Ammonia levels high

Question
Hi

I have jewel 190 trigon this has been set up and running for the past 4 weeks, initially we added some plants then after one week we added 5 dinos and 2 bronze cat fish. All appeared to be going well so a week later I added 2 clown loach and 5 rosie tetra everything was still okay so a week later I added 12 platties and 2 upside down catfish then last weekend I added 10 neons and 5 harliquinns. I realised something wasn't right when the neons started dying the following day. I teted the water and all appeared fine but the water was a bit cloudy I did a partial water change and this didn't help it seems to have got worse day by day so I did an ammonia test this was below 2 so I started treating with ammo lock but it has got worse,today I did a test and it had gone up to 8 I have taken 80 liters out and I have also added nutrafin cycle. The fish appear to be okay at the moment, is there anything else I should be doing.

Thanks
Tony

Answer
Hi

You didn't let your tank cycle properly which is why you are having problems now. You should have added the 5 danios and let them cycle your tank for 4 - 6 weeks before adding any other fish. You have overloaded your tank when it is starting to build up new bacteria. You need to keep doing water changes (25% for the next couple of days) and keep checking your ammonia levels.

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Rach