Ammonia issues

fishyfishy86

I cleared out my 90l tank because I wanted a change and the fish went to a great home. Anyway I had always had an ammonia problem with this tank which I put down to overcrowding. I cleaned the gravel thoroughly and scrubbed the sides with a scubbing pad and then filled the tank with fresh water, added water conditioner then let it run with the filter for 2 weeks (I didn't know about cycling) 3 days before I got the fish I found out about cycling too late. Luckily you can cycle with the seachem products. So I started that. The fish arrived a bit distressed after their journey. 8 mollies and 9 platys. The ammonia level was 0. Then the platys started going up to breathe air so I checked and their level was 4! I added Prime but it wouldn't come down so I did a pwc to no avail. Rung local pet shop, they said to use ammolock immediately so I did. They are still up the top but there seems to be nothing more I can do for them. I did wonder if it was the tonic salt I added for my mollies but platys are meant to like brackish water. What do I do?

AbbeysDad

Way too many fish to add to an uncycled 90l tank!
You don't want or need the salt.
I'd say you need to do 50% water changes daily until the ammonia levels are under control.
Note that prime converts ammonia to ammonium, but most tests kits would still report this as ammonia.

fishyfishy86

I guess I'm a wannabe fishkeeper who didn't do her research. Thanks for the advice on water changes, I've started doing those. I'm also using prime and stability and one of those sachets you put in the filter. They are still reading 4 though which isn't ideal. Strangely enough my other three tanks aren't doing too bad. Maybe cos they are smaller.

fishyfishy86

Oh I forgot what you said about prime. I knew ammo lock only converted it but not prime. maybe that's why my reading is so high....

MinaMinaMina

Yup, what AbbeysDad said, just want to add that you should do those 50% daily water changes until BOTH Ammonia and Nitrite are consistently at 0. Then you can move to 50% weekly as long as your Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0 and your Nitrates are at or under 20ppm.