How to keep fish safe during cycling

[michkimron1]

New from Georgia, I need help. Can someone tell me best way to handle current situation. I have a new 10 gallon tank that has not cycled. Ammonia level is 1.0 and nitrates at 40. I have shrimp coming tomorrow and need to know best options. I als0 have two established tanks but have 0.25 ammonia in them as well. Should I put in the 10 gallon tank recently started, should I start new ten gallon tank while I wait for first to cycle and do large water changes and treat ammonia. I do have old filter from 29 gallon tank but not sure why ammonia showing up should I put that in . I put one plant from established tank and four marino balls. Please help

 

[thing fish]

if you are showing ammonia, then your tanks are not cycled. your best bet is to do enough water changes to keep your ammonia levels at or below .25

your nearly established tanks, how long have they been running? do you know your nitrite levels? what types of inhabitants? what is your water changing schedule? what do you do with the filter media? what conditioner do you use? do a major water change before you add shrimp and then keep up with the changes. sorry for all the questions, i know i asked a lot....but they will make advising you easier.

 

[michkimron1]

Couple years and recently added fish to the one just retested and the nitrate and ammonia level was zero for the old tank. The new tank is showing at 1 still. Old tank has a variety of fish it is a 36 gallon tank with about 10 fish , ghst shrimp. snail. The conditioner I use is API tap water conditioner. I change water twice a week 10-25 percent but haven't on 10 gallon yet. I have the ld filter media soaking in water as I just changed it today I read u can put it in new tank but not sure if they mean the utside or inside of the filter that came from old tank, the cloth material or the beads inside

 

[thing fish]

you can stuff the media right into the new filter...and you should do that now. the bacteria need a source of ammonia. if youre showing ammonia, then something is definitely up. you said zero nitrates but did you mean nitrites? how many fish did you recently add? whatever fish you added, was a source of ammonia that your bacteria needed to catch up with. when added slowly it isnt normally an issue, but if you add a lot of bioload quickly, it can cause some spikes.

 

[Daven]

I tested the water frequently and ended up doing water changes daily while my first tank cycled. I had already been given 12 guppies for the 25 gallon before i learnt about cycling. But changing the water daily kept the levels low and i never noticed any issues with the fish. Just keep an eye out and adjust as needed. If your old tank isnt showing amonia/nitrites id try and add a couple there. Might be a bit safer for the new guys while you get the new tank set up

 

[michkimron1]

I added five fish and bunchf shrimps, to clarify the filter has white fluffy outer coating anf btiny balls inside. Am I stuffing the white part in or the little black balls that are on inside. My guess would be the white stuff but just want clarification. Ty for helping me with this.

 

[michkimron1]

Sorry my letters stick on keybard in particular the o

 

[thing fish]

i am assuming that the black bits are charcoal...in which case, you can dump that out and stuff the white bag in. i hope you already did that...if not do it asap. how long was the bag separated from a source of ammonia?