Nitrite Levels?

[jenny]

Hi Guys
Ok I have virtually been cycling my tank for bit over 3 weeks now, though my silly partner was telling friends last night that we have had the axies for 6 weeks, I know time flies but not that fast… giggles, anyways um all my test are good as in PH is at 7, ammonia is at 0 Nitrate is at a constant 20, but the damn Nitrite is hovering between 5 and 2, up and down every couple of days, I get excited it’s going down, then it rises… is this normal do you think, and is it just a matter of time before it finally drops to 0

 

[joan]

Jenny, any way you can take the water to a LFS (Local Fish Store) and get it tested? You may have a faulty test kit. More likely is that it's bouncing back and forth, depending on what's in the tank. You could do a small water change (20%), and test again, and see where it is. I think eventually it will finally drop on its own, right now it's just building up bacteria numbers.

 

[jenny]

I feel confident that it's an ok test kit, as the supplier was out of stock when I first ordered it...and had to wait for new stock, so it's not like it's been sitting on a shelf for weeks, u know.. smiles It is a Freshwater Master Test Kit.
I did do a water change and a big swirl around of thing yesterday, as my snails were eating the plant and they were uprooting them .. so I re arranged everything and removed the snails, so this may have affected things a little also. Though the water very quickly went form yukky and messy to wonderfully clean looking... very fast..