YOu would be well advised to go to a web based forum and get sound
answers from established folks not these fly by night clueless
arogant jerkoff, who think they are gods answer to the aquaria world.

On Mon, 29 May 2006 07:31:39 -0500, dc wrote:
"Koi-Lo" none wrote in :

How can it be high on NITRITES with no fish in it?

Through any already present organic wastes. Maybe it is old or active
gravel. Maybe his cat peed in it. You don't always need fish to cycle a
tank.

You were told wrong. The clerks in most fish stores know little about
the fish they sell. Feed them every day. Guppies and the small

Mature fish of almost any kind can go a day or so without food without any
ill repercussions. When clerks give this kind of advice it is less about
misinformation than it is about concern for someone crashing an immature
tank by overfeeding.

A fish introduced into a tank with nitrites present is probably going to
behave lethargically and may not be eager to feed. Unfortunately, out of
misdirected concern many novice aquarist try to compensate for this
lethargy by feeding larger amounts more frequently, making their problem a
whole lot worse.

A healthy fish can easily survive alternating days of fasting, it cannot
survive sky rocking nitrites or a large ammonia spike.