Amonia problem, new tank, guppy death..

Question
Hi Corinna,
I got a 10 gallon freshwater tank about tow weeks ago. I put tap water in and conditioned it. My water is very hard and the PH is alway about 7.8 or 8.0, ever after I tried to reduce it. So I put two fish in one week ago (one male guppy and one male Molly). Yesterday, the guppy began swimming at the top and looking sick. He died last night. I tested the ammonia and it had spiked (close to 4.0) I removed the dead guppy and took 50 percent of the water out and replaced it and re-conditioned it. Today the ammonia is at about 2.0 or 2.5 according to my test kit. My Molly seems to be doing fine. No signs of stress.
My question: The ammonia is still above zero so should I do another 50 percent water change, or will that prolong the natural cycling? I feed the Molly two or three times a day and the water filter sometimes pushed the food to the gravel so some builds up. Am I feeling too much? How much does my Molly need? I am not sure if he eats it off the gravel or not. What are your suggestions, especially about the ammonia?
Thank you for any help..
Raquel


Answer
You should really be feeding your fish (unless they are first born) once to twice at max a day. The ammonia will become lower if you feed the fish less because the uneaten food turns into ammonia. try not to change too much water when doing water changes this could kill the good bateria the fish need survive.
Corinna