Any trace of nitrites or ammonia is unacceptable i'm afraid. If this is due to improper tank maintenance (untreated water change, too extensive cleanup, ...) those should disappear really fast, if this is not the case you will either need to treat the water or do some water changes until the situation is fixed. Just keep monitoring the water while keeping an eye on your fish. Laborious breathing, laying on the substrate, or any unusual behavior is potentially a sign of distress.
Ahhh... Then just keep monitoring and you should be okay adding the first fish when ammonia and nitrites hit 0. But don't wait too much, else the bacterias will died off of starvation. If you need to wait for fish, you need to continue adding ammonia to the tank continually. That will only leave more time for bacteria to establish. Then you simply need to feed very sparingly at first, and not clean your tank for the first month or so i'd say.
Well, hope that helps.
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