high nitrite and nitrate levels

Question
I have a ten gallon tank. Ihave a level of 5 ppm of nitrites and nitrates. The tank is 5 wks old. It has six fish in it, a blackfin shark, 2 irredescent sharks, 1 rainbow shark, 1 red tail shark, and a pictus catfish. I added the safe start to it and have a ten gallon filter system plus a five gallon filter system on it. I feed the fish only once a day and not a lot. Could you please give some advice?

Thanks,
Gary

Answer
Hi Gary

Well the first advice I must give you is to research the fish you want to keep prior to buying them. Doing so will save you a lot of heartache and money down the road. Did anyone tell you how large the fish you currently have will get?

The Columbian Shark (what you called Black Fin Shark) will reach 12-24" The Iridescent Sharks will reach 14" The Redtail Shark and the Rainbow Shark will both reach 5-6" and the Pictus Cat will reach 10"

You're going to need at least a 100 gallon tank to keep these fish happy and healthy. Keeping them in the 10 gallon for much longer will stunt their growth causing them to have very unhappy and short lives.

To answer your question, your tank is still cycling. It's when you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and detect nitrates that your tank has finished cycling.

You should never add bacteria additives. Safe Start is a good product but should be used only in cases where you have to add all of your fish to the tank at once, such as with African Cichlids. Continue doing small frequent water changes of about 10% every few days. Check your parameters again every few days but not immediately after a water change.

Seriously consider buying your fish a much larger tank. You may also be able to exchange them for small fish that can live in a 10 gallon.

I hope this is helpful to you, good luck my friend.

Richard