Still a newbie

[corykid]

Hey guys

As i said i did not know what a cycle was when i did my 15g and was just lucky no fish died this is my first cycle, but today (tank been goin for about 2 weeks) i saw my swartz cories were not moving my nitrite was just below 0.40 ppm so i did 1 50% change tested (same) another 50% tested (0.25ppm) tonight did another 50% that i just finished (still 0.25 ppm) what am i doing wrong?? my fish are moving again (i know 0.25 ppm is not as good as 0! but is still a safe level) what should i keep doin...and what should happen next with my tank?

Thanks guys ..... p.s. fish in my 55g are as listed in my signature

 

[Ulan]

Looks like a lot of fish for a tank that is still cycling, even if it's a 55 gallon. And most corydoras catfish are not really good cyclers. Some of them are quite sensitive, although I don't know specifically about Schwartz's Corydoras.

Adding new fish, like your loaches, will also result in a mini-cycle. That's probably what happened here. But it looks as if you have everything under control .

 

[TropicalNorth]

I found it took about 4 weeks to cycle my 50G properly. Keep monitoring your nitrites and doing water changes if it gets too high. The water changes might slow the cycle down (not positive on this) but it's better for your fish.