new aquarium with high ammonia and possibly ich?

Question
HI,
I just bought a 10 gallon aquarium at my local pet store. This is my first time setting up an aquarium and therefore have no idea what i'm at. I followed the directions from the owner of the pet store , but he failed to mention that i needed to cycle my tank before adding too many fish. I still don't quite understand cycling.
So I got my tank home and wiped it out with just water before we set it up. I added water to it and only put water conditioner in the water. 24hrs later on advise from the pet store owner I added 4 fish to the tank. They seemed to be doing fine the first couple of days. On the 4th or 5th day I noticed  one of the fins was cracked on the black moor and that he was swimming funny, like round in circles. The next day I found him attached to the filter intake dead. Two or three days later one of my other fishes had this red dot below it's lip, then later that day I noticed two lumps by each eye. The next day I found him dead in the plastic decoration in my tank. That same day I noticed to white spots on two seperate fins on one of my other fish. I assumed it was ich. So I tool a water sample to the pet store and they said I had high ammonia levels, but everything else was fine. They suggested putting a cycling agent into the tank to help lower the ammonia, but said to treat the ich first. I  went home and started the ich treatment. 48hrs later the ich instructions said to do a 25% water change.Before i changed the water I tested for ammonia and ph ammonia was 2.4 and the ph 7.2. The day before the ph was 6.2 and the ammonia was 2.4. I changed the water 25%, made sure it was the right temperature by leaving it out for 24hrs, and the ph was 6.2 and there was no ammonia. after the change the ammonia was still 2.4 and the ph 7.2. My fish look really uncomfortable all the time now and the fins look frayed. I don't know how to fix this problem. I also feed them just barley a pinch once a day. nothing seems to be working. HOw long does it usually take for the ammonia nad ph to stablize and what do I have to do to get everything safe for the fish?

Answer
Hi Catherine,
A tank must be cycled before you put any fish in it.  Putting a fish in an uncycled tank, is sending him to a death sentence.  The first thing to do when cycling a tank, you need to buy a used sponge that fits your filter.  A used sponge is full of good bacteria that fish need to survive.  You could also ask you pet store manager for a handful of use gravel from an established tank.  Squeeze out the access water from the sponge, and put it directly into your filter, letting the water run through it.  If the pet store manager gives you a handful of gravel, do not rinse it, and put it directly into your tank.  Let your tank run for about 2-3 weeks, adding only water that has evaporated.  Test your water.  If you do not have test kits, bring a sample to your pet store, and they will test it for you.  However, it is a good idea to have these test at home, as they are very handy to have.  Basically what happens is that the ammonia in the water will turn to nitrites, and the nitrites then to nitrates.  When your water chemistry is right, there should be zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and your nitrates should be low.  Then, you can put one fish in your tank.  Wait one week, do a 25% water change, test your water again, and if it is still right, add another fish, wait one week, do another 25% water change, test your water, and so on.  Never add more than one fish at a time because your water chemistry would change, killing off all of your fish.  Never overstock a tank.  Overstocking will cause stress, and stress fish get sick.
When the time comes to clean your filter, always rinse the sponge in water that you have removed from the tank, and never under tap water.  This is so you will keep the good bacteria in your sponge.  A sponge is good for a very long time, until it is old ragged, and falling apart.  When you reach that stage, which will take quite a while, buy a new sponge.  Your water will have been cycled, and the new sponge will continue gathering good bacteria, but this won't happen for quite a long time.  Change your carbon every month rinsing it well under cool tap water.
After you have fish in your tank, do water changes of 25% every week to ensure that you have no ammonia in your water.  Ammonia, and nitrites are the number one killer of fish.
I hope this helps.
Lynda