guppies die, so i took the other one out and just plopped it into my main tank, (bad idea ) well now their both gone and i have a male left, so I'll get some more female guppes and some platies and a betta the next time i go to my LFS