Major issues

[Countrydodgegal]

So this morning I woke up to an unexpected surprise my Molly gave birth to about 20 babies. I netted them and put them in a birthing net when I came back from the bet store my bleeding heart tetra was upside down still breathing. So I took everyone out and did just under 50% water change but by that time he was gone. But my lyre tail Molly (male) is swimming awkwardly his rear end doesn't seem to be moving but he is struggling to get to the top with his side fins. Does anyone have any ideas? I keep taking my water to pet store and they tell me it's fine. Bleeding heart do not seem to have red gills

 

[molliwopp]

You need a test kit. Without your parameters, guessing at what the problem would be useless.

Parameters of the tank and of your tap water would help eliminate possible causes.

 

[Fishfur]

I agree. I get that the kits are not cheap, but a master kit has the most important ones, and much less cost than buying them separately. I think Amazon has a pretty good price on the API master kit.

If you have a serious problem and no tests of your own, by the time you get a sample to the store and have them test it, it can be too late to do much to help your fish. And I'm betting they use dip strips, right ? I use them for quick checks, they tell me if anything has changed much since last time, but they are not as accurate as the liquid kits are, and I use them to check if anything is the least bit off.

If you can't afford liquid kits, dip strips are far better than no tests at all, even if they are less accurate, they will still tell you if things have changed since last time you tested.

You get a lot of tests in one bottle with the liquid kit, they last a long time, so they are worth it. How many fish do you have to lose to equal the cost of some test kits ? Think about it.