New and confused, HELP PLEASE!

[Nikki773]

Not even sure where to begin. So I'm very new to this, this started by my daughter winning some goldfish at a carnival and has turned into me getting very interested, very fast. Goldfish are gone, onto new fish. I have a 10 galloon tank with a Tetra 2-10i filter, and a round air stone. No heater right now, don't think it's needed yet. I have a male balloon belly Molly, and 2 red gold tuxedo guppies, all juveniles. I started the tank May 29th and got the fish the same day. I now understand that wasn't the way to go, I've don't a lot of research and have learned allot since. I'm using test strips right now, waiting for the good test kit to arrive. Yesterday my ammonia level was at stressful according to the bottle, so I did a 25% water change with vacuum. I used Tetra aqua safe with the water change. I took a sample today to petsmart to have them test and readings were Ammonia .25, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Total Hardness 75, Total Alkalinity 120, pH 7.2. All my readings lately have been the same except Alkalinity was 40, not sure why theirs said 120. Ammonia was reading 0 before. When i was at petsmart the lady told me to use api quick start to help with the ammonia. As soon as i got home i put it in. Six hours later tested ammonia and it's reading safe level. When I got the fish the Molly became sick with ICH, he was treated and is better. So my question and problem is... My Molly has been gulping air from the surface for days, noticed it after he got better, and now tonight I noticed one of my guppies is losing color. I don't no what to do, is it the ammonia even though I've been doing water changes, of it bcuz I used aqua safe yesterday and used quick start today? I hope I've given enough info. Please help me before I lose any. I was so upset when I thought I had lost my Molly and then struggling to get better. Thank you.

 

[Delapool]

Hello,

Welcome to the forum

I guess this is being hopeful but my mollies sit just under the water surface sucking in water (and I guess anything else) all the time. Could it be that? Also fish can have colour fade at night and back in morning with lights on. Could that match?

 

[Nikki773]

With the Molly I was thinking that it was just something normal for him, sometimes he goes down to the bottom and hangs out in the castle for a while just fine, so hearing that someone else's doors the same reassures me that's it's normal for him. Thank you!! This is the first time the guppy has lost color like this but the other ones color seemed fine. I just checked on them for the first time this morning and his color is back!! Thank you so much for answering me back, now I know if it happens at night not to start freaking out. We've lost a couple fish already and I really like these three especially the Molly and I will be devastated if I lose them. Thanks again SO MUCH!!

 

[Delapool]

No worries, if it gets problematic just post again.

(And always hoping for pictures of new tanks and fish as sadly getting more tanks is not really possible here ).

 

[Nikki773]

More questions, this is so confusing, can't wait until I can sit back and enjoy and not stress so much. When I started the tank I added Tetra Safe Start and I just read that when you use that your not suppose to do water changes for 2 weeks, week I've done multiple water changes already due to issues. So question 1 is did I mess up the safe start and if so what do I do? I tested the ammonia and according to my strip it's at a stress level, it doesn't give numbers. I've just been reading about the API Quick Start and I'm reading that it doesn't work and pointless to use. So I was going to do a water change to lower the ammonia but I'm concerned about how the Safe Start works with the whole no WC and what I do about ammonia levels then? There might not even be any Safe Start left bcuz of the previous WCs. I was cleaning out poop every morning to try to keep ammonia levels down but then I'm reading how the food and poop feed the good bacteria. So question 2, should I not be doing that. I try to research my questions but I'm not finding straightforward answers to my specific questions. I know I have more questions but this is all I can think of right now. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Delapool]

The bacteria in a bottle products can be hit and miss on working. See if they look stored in a cool area in the shop - one of the fish shops here has practically no air conditioning in summer.

Make sure you get ones that deal with cycling a tank (not just adding sludge destroying bacteria).

The bacteria take a day or so to latch onto a surface. So if possible water change, add product and then leave tank for a day.

All up though, water changes have pretty much never stopped a tank from cycling. So just concentrate on keeping ammonia levels safe for the fish.

Any ammonia reading means somewhere, somehow bacteria will be growing to use it.

Also you could test tap water just to get a base line reading.

 

[Nikki773]

Thank you so much for your help!!

 

[Matt68005]

Any ammonia for extended periods of time will make a fish sick. The stress from moving can too. It is usually best to cycle a new tank for 2-3 weeks and let the ammonia build up so that the tank can cycle and be ready for new fish to be healthy.
Prime can help cover it up, but will not stop completely the damage it does.