I just lost my goldfish.
I tested the tap water for ammonia and it came out at .25 That is the same amount of ammonia in my tank.
How do I fix this problem?
How do I lower ammonia if it gets high?
My tank doesn't have any ammonia chips. It just have carbon and crushed shells.
I would like to try to get another fish but I want to figure this out first. Thank you.

I am very sorry about your fish.

Once your tank is cycled , the cycle will take care of any extra ammonia that is present. It will treat the ammonia just like it was another fish's waste.

The nitrogen cycle is what keeps your tank water clean - free of ammonia and nitrite. The final stage of the cycle - nitrate - is removed either by plants using it to grow (fertilizer), or you doing partial water changes every few days or once a week to dilute it down to below 20ppm.

If you have ammonia in your tap water, the beneficial bacteria that colonate your filter will simply see it as ammonia to process into nitrite/nitrate, they do not care whether it came from a fish or the tap.

Build a robust cycle and your problem will take care of itself.

I'd use pure ammonia to do a fishless cycle to get your biofilter bacteria up to speed and then get another fish. Daryl's right on the nose that it wont' matter after your filter gets up to speed.

It is a problem if you try and cycle the tank with fish, cuz it's harder to keep ammonia down while the biofilter gets up to speed. You'd need an ammonia binder like Prime or Amquel.

Very good information Daryl. I didn't know that once the cycle is in place it will take care of it.

Ok. I will try that next time. My fish just died. I want to get more fish. Should I get a new filter sponge and clean everything? Just cycle the tank again and start over? Maybe the water isn't safe. How should I clean everything?