Ammonia effects on fish

Question
First off, I will appreciate any help/information you can give me and I would like to thank you in advance for your time and knowledge.  I have a freshwater tank that has been set up for 2 weeks 2 days.  I followed the guidelines for set up that came with the tank from Pet Smart.  I'm finding out through extensive research that this was not the best way to go.  They say "cycle" the tank for 24-48 hours before adding fish.  I'm finding out that this is the worst thing you could do to these fascinating little creatures.  I have a 29g tank with 2 mickey mouse platies (added after only 2 days) a dalmatian molly and a red wag platy (added after 9 days).  My question is, I'm reading levels of ammonia between 0.1-0.5 ppm for a few days now.  I have been doing 25% water changes every day to keep the level down ad much as possible.  Is this a good thing to do?  Also, what are the prolonged effects of ammonia on the fish?  I don't them to suffer for the rest of their lives because of ammonia.  They are showing signs of stress and irritation by "flashing/glancing" off objects in the tank.  It seems to affect the molly the most.  I feel like a horrible person watching them suffer.  Should I take them back to the pet store until I truly cycle the aquarium the right way (now that I've researched and know how)?  Or is this a temporary thing until the tank cycles and not permanently harm the fish?  I guess my main question is, can I leave them in there and they'll be safe or should I get them the heck out of there?  Please advise asap.  I can't believe, after reading up on aquariums, that Pet Smart recommends cycling your tank with live fish.  Thank you again very much for your knowledge and taking the time to help people out.  Best wishes.  Matt

Answer
Hi Matt;

Cycling with live fish is just fine. You just have to take precautions and you are already doing that. There are just a little bit too many fish to get them through it without daily changes and extra measures. There should be only one inch of fish for every ten gallons in the first 6 weeks of a new tank. Your 29 gallon should have no more than 3 inches of fish in there and I think you have more than that.

The ammonia level in there is really not that bad though and is indeed temporary. If it were 1.0 or over, the fish would indeed begin to die. Your water changes are helping. You can add an ammonia binding water conditioner if your molly is especially stressed. Ammo-Lock and Amquel are two of them I have used. It will render the ammonia harmless to the fish, but still leaves it available for the beneficial bacteria to grow on. Just be sure that your test kit is compatable with the water conditioner. It must be a test kit that does not use "nessler reagent". Otherwise you may get a false positive, or will show ammonia because it still detects the ammonia that is no longer hurting your fish. More about it here from Shirlie Sharpe, About.com guide;

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ammoniapoison.htm

The next toxin to rise once the ammonia goes down is nitrite (NO2). That usually starts in the third week so it should begin to happen within the next week or so. Aquarium salt is an excellent way to combat the effects of nitrite in your fish. Here is a good article about it by Shirlie;

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/nitritepoison.htm

Lastly, nitrate (NO3) will come up after several weeks. It's not nearly as toxic as the other two and is okay for it to be at 40 ppm or less. The only way to remove it is with partial water changes. That's why all tanks need a weekly 25% water change and gravel vacuuming at least every two weeks. Nitrate constantly, slowly builds up otherwise.

More from Shirlie;

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/watercare/a/nitrates.htm

And finally, my own page about New Tank Syndrome;

http://www.xanga.com/Expert_Fish_Help

I hope all goes well...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins