Newly Established Tank

[Desiree]

So I recently completed a fishless cycle and purchased two little ranchu for my 30 gallon tank. That was Saturday, today I tested my water and am showing 0.25 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, and less than 5 Nitrates. It's like my tank never cycled to begin with?! I'm about to do a water change (my 2nd since I bought the fish), anyway, I'm wondering if this is just a "bump" in my cycle? While this is happening I will do water changes every other day to keep the ammonia levels to a minimum, sound okay?

Also, I've realized that I have WAY too many river rocks in my tank. My little ranchu really struggle to reach their food, as it's falling between the cracks out of reach. My question is... would it really mess up my cycle if I got rid of about 10% of my rocks?

I also have a filter pad hanging out inside my tank which I displaced to make room for ceramic media in the filter. Since it had some bacteria on it, I submerged it in the tank to keep the bacteria. Since my filter's been up and running for a while now with the ceramic media, would it be okay to take the filter pad out of the tank? Or would that mess up my cycle?

Sorry for the longwinded post.

[heidiinatree@yahoo.ca]

it could be a bump keep an eye on it ..as of now I would not remove the rocks ..you need to know what your tank is doing first ..I would either move the rocks to one side of the tank and feed on the bareside or put a glass bowl and drop the food into it for feeding

[koko]

Most likely a water bump. When you add any fish to the tank it will make a slight increase in the ammonia levels one reason you should only add one fish at a time. This lets the tank catch its cycle back up again.

Dont worry just keep an eye out and with in a few days it should be back to normal. Dont worry about taking the rocks out right now, just do what "Heidi" said then later you can take some out