Pet Forum / Aquaria / Goldfish / March 2004

I need help getting an aquarium going.   This is our first aquarium,
and we've been struggling with it for a couple of months at least.
The problem started when the kids called from a visit to the
grandparents to tell us that grand dad would buy them each a gold fish
if we would allow it.   We said yes, and went out to buy an aquarium.
I know now that the aquarium needs to be set up for some time before
putting the fish in, and I've heard suggestions to put other fish in
for a while to let the tank cycle before we put the "keepers" in.
Unfortunately, the gold fish did not do well lying on the kitchen
counter while we waited for that to happen (we didn't really do this).

Our first mistake was to let them buy the fish before we were
prepared.  Now, we're trying to figure out how to correct the
situation.  We have accepted the fact that the fish may dye before
this is over.

We treated the water for chlorine, and put them in their new home.
Here's what we have:    20 gallon tank,  TopFin 20 filter,  air pump
with air stone, two gold fish (one about 3 inches and one about 2
inches).   The pH stays at about 7.8, ammonia seems stuck at 4 ppm,
nitrite 0.  We have a heater in the tank, but it's turned off and the
temp stays at around 70.   For the first month I kept the ammonia low
using tablets.   We decided we were stopping the cycle by doing that,
so I've let it go for about a month without doing anything.  The only
thing I do is add about 20ml of bacteria starter once a week.

We think we were feeding them too much at first, and we have cut way
back.  The last couple of days the fish have been kind of slow and
sometimes kind of sit on the bottom or hide under a rock.  They seem
stressed.  The tank became pretty much overrun with algae a few weeks
back.   We had to go out of town for about four days, and we were told
that the fish would be ok to go that long between feedings.  When we
returned home the water was crystal clear and the fish seemed fine.
However, the algae is starting to grow again.  

We tried moving the fish out of the high-ammonia aquarium into a
borrowed aquarium (with a 50-50 mix of water from their aquarium and
freshly treated water), but they freaked out.  - darting all over the
tank and slamming into the tank walls.  I moved them back after about
a day.  

Questions:
1) Am I stopping the cycle by bringing the ammonia down or should I
keep adding chemicals to do that?
2) Should I be doing water changes while I'm waiting for the ammonia
to peak, or would that interrupt the cycle?
3) Is there anything else I can do to get through the ammonia peak?
4) What should I do about the algae?
5) Why didn't grand dad buy them a pet rock?

I have seen questions similar to this situation on forums before, but
I've never found suggestions that seem to help our situation.  I would
appreciate any assistance.  

Thanks,
Dan