cycling and fish in quarantine.

Question
Hi Karen, I previously asked you a question about my new Oranda who had a little red lump. He has been in quarantine for almost 2 weeks and is doing fine. I as anxious to add him to my 55 gal with one smaller Black Moore. The problem is that the 55 gal has just started going through the ammonia spike period of cycling. It has been at 0.5ppm for 2 days and I have been doing 25% water changes since then. I don't know if I should go ahead and add my Oranda( 3.5 in w/o tail)or if that would increase the bioload and mess things up , and be more stressfull for both fish.
The 10 gal quarantine tub is needing a 50% water change every day. I did 30% one day and he started bottom sitting until i did a second 50% change. Should I wait and let the tank cycle before I move my Oranda? I wonder how long that will take with one (1.5in w/o tail) Moore. I really love my fish and want the best for them. Thanks, Diane.

Answer
Dear Diane,
Well this is a tricky one. To move your goldfish to an uncycled tank, or leave him in the tub where he isn't doing much better anyway?

Is there anyway you could help your tank's cycling along by "seeding" it with some bacteria from another healthy aquarium? Taking some gravel or filter media (a sponge filter is great) from an established tank will help jumpstart your cycling. If you can't then you may want to look into the many bacterial additives which are available at your local petstore such as "Cycle" or "Biospira" These may not "cure" your tank's ammonia problem, but they can help it along. Cycling with goldfish can be very difficult. This is sort of a no-win situation unfortunately. Either way the poor Oranda may be in poor water quality.

If I were you, I think I'd move the Oranda into the 55gal and be sure to feed the goldfish very lightly to make sure to not add anymore ammonia to the system. When you get ammonia above safe bounds, then a 30-50% water change may be needed in order to keep it safe for your fish. Smaller water changes may not be enough. You can also use a ammonia neutralizing water conditioner, Amquel+ and Prime are two very good water conditioners I highly recommend, and they can help relieve ammonia stress on fish during hard times like this.

Hang in there, with time and patience your aquarium will cycle and I hope your Oranda and Moore make it through!!

Best of luck!
Karen~