My new 9 year old fish named Peanut Butter

Question
Hello there!  
I have a long story that I will try to keep short.  My sister just moved out of her house after 10+ years as she was leaving the house I insisted that she take her 9 year old Fantail Goldfish.  She had him in a 20-25 gallon tank with a rather large plecostamus.  We transferred "Peanut Butter" in a bucket for the journey to his new home.  We put him in the same tank once we got to the new house.  

However, after several days watching him in this tank where the water was terribly cloudy and he looked very labored in his breathing I decided to set up my 45 gallon tank and invite him alone to come and live with me.  We sold the pleco back to the fish store, he was attacking PB way too often.

I went to a very knowledgeable place that specializes in fish and got all things needed to set PB up in his new home.  I got the live bacteria (bio-spira) and let the water set for 24 hours before acclimating PB to his new home.  He seemed thrilled and excited to be in such a large space for about 2-3 days.  Then he began to simply sit on the bottom of the tank in a corner and not move unless being fed.

I took the water into the store and had them test it.  They told me that the ammonia was really high so I came home and did a 25% water change.  I also bought a testing kit to be able to check the tank more often by myself.  This morning this is the results based on my own testing...

Nitrite level: between 8-10
Ammonia level: at least a 1.5 maybe a 2 but the color was like Kermit the frog green (dangerous- right?)
The PH was 7 -7.5
The GH was an 8-10 and
The KH was a -1

I know the ammonia is bad and the fact that the KH (carbonate?) reading was a negative where the water never was blue turning to yellow it was just constantly yellow....I am not sure what to do?

The time frame on all of this is rather short so....what is wrong?

Time Frame:
New Tank set-up Saturday the 7th.
PB released into the new tank Sunday the 8th.
Water checked and 25% changed on the 12th - Thursday.
Re-checked and still a problem - Today the 17th....

I am not sure what to do and I feel terrible that he isn't enjoying his new tank because the ammonia content is burning his gills and lungs...he doesn't look happy....

HELP!

PS. I have a bio-filter.

Answer
Hi Lindy;

Make a 50% water change right away to help lower the toxins. You can do a 25% to 50% change daily as needed to keep them from hurting him so much. You don't want to eliminate them, just lower them. The new bacteria colonies need something to feed on so leaving some will do that.

Bio-Spira should have taken care of the toxins but it may have been kept in unfavorable conditions at some point so it's potency was compromised. Or, you may be overfeeding PB. It's a common problem and we all do it from time to time. Don't feed him at all for 3 or 4 days to give the system an opportunity to recover. He won't starve. Fish don't really need to eat every day and can go for more than 2 weeks with no food at all. If there is any leftover food anywhere, siphon it out with a gravel vacuum when you make the water changes. Too much waste in the system causes toxins to rise. I don't usually recommend vacuuming the gravel in a tank going through break-in but something isn't right in there and it may do the trick.

Here are some sites you can read to learn more about what Peanut Butter may be dealing with and tips on getting him through this;

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/nitritepoison.htm
http://groups.msn.com/LyreTailsAquarium/usingsalttodetoxnitrite.msnw
http://www.bestfish.com/overfeed.html
http://www.firsttankguide.net/goldfish.php
http://www.goldfishinfo.com/feeding.htm
http://www.flippersandfins.net/goldfishfaq.htm
http://www.texaskoi.com/Articles/you_might_be_over_feeding_your.htm

Oh, and fish don't have lungs. Just gills. ;-)

I hope Peanut Butter feels better very soon...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins