Possible sick fish here. Help!!

[Tanks a 1ot]

May i start with the fact that i'm a complete novice.
1~I have one blackmoor and one platy which apear to be slightly simming on their side. Is this swim bladder?
2~I don't have my tank parameters (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, temp, pH). Which test kits should i get?
3~ I have a 120L tank and its been set up for 3 Years
4~I have a juwel tank. So the filtration is as what comes with the tank. What type would this be?
5~I have one blackmoor and 5 platies 2males 2females 1young. (i know this is also a problem which i'm not sure how to deal with. On top og this one female is pregnant)
6~I carried out a water change and vacuumed the gravel yesterday. but i have been pretty slack with the maintenance recntly.
8~Have just added three plants and a little substrate to keep them in place.
9~Normally feed them just fish flakes. One of my blackmoors died recently so i thought i'd start feeding pellets.
Any advice welcome.
Thanks

 

[dalto]

Sounds like possible water quality issues.

If they are available in your area I usually recommend the API Master test it which contains pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate liquid tests. For testing temp I usually use a thermometer. My I experience is that the cheap digital thermometers are terrible. I would just get an inexpensive old style analog thermometer.

Now, how large was the water change you did yesterday? If you have been a little slack with maintenance it is possible that your nitrates have built up to an unsafe level. It is also possible that your pH has crashed. I would recommend either getting a kit right away or taking your water to a store for them to test it for you.

 

[Tanks a 1ot]

It was roughly 20%. Just ordered the test kits so thanks for that.
What do I need to do if the nitrates and PH levels aren't right?

 

[dalto]

It was roughly 20%. Just ordered the test kits so thanks for that.
What do I need to do if the nitrates and PH levels aren't right?

Probably more water changes. Honestly, if you are going to have to wait for the test kits to show up I would probably keep doing 20% daily changes. If we had water test results I might be advocating for a bigger water change but without having that information I would recommend to keep doing the small changes you are doing but do them daily until things get back to normal. Then you should be able to get to a appropriate weekly schedule.

 

[Matt68005]

You should try to get a python suction tube that hooks up to yer sink if you have a large tank or lots of them, carrying pails of water gets old and tiresome very fast, fish thrive on clean water, this is not nature its a closed enviornment that we have to maintain decent water quality.