-Chris-
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hello everyone my name is Chris. I live in a small town just outside the Dallas/Ft.Worth area. Im just your average everyday guy that goes to work everyday to make a honest buck like most everybody else. But a little while back I got the urge to get a fish tank. So one day a cpl weeks ago I was in Ft. Worth and stopped in at a Petsmart. So after a while of checking out there tanks I decided to buy the Top Fin 55 gallon Starter Kit which came with a heater, power filter rated for 60 gallons, and hoods with LED lights. In addition I picked up a bottle of Aqueon water conditioner, 25 lbs of white gravel, and a cpl decorations.
Here is where I feel like I made the biggest mistake I could have ever made. Being that i am 32 yrs old and should know better than to not do a little research of fish keeping first, I just went with what the guy who looked to be no older than 18 told me, which was all I needed to do was wait 24 hrs before I added any fish.
So I came on home with my stuff. Cleaned the gravel, set everything up, turned on the filter and went to bed. The next day being that I had this beautiful new aquarium just sitting there I couldnt wait to get back to the store and pick out some fish. So I got there and wouldn't you know it the same kid was there to help me get my fish. i asked his opinion on what to get. I knew I wanted some tropical fish and they would have to be fresh water, but thats about all i knew. He suggested some danios and mollies to get me going. I thought they looked kinda neat so I went with that. Got 6 large danios, and 6 dalmatian mollies.
A few days go bye and I notice the water turning cloudy so I did a partial water change but to no avail getting the water to clear up. So I googled cloudy water and came across a website explaining the Nitrogen Cycle and how white cloudy water is usually seen in new tanks while it cycles. Thats when I first learned about cycling and realized how BIG of a mistake I had made. It wasnt until about 3 days ago that I could get a API Master Test Kit to check water parameters, but I did do about 50% PWC every other day to keep the toxic levels of ammonia down that I had learned about. Ironically the day I got the test kit I started to notice a cpl of the mollies just laying lifeless at the bottom of the tank and I thought they were dead until I tried to get them out and they swam away. And ever since then to this day just those 2 mollies are very lethargic. Anyways back to the test results on the first test I did 3 days ago. Ammonia wasnt to terrible, 1ppm, nitrites were off the scale ( deep purple color), and nitrates were very low as expected 10ppm. So after getting the scare of my life with the results of nitrites being out of control I immediately did a water change, and continued to do one everyday since. The results from my test this morning were 0.5 ppm ammonia, 2.0ppm nitrite, and about the same nitrate 10ppm.
As far as my mollies, im pretty sure its the high nitrite levels that are essentially killing them, and I cant even put into words how horrible I feel for doing this to them. I have always been a animal lover and I hate to harm any living thing. But I fear it is too late. in addition to the 2 mollies being lethargic I saw a cpl pieces of stringy clear poop floating around and after doing some research it suggests a internal parasite, which is probably from the poor water conditions they have been subjected to. So now I fear these parasites have probably spread to all the other fish in the tank and its only a matter of time before they kill all the fish since their immune systems will probably be weakened as well from the poor water conditions....Im going to continue to atleast do 50% water changes everyday, and I will be going to Ft. Worth again soon to pick up a UV Sterilizer to hopefuly combat the parasites....
Does anyone have any other suggestions that I might be able to use to help get my fish through the last stage of the cycle? I would greatly appreciate it, and I apologize for this being so long.
Chris
