In message , Fuzzy Orange
writes
Szaki wrote:
PetsMart sells or can be bought on line, water testing kits. One I like, has
5 small pads on it, (Quick Dip 5-N-1 Test Strips) Made by Jungle, testing 5
different conditions, including Nitrites. You don't have to be rocket
scientist, just match the colors. Cost about $12, mine lasted all most 2
years, depends how frequently do the test.

Bit more expensive in the UK

But theres a local pet place that does free water testing
Took some today and the guy said that the ammonia was ok -slightly above 0

But said the nitrate or nitrite was too high
came up mid way on his scale instead of 0

He told me not to change the water because that would make it worse??

if I were a cynic, I'd say he was hoping you'd be back in a week to
replace your dead fish.
He has a point in that if the tank is cycling, removing part of the
water will slow down the cycle. Marginally, I believe, but I'm willing
to be corrected ;-)
HOWEVER if your fish are suffering you should do regular, large water
changes. The tank _will_ cycle anyway, and you will probably save your
fishes lives.
You are going to need to do frequent water changes as a matter of
routine even once the tank has cycled, and you should certainly be
vacuuming the bottom regularly (if you have gravel you have to make sure
to work the bottom of the widget all the way down to the base of the
tank); otherwise you might as well not bother changing the water.

With your fish-load I think you'd need to change near to 50% of the
water weekly to be sure. Don't take me for an expert, I'm not; but I did
have to find out a lot about tank hygiene in a hurry earlier in the
year.

best of luck,
--
sophie