ammonia spike

Question
Hi,  I hope you can help me and sorry to bther you on Christmas! I have had a 60 gal tank setup for about a year. I have had very few fish and recently have added some new fish; at first a few platys and corydoras and then a couple of weeks later 5 cherry barbs and a few neons and neon black tetras (3) to my only neon. One of the catfish cannot be found and is presumed dead; I have taken the entire tank apart looking for the remains.(three times) Naturally my ammonia level is up (0,25-0.5ppm)No nitrites. I continue to do water changes daily the last 3 days (0.25%)using prime as my dechlorinator and to help with coverting the ammonia to NH4. Yesterday before the 2nd water change i found one of the platys at the top of the tank barely moving. After the water change (and little extra prime) she seemed better.Not sure what to do form here except keep checking daily??

Answer
Betsy,
The fastest and safest way to bring down the ammonia levels is by doing exactly what you are doing. This will happen if too many fish are added at the same times. Do you have any live plants in the tank? If the ammonia is not brought down, you will see the nitrite levels going up. Just continue testing the water daily and doing water changes depending on the levels, but do not do more than 50% at one time.