New On AA but am Worried about 1 of my fish.

[dylan07]

So as you know from the title i am new to the AA world YAY!! I just started my aquarium about 12 days ago and i have a 10 Gl Aquarium, I have NOT yet done a water change or a filter change as i want bacteria to build up.I have 3 platys and 3 minnows to start my cycle, i went home for the weekend as i live at school in a Rez where my tank is and when i came back today one of my red velvet platys wasn't himself(aka i think he's a male) he was very slow and seems to be using his gills a lot faster than the other one. he also looks a bit whiter than before and just LOOKS sick. He hasn't swam much in the past 4 hours and is just chilling under the rock sculpture. My roommate fed them over the weekend so I'm not worried about that and all the other fish look healthy. Does anyone have any input on this it would really help. Attached are images of the 2 Red Velvet platys 1 is the suspected sick one and the other is just fine and an overall pic of the tank. Please send some feedback.
Dylan07

 

[Rodeo one]

Hi Dylan & welcome to AA, the land of info!
Whatcha got going there is a fish in cycle. Please, read the stickies under Freshwater getting started. Typically, you want to do a 50% water change weekly. Also, it s critical that you test your water often with a liquid test kit, most people use API.
About once a month, gently rinse your filter media in tank water to clean. And unless you re on well water, you need to add Prime to any water you add to the tank to treat for chlorine. Best of luck, keep the questions coming. You can do this & end up with a happy & healthy tank.

 

[dylan07]

Thanks Rodeo!! I did use a water conditioner to remove chlorine and also a bio support to help build up some bacteria, I didn't know about the media being rinsed in the tank water but I know that it makes more sense that way ! Anyways thanks for the advice

 

[Rodeo one]

Anytime. Some things I learned the hard way, would be great to help someone & spare them the frustration.

 

[dylan07]

Thanks Rodeo but i think i was just a little late the little guy died yesterday but everyone else looks good so i think he had something from the store!! ill keep posting stuff here. Also i did a test today before my water change and my Ammonia was at .25ppm is this normal for a 2 week old tank ??

 

[Rodeo one]

Yep. Ammonia s from fish waste & fish food. Now you wait for nitrites to show up & then nitrates. A cycled tank will have 0 ammonia & nitrites. Keep doing water changes & wait.

 

[dylan07]

Ok thank you !! That's what I've been reading that.

 

[Rodeo one]

How is your tank doing?

 

[dylan07]

It's going well these were my levels as of yesterday, I lost my other red platy the exact same way, I don't know if it was something they had I did water changes and tested the water and nothing looked out of wake. They seemed to die of skinning of the belly they just got really skinny in the mid section. It's alright tho everyone else looks great and happy.

 

[Rodeo one]

Glad it s going well. Never fun to lose one tho .