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Hi folks. I think I screwd up. I set up my new 20gal. up the day after Christmas. I waited 5 days to move any fish from my old tank. I moved 4. I waited another week and added 6 small Neon Tetras. I kept testing the water and it was fine. I started getting algae in the tank, so got 2 algae eaters. Everthnig still okay. Last Thurs. I added 2 Dwarf Gouramies. they were all doing great. I did a large water change Monday and all levels were in line. Wed. morning, I lost one of the Gouramies. Couldn't find a mark on her. I retested the water Wed. night and the ammonia and nitrites had spiked! I did a 50% water change and the levels were normal again. I retested this morning and they had risen again. I added a 1/2 cap of Prime, as it says it destroys ammonia and nitrites. I just retested again and the ammonia levels are 0.25ppm and the nitrites are between 0.25 and 0.50ppm! What have I done! Did I add too many too fast?! What do I do now. Have I done something unrecoverable. How do I get this thing stabilized? Any help would be so appreciative. Sorry to be long winded but wanted to be as clear on what I have done. Thanks in advance!

You added way to many way to fast, usually it takes about 3 weeks or more for the tank to cycle. If possible remove all fish and start over, that is what i would do.

It was good to add Prime. When you say it first spiked, how high did it go before you put the Prime in? Be careful with the prime as it will have them piping for air if you use too much. Don't use the max amount, but under that and don't use more frequently than it recommends.

Do you have an option to move some of the fish back to the other, cycled tank to ease the load or has it been dismantled or unplugged? If the filter has been off without filtering, don't simply plug it back in. Toxins and deadly bacteria build quickly in filters not pumping oxygen rich water.

If you have freshwater aquarium salt add some as it reducees nitrite uptake into the bloodstream. The best type is like rock salt and Doc Wellfish is the one I use. It is slow dissolving. You can put 1.5 tsp per gallon into a disposable glad container, poke some holes in the lid and sink it. The salt will slowly dissolve and not shock them. This is a half dose for Doc Wellfish. For flake type (Jungle), predissolve in a partially filled bottle of preconditioned water and dribble in over a day or two to gradually raise salinity. Always have salt in the tank when there are nitrites, even a half dose.

I always recommend very slow stocking, even if seeded media and products like BioSpira are used. Transfer is stressful on the fish and the tank. By waiting a few weeks inbetween small additions, you allow both to settle.

Yes, the other tank was never out of service, as there are 5 guppy babies in it. I have moved the 3 biggest fish to that tank. The Gouramie and the 2 algae eaters. I also took into consideration, if they would bother the babies. I don't think they will. 4 of the babies are large enough anyway, only one is still pretty tiny. I am about to do another water change. Boy, I hope I haven't totally screwed up here. I could just kick myself. Thanks so much for your response.

Well, at least you removed some of the bioload.

Add bacterial starters. In fact, throw a handful of the gravel from the seeded tank into the new one. if it is a different color gravel, then use a brand new ladies knee-high nylon and bag some surface gravel and drop it into the new tank or even the filter reservoir if there is room.