New aquarium - one molly seems stressed

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nicole0701

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jun 23, 2013
Messages
10
Hello. I have recently started up a new aquarium. I had my aquarium up and running without fish for about 2 weeks. My friend advised me on the product Tetra Safestart, so that I would be able to add fish.

I have a 20 gallon tank and the temperature is about 78 degrees. I got two mollies to start out with, one dalmatian and one creamsicle lyretail. The dalmatian seems fine and happy now, but the other molly seems stressed. At first both were hanging out very close to the top of the tank. Almost seeming like they had trouble going to the bottom. Overnight the dalmatian seems good now and is swimming normally. The creamsicle is no longer floating at the top but is frantically swimming at its reflection for the pat several hours.

Is this just normal stress being new fish?? Or should I be concerned.

It's only been about 48 hours, and I have checked the water 3 times already.

The pH is 7.6
Nitrites = 0 ppm
Nitrates = 10-20 ppm (it is so hard to tell between 10 and 20 ppm on color sheet)

It is also very hard to tell between 0 ppm and .25 ppm ammonia.

I tested straight tap water to compare my results and they are nearly identical. After staring at them both against the color chart, the aquarium water may have a slight green tint (I stress slight), so I recorded it as .25 ppm but could be even lower or 0.

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. I know the fish in cycle is not the traditional or good method, but after doing a lot of research online, the TSS seemed to have good results, so I gave it a try.

Thank you.
 
****update***

Wow so apparently the creamsicle molly was pregnant. Definately just saw some tadpole looking things come out of her wow.

Now what???
 
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