biological filter on freshwater

Question
QUESTION: Hi I have a 30 gallon tank with 5 medium sized goldfish in it.
I have never been able to keep the bacteria I need for the ammonia filtering process. I have tried everything I can think of but nothing seems to work my ammonia is off the chart and the only thing i can do is keep adding ammo lock and keep adding bacterial supplement and hope it will start up, but it hasn't yet. Please help me, I cant keep snails or plecos in my tank because of this and I REALLY want this resolved.
         With much gratitude, Matt
ANSWER: Hello Matt.
First thing is stop ammo lock. It is a product that disguises ammonia. The ammonia is even more powerful when you use ammo lock.
How long has this tank been set up?
It sounds like you are trying to get this tank cycled?
I need to have more info here but I will try to help.

If you never cycled the tank, you need to do a 75% water change quickly to dilute the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
The ONLY bacteria supplement you can use is Bio Spira.
You need to buy it refrigerated and keep it cold until use.
It will cycle your tank in 2 days then you can have any fish you want.
I will check this web site again tonight to try to resolve this for you. If there is anything I need to know...PLEASE ask!


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Well about one and a half months ago we (my fiance and I) got a fish from pet store when put it in our tank we noticed the next day white specks on his body so we thought it might be ick, and put medicine in the tank. Well after about a week of medicating it wasn't getting better so we put him in a 7 gallon tank by himself. We couldnt figure out what was wrong with him but he had like white fungus looking stuff on his face. We tried different meds, then finnally took him in to our pet shop for advice. The owner recommended a eatable pennicilin because it would work internally, well morty (the sick fish) wouldn't eat it. so we ended up buying some med that said on box "cures all fish ailments" we have been putting that in his tank for about 1.5 weeks now and it seems like he's getting better, but I'm still not positive the fungus, although has significantly decreased, is still there eating away at his face and his bubble head (not sure what thats called, hes a black oranda). Anyway that needed to be explained for the next part. See after we took morty outta the 30 gal tank and isolated him we were left with a tank full of the ick medicine which had made the water really nasty frothy and smelly. So we did a WHOLE tank cleaning 100% water change completely cleaned the rocks, and decorations, and scrubbed filters. well we put fish back in we use aqua safe, stress coat, a lil bit of salt and bio supplement. The water was still really filthy the next day, so I assume we dont have a powerfull enough filter. we had a filter for 20-30 gal tanks, so we got another for 40 gal tanks and are running both, but the water still remains filthy, i had been doing 25-50% water changes every 2-3 days. I have been checking water with test kit every week and ammonia is really hi like 8.0 ppm. So I figure our biological filter hasnt been established yet. So I have been just adding ammo lock to nuetralize and bio supplement to speed things up, but its not working. My fiancee has kept golfish for years, and I just recently started getting involved with them maybe 5 months ago. I thought she knw what she was doing having kept gold fish for years, but the more and more I got involved with the fish the more I found out she had little idea what she was doing. (Although I should have realized when her fish kept ending up in the freezer) Now I'm hooked I love our fish, and want to be able to take good care of them. I'm especially fond of our fighting fish Morty, we have spent alot of time energy and money trying to keep this fish alive, and I would be really sad if he doesn't pull through. Anyway our 30 gallon tank water has just started to clear up over the past 2 days. So I had thought "great" the biological filter is starting to work. So yesterday I checked the water levels and ammonia is till 8 ppm. Thats when I decided I needed more help with what I'm doing so I found you and wrote for help. Well thats the story hope I provided enough info w/o boring you.
         With much appreciation, Matt
P.S. If that bio spira stuff is what im needing to use please tell me where i can find it, ive nvr even heard of it before

Answer
Hey Matt.
Sounds like you have your hands full.
Well, the sick fish sounds like the first thing to tackle here.
I would have used a natural product called Pima Fix for any fungus, and Mela Fix for the spots. Try those, but there are no guarantees. Fish are delicate. All we can do is try.
The best medicine for spots is quick cure, but it is too late for that now.
As far as the tank not clearing and the odors, etc., You can use a product called Stress Zyme instead of the bio spira. It isn't as great, but it does work. Bio Spira is very hard to find. I can't even get it. Just ask your pet store. but if they don't have it, it would cost a fortune to have delivered from the Internet.
For the ammonia, the only thing I can tell you is patience and water changes. Try 10% water changes every other day until this thing stabilizes. Use the Stress Zyme too.