tank 3 month old the amonia level is very high please HELP

[avnera]

I have a 26gal tank with 6 tropical community fishes (4 silver dollar bill and 2 small catfish).
I start with 22 fishes, the fishes start to die and then I found that I have an ammonia level of 8ppm.(than I start to learn better about the nitrogen cycle).
I am using an out side filter + another box filter inside the tank. I put cycle in the water every day.
the ammonia level was 8ppm till the 10 days ago and drop down to 2ppm because the water change I did for 7 days 25% daily.
The nitrate test show 20.
The nitrite test show 0.
What do I need to do next? More water change till the ammonia will drop to 0 ?(will the water change will stop the cycling?)
or just wait , when will the tank will be astablished?

[Allivymar]

Hiya avnera and welcome to Aquariumadvice.

Continue to do daily partial water changes if ammonia levels get above .5 [acronym:db6c452832="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:db6c452832] until the tank cycles fully and ammonia AND nitrItes both read zero. If you have levels of ammonia theres a good chance nitrites will show up (although occasionally they don't). Once that happens, weekly or biweekly water changes to keep nitrate levels below 40ppm should do you fine.

I do have some concerns about the surviving fish; first off what sort of catfish do you have? If they are cory catfish, they should be fine in a 26g (although they are schooling fish and would probably appreciate some buddies once the tank cycles). If they are common plecos they will get to be around 2 feet each (!!) and are going to be way too big for a 26g. Silver dollars will get to be around 8 inches long each (and around 8 inches high) and also will be too big for a 26g tank.

Oh, and that Cycle product? Is pretty useless. I'd suggest not using it; the ammonia levels might even be coming from that and NOT from the fish! I know the one bottle I had (before I dumped it) had nitrate levels over over 100 [acronym:db6c452832="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:db6c452832] from the bottle, and I've spoken to other folks who had tested the Cycle and found it contained ammonia!

[captainGregor]

Sorry, had typed entire post and the server glitched, so I lost everything

[azn dreamer]

Has you're tank been cycled before? I think that you have another mini-cycle happening. Because you have high ammonia levels yet you already have nitrate levels. Keep changing water 10% to control the ammonia levels.

[avnera]

thank you for help, know the ammonia level in my tank is 0.25 -0.50 [acronym:614749d3d2="Parts per Million"]ppm[/acronym:614749d3d2]
but the nitrite or the nitrate level is 0. what should I do know ? i know the tank is not cycled yet.

[Allivymar]

Its quite likely your tank never completely cycled as it was so over stocked; the fish you have in there now (if they are young and fairly small) are prob enough to let the bacteria catch up with the now smaller nitrogenous waste levels in the tank.

As mentioned in the above posts, continue to do frequent small water changes to keep the ammonia levels down. And you will likely see nitrite levels show up soon. Keep on top of those levels till ammonia and nitrites reach zero.

And again, what sort of catfish do you have, and do know your silver dollars are going to outgrow that tank. Hopefully you have a larger tank or a backup plan for them.