I Messed up!!

Your best bet now, beyond taking all the fish back, is to do the daily water changes and keep monitoring the ammonia. Your tank will cycle this way, but it's pretty likely you will loose at least the rest of the neons. Maybe the store would take back the neons if you are set on keeping some of the fish in there while it cycles?
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I thought I'd say something to this. Heat is correct that in most cases fishy cycling can prove fatal to some fish, and with the ammonia already going high, there may be irreversable damage done. However. It is a common myth IMO that a fishy cycle cannot be done without harming fish. It is also a little foriegn to me to reccomend taking fish back part way through a cycle. I am a firm beleiver that the fishless method is far superior for many reasons. However with that being said, fishy cycling can still be done without harming fish. I did many of them in the old days, as have others. it is up to the hobbyist to work a little harder for a few weeks to keep the fish safe. Lots of testing lots of water changes. keep ammonia and nitrite below 0.5 ppm at all times. this may mean 2-3 water changes a day with a heavy fish load. Fishy cycling doesn't have to harm fish and can be quite effective. in this case I would not reccomend taking any fish back that were exposed to 1.5 ppm ammonia, I would reccomend dilligent water changing and maintenance, and vigilent testing until the cycle is completely estabilished. then if overstocking is the case I would reccomend the fish be sold given away or re-housed after they prove healthy. Even then ammonia does cause permanent damage and whoever receives the fish should know that they went through an ammonia spike. I would not want a fish that had been exposed to high ammonia going back into my tanks quickly if I were an LFS owner, too much potential for problems. It is easy to make mistakes, take poor advice or generally just goof things up when we are learning or any other time for that matter. however once we know the error of our ways it is far better to deal with it and learn from the experience than to give away our problem and start over. Just my opinion, keep doing water changes, keep the levels low, and learn all you can for the next time. we were all new once, and hindsight is alwyas 20/20.
dave
 
Thanks daveedka for the advice. I did so many water changes yesterday that I was soaked buy the time I was done....not the best syphoner lol. I will continue water changes at 50%.....and I did consider taking the fish back to the lfs but was told they only have a 3 day window of return on the fish. I wish I had found you all before I started this..........Well I'll work hard and save the fish I can and hope.......
 
My comment on taking the more delicate of the fish back, neons in this case, was based on the thought that it may be a route of action that might prevent additional losses of the neons at this time.
I do completely agree that it is up to the hobbiest to keep up with the required needs of the water changes, testing, etc when doing a fishy or fishless cycle and throughout the life of their tanks, but IMO and my experiences with new keepers, not a reflection on you at all jerbear (don't take offense please), is that the time and care that needs to be taken to cycle a tank this way, with fish, is a lenghty and sometimes difficult undertaking that they were not prepared for when they bought all those cute/cool/pretty fish from the store. It also can be very discouraging for new keepers. How many were prepared for weeks of daily or multiple times a day 50% water changes? It's part of the learning experience of course, and with research ahead of time can be avoided to an extent.
There are always exceptions to everything though. :)

jerbear, keep asking questions and educating yourself all you can, it is a wonderful hobby!
 
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Heat no offence taken...Should have put more thought into this hole thing, as a well educated women I thought "heck how hard could it be"....Well I guess I know now. I'm not ready to give up,as I know you are all there to help guide me through, I hope you all know I appreciate all the advice. Thanks again. Can I do one water change directly after another or should I wait for a couple hours in between? I have to work this weekend(12 hr shifts) and would like to do water changes in the evening. Also putt the 6 remaining neons in a (large) breeding net as the all the other fish seem to have started picking on them, is this o.k? They are still in the tank.
 
FYI, the ammonia kit you bought tells you the TAN (Total Ammonia Nitrogen). There are two forms of ammonia, ionized and un-ionized. Un-ionized ammonia is extremely toxic if concentrated in high levels. If it get to 0.05 ppm it will cause gill damage, if it gets to 2.0 ppm death will occur. With the readings you had with the ammonia test and pH test and assuming that you temp. is around 78-80, your un-ionized ammonia is about 0.025 ppm. Here is a site to go to. They have a table to calculate the amount of un-ionized ammonia is in the water. It has a lot of information that could be usefull to you. The site is www.diveintofish.com/psm Go under aquarium care, then water quality, then click on the Nitrogen cycle, this will tell you everything you need to know about ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Also if you buy any ammonia treatments your test will still be possitive for ammonia, reason being is that the treatment convert un-ionized ammonia into ionized ammoia. Good luck with you fish.
 
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What does your tank ammonia test read after you do a 50% water change?

That will tell you if you need to do even more changes, or if 50% a day is enough.
About changing one right after the other, if the single 50% water change wasn't making a very big difference in the tank readings then yes I'd do another right after, or for that sake do more than a 50% change at once.

My attack on this, test in the morning, allowing enough time before work to do a 50% water change. Test again when you get home, leaving time for a water change, and even before you turn in for the night. IMO it's better to be safe than sorry. You may well find that one a day works for you, or that two are needed to bring down the ammonia readings.
 
Did test ammonia test today and it is reading lower at between .5 to 1ppm after doing 2 50% water changes. The cloudy water problem is clearing up quickly and all the fish seem to be over the ich problem but still adding salt and temp raised as only been 4 days. the neons dont look good but I guess with all this, it's to be expected will keep it up and let you all know how it is going.
 
I'd switch and do either more 50% changes a day or up your amount at a time to 75% .5-1ppm is still pretty high... you want to get it as close to 0 as possible. That's what I'd do, but I've not run into this troubles in my tanks *knocks wood* other's may want you to continue with 50% multiple times a day.

I know it's terribly depressing:(. But it will work out with your help. Keep testing and the water changes and posting on how it's getting along.

Do you happen to know anyone with a well established tank?
 
heat I did 2 50% changes and 1-1/3% water changes today and it looks good in there no cloudiness but still getting slight readings on ammonia so I'll keep up on the water changes. I dont know anyone with a tank but could ask the local Walmart for some of thier gravel or something but am nervous of picking up a nasty disease considering I seem to have nipped the ich problem.
 
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