Hi guys. I stumbled upon this website after buying my bubble eye goldfish. I have a 10 gallon tank that is in the process of cycling. I got smart and bought some testing strips. I found my ammonia levels were great but my nitrites and nitrates are extremely high. Nitrates of 200 and nitrites over 10 for sure (it was off the chart). PH was 8.4, GH Hardness was hard, and KH of 300. I have done a water change and added aquarium salt and stress tyme. Anything I'm not thinking of? Obviously I want to quickly get this down, any suggestions?

THANKS!

Hi Kristy,

Welcome to koko's!

You did the right thing with the test and salt. Stress zyme is not going to impact on the cycling much but from your test results, the ammonia phase is over and it is well and truly in the nitrIte phase which is shorter and not as dangerous. However, with nitrIte so high, you run the risk that the damage is already done. Please check their gills. Make sure that they are not brown in color or tattered looking. If they are brown then it means that they have nitrIte poisoning and they will need extra oxygen in the water to support them as their red blood cells have been damaged.

The most effective way to reduce nitrIte and nitrAte is via partial water changes. With such high levels, you really need to do a series of partial water changes to have any real impact. How much did you change out?

So how long's it been set up?
If it's in the nitrIte phase of cycling, I don't see how nitrAte could be that high.