Did I skip the ammonia spike?

[coralgazer]

Ever hear of a minor or non-existent Ammonia spike before nitirite spike begins?

2 days after starting my new tank and adding a raw shrimp, I started testing.

Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= 0.75
Day 1: ammonia= 0.25 (going down?) ; nitrites= 0.75

Using a fresh new API test kit. Shrimp has a cottony coccoon surrounding it, seems to be disintigrating underneath.

Is my tank cycling? Why only a minor ammonia spike? What should I do now?

 

[coralgazer]

Meant to post this:
Day 1: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 2: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 3: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 4: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= not tested yet
Day 5: ammonia= 0.5; nitrites= 0.75
Day 6: ammonia= 0.25 (going down?) ; nitrites= 0.75

I used dry rock (homemade pieces); live sand; 5lbs of GARF grunge, and mineral mud in my sump

 

[kpiotrowski]

how much water volume? you want to see a bigger spike...kinda. Once you see nitrate then the first 3 stages are in place, just not stable yet. with zero amonia and trace to zero nitrite you can add fish one at a time for smaller tanks more for larger ( 100g and up). the bio filter is dynamic and is always only in so much quantity as there is food for it to feed on and proccess. example being remove that shrimp and wait a month without feeding it and then throw in a small fish and you will have another spike.