ammonia burns and bettafix

[vivien]

so i noticed my bettas fins were changeing having small holes and becoming ragged and im sure its due to the ammonia spike that killed my cat fish, i got rid of all the ammonia and started on the API bettafix but it says do the treatment for a week then do a small water change,
well that would be fine besides that fact the ammonia is rising again, and i cant do a water change i dont think. (based on the instructions)
because of the hours im working at the moment i have no time to buy any ammo lock or anything for a few days and the treatment only started this morning with the betta fix.

i have a faulty gravel cleaner also which made cleaning out all of the uneaten foos impossible but im sure i got most of it. but thats clearly not enough if its rising again.

how do i remover the ammonia?

[Butterfly]

Why is your ammonia high in the first place? Is your tank cycled? Does your tap water just have a lot of ammonia?

I'd move your fishes to a small hospital tank first and fill that with bottled water/spring water with stress coat so they can recover. Then, worry about how to regulate ammonia levels(planted tank, cycling, getting a new vacuum, not using gravel, instead using pipettes to get the poo out. I use 4 cent pipettes to remove waste and test my water. Works great. not so mcuh with gravel though, but I've never tried.

[vivien]

i use syringes to cleen out poos and uneaten food.
the ammonia spike was because the bottom feeders food broke up so quick and i had trouble cleaning it all out.
i have no small hospital tank, have no time to buy stress coat either until thusday.
im going to buy a smaller gravel so food cannot get stuck between my larger ones.

i only have the one betta in a 12L tank.
my tank is cycled and he looks happy and fine, his fins are showing some problems but other than that hes a strong fella.