Ammonia off the Chart...

[Belasta]

Hi,
I have a 54L tank with easycrystal filter 250/300 with 2 gourami which I will be arranging a bigger tank soon for and 5 tetra which are in the same tank but seperated due to fin nipping by the gourami.

I have cycled the tank for over a month with just the decorations in the tank until I got the fish and the results were perfect.

1 week on since adding these 7 fish and my results are not as safe as I would like them to be and my ammonia is off the chart.

PH 7.6
HPH 7.4
Ammonia.... Not even on the chart - deep royal blue - highest on chart is 8 which is a teal colour.
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate 5.0

Is there anything I can do to bring these down fast before they do damage.
I've done a 50% water change just there and scheduling another soon and the filter has been replaced.
Have I missed anything - it's been so long since i kept fish that I've forgotten...

 

[Essjay]

When you say you cycled the tank for over a month, did you add ammonia during that time by following the fishless cycling method on here? If you didn't, I'm afraid you are now doing a fish-in cycle.

The first thing I would do is a huge water change. Leave only enough water for the fish to be able to swim upright. Make sure the new water is the same temperature as the tank water.
Then read these two threads
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-i.433769/
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/rescuing-a-fish-in-cycle-gone-wild-part-il.433778/

They will help you get through cycling with minimal harm to the fish.

It will also help if you get some live plants, particularly floating plants. These use ammonia as fertiliser, which will help to keep the ammonia level down with floating plants being best at doing this. Look at salvinia, water lettuce, or even water sprite (which is quite large) or duckweed.

 

[Belasta]

I did cycle without fish sadly, so I have done a fish-in cycle (dammit)
The tests originally done pre fish were fine but I forgot to introduce new bacteria before this.
Temp is fine but I'll read these posts and hopefully get control of the chaos!

Thanks