new to fish

[roxannenees]

I have had my fish tank for about a week. I started with 4 platys. 2 died unfortunately. But I had no clue about fish. Anyways I still have 2 platys. Well I received the api masterkit for fresh water fish. I ran the test. Ammonia at 0 nitrites at 0 and nitrates at 0. I have been doing 50% water changes daily. Can someone tell me what I should do. I am really new to this

 

[cgthebeast]

How long has this tank been set up? It seems that your cycle hasn't even started? Which is odd cause you have 2 fish in there. Did you follow the directions right on the testing?


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[Bbush]

What size tank?


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[Jaeroo]

I have had my fish tank for about a week. I started with 4 platys. 2 died unfortunately. But I had no clue about fish. Anyways I still have 2 platys. Well I received the api masterkit for fresh water fish. I ran the test. Ammonia at 0 nitrites at 0 and nitrates at 0. I have been doing 50% water changes daily. Can someone tell me what I should do. I am really new to this

Honestly, what I would do is: Give the two fish you have left to a friend or return them to the pet store and do a fishless cycle (if you don't want any fish to die). If not, the tank will cycle on its own with the fish but then they might die in the middle of the process and you will have to get more that could potentially die as well to continue the process along with cleaning the tank. The point of cycling is to build up BB (Beneficial bacteria). BB colonizes in your filter media and converts ammonia (a deadly chemical formed by uneaten fish food or fish waste that has broken down) into Nitrites and Nitrates (a safer chemical that will not harm fish UNLESS there is an extremely high amount of it in the tank). Each chemical will spike during the cycling process and at the end they should all be 0 or very low which indicates that the water is safe for fish. Your tank, depending on how long you've had it running, may or may not have already cycled. If you aren't sure, i would play it safe and start over. This article is very insightful if you would like to do fishless cycling and goes more in depth about the whole process: The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice I hope you can get everything back on track! Good Luck!!!

 

[roxannenees]

I am pretty sure I did it correctly. They were pretty simple instructions to follow. It is a 10 gallon tank. I really had no intentions on getting fish. My childs father bought all of this stuff for her. I didn't realize all of this stuff till after the fact when 2 of them died. I started researching.The 2 platys seem to be doing fine. They are swimming around and eating. I though i was beginning to understand until I did the testing. Then I was like what the heck