high ammonia levels in tank...how do I fix this?

[lilgooglybears]

:sad

we've been treating our fish thinking they had Ich, but found out AFTER taking a sample of water to our local pet shop that the water had HIGH levels of ammonia instead. we lost 5 already.

my question is this: how do i avoid this and how long will it take for the fish to look normal again?

 

[SBA]

quite hard to say with the information you provide!

tank size? filtration? bioload? plants? actual test results (ammonia, nitrIte and nitrAte for now), maintenance schedule, cleaning methods are all things that would help...