New to the fish world :)

[Lilmack07]

Hi my boyfriend and I recently purchased a 20 gallon tall tank. I put white sand along the bottom along with plants and a few decorations. I have a 100 watt heater but I plan on buying one that you can actually see what temp you are setting it to. I have a Tera whisper ex20 power filter. I'm afraid we may have overstocked our tank we got a little exited at the store but I plan on upgrading to a 40 gallon eventually. We have a pale blue gourami, a dwarf gourami, 2 black Molly's, a Dalmation Molly, 3 big yellow neon fish, p(forgot the name) catfish, a sucker fish, 2 snails, 2 African dwarf frogs,and 2 ghost shrimp. Since we did so much at one time I know it's a lot on my filter. I've been doing 20% water changes every two to three days. But yesterday the ammonia spiked to 4 so I did a 50% change to try and get it under control. I also think my two black Molly's are starting to show signs of ich. It's a male and a female. He won't leave her alone its why I bought a female Dalmation Molly but he doesn't even look her way. But the two black mollys have begun rubbing themselves agains the gravel and what not. So I'm trying to get my tank up to 80-82 degrees to start the ich treatment. Anyways any advice? Hahaha hopefully im not doing everything wrong. Tank is a week old.

 

[Mrc8858]

I'm sorry to say but you made the same mistake most of us did and just jumped right in with no real research... First to begin your stock list is very bad some fish being to large for that size tank and temperaments that won't mesh well. Secondly your tank isn't cycled which could be the cause of the ich and the rubbing. There are articles on this site which will provide the needed information on how to properly cycle a tank and understand the nitrogen cycle. But welcome to AA and hope we can get you on the right track

 

[Calypso77]

Ya your tank is over stocked and you haven't cycled it yet that is a massive ammonia spike that could kill them all. You need to be doing 50% water changes every single day. And you need to cut back on what you have.

 

[Calypso77]

You will get the hang of this, it all takes time and is a huge learning curve for everyone.

 

[Mrc8858]

You will get the hang of this, it all takes time and is a huge learning curve for everyone.

+1 don't let your early mistakes stop you from continuing in the hobby cause 9 times out of 10 that's how we all began lol

 

[Calypso77]

+1 don't let your early mistakes stop you from continuing in the hobby cause 9 times out of 10 that's how we all began lol

Completely agree.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

to AA!

 

[Lilmack07]

Yea I know it's cycling. I started doing great amounts of research after all the fish were in there. I'm checking my levels everyday to make sure my ammonia isn't getting too out of hand. I know it's going to be a rough cycle with the amount of fish but just taking it one day at a time. As far as temperament with the fish everyone gets along so far. I'm a little nervous to do the ich treatment thou because it wants me to take out my carbon filter. Thanks for all the welcomes and advice!

 

[Convict2161]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Lilmack07]

I was also wondering I bought this tank used and ii came with a top fin 20 filter but I had gotten a new one anyways. Would it be ok to use it on my tank as well?

 

[Jess1ca]

I was also wondering I bought this tank used and ii came with a top fin 20 filter but I had gotten a new one anyways. Would it be ok to use it on my tank as well?

Sure, overfiltering is great, it probably isn't going to have any effect on parameters. You will still be doing water changes frequently until your colony of bb is established in your media. I kinda disagree with this

You need to be doing 50% water changes every single day. And you need to cut back on what you have.

You'll definitely be changing water every day BUT you might even have to do it back to back. Your Molly's produce big bioloads, as does the Pleco. You wanna do 50% to cut down the ammonia to half of ur reading, so that would have been 2ppm... Then so on till your levels are in a "safe zone"...IMO You should keep doing them until you are AT LEAST down to .50 ppm. It's gonna be much easier on your fish I fish in cycled a lot of my tanks, if done correctly there is zero harm done to the lil guys here is a link for ya, good luck & welcome

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-jus...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html

 

[Convict2161]

Just a heads up, you may wanna open up a thread in the freshwater section for more views.

 

[Lilmack07]

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much! I will also create me a new thread in freshwater. Thank y'all so much for all the advice and welcome to the app )