Have been cycling 10 gal tank now for 51/2 weeks. Last week I had ammonia trouble and got good advice from you all. The good news is that the ammonia levels have almost cleared. This week its Nitrites. The current tank situation is Ammonia (trace) Nitrates have slowly climbed to to 10 (mg/L) -from last weeks (5mg/L). :angry: But the Nitrites have rocketed to 5 (Mg/L) I had no choice but to do a 50% water change. Suprisingly Goldie seems fine. Nitrites are down now to 0.5 (mg/L) following the water change.
I am worried Goldie may be seriously damaged by these Nitrites- how high and for how long can Nitrites be present before doing any damage? Also how long does this Nitrite phase last? Its all very stressful.

I too am having trouble with nitrites and getting agitated!!
I do know, however, that nitrites don't become a serious problem for goldfish until they reach 2.0 or higher, so as long as their below 1.0, your fish are fine! and i also know adding some salt to your tank reduces toxicity of nitrites

hope this helps until some who knows more comes along!

I'm not sure I can help much, but it took about 12 weeks for my 29 gal. I'm not sure how long it takes until the fish get sick. I had nitrites at 10 for close to 3 weeks. I treated with the salt and water changes.

I posted just to give you what happened to me. I'm sure someone will be along to give you specifics.

Laurie

LaurieP is half or even three quarter right..

Changing water will ehlp to bring down nitrIte and salt helps to reduce stress (not yours, but fish), reduce nitrIte effect and eliminate some weaker parasite...

but changing too much water there again affect your tank when cycling.. the cycling will be often disturbed.. thus only change as little as 10%- 20% is more than enough.. unless your nitrIte reading is way too high.. one way to bring it down is to reduce feeding during this period.. but with salt of 0.1% (1 teaspoon per gallon) will help the fish to tide through this nitrIte infested water.. and without disturbing water cycle, it will be over in less than 1 week.. keep nitrIte reading at 2 - 3 will do the job.. not more and not less than 2 as this will dramatically slow down the process.. anything more is possible with salt, but still risky..

meanwhile, dun be soft hearted when your fishes beg for food..