Help! Just Starting Out A New 10-gallon Tank!

[Platygirl11]

So last sunday I set up a 10-gallon aquarium starter kit. On wednesday I took my water to petco to be tested and the employee (once they OK'd my water) suggested I get 2 platys and one guppy. The guppy died this morning . I was wondering why, because my two platys are doing fine.
They said my water was fine...
Was the guppy supposed to be kept with others?
Are two platys enough so that they will be OK, or should I get another one???
Are guppies (fancy, not feeder) just fragile that way?
Did the platys and guppies fight in some way I wasn't aware of?
Am I doing something totally wrong?
I have a filter.
Heater is set to 74 ºf
Food-Tetra Color tropical flakes

 

[craig855s]

Your water wasn't cycled,thus your ammonia levels were skyrocketing the moment u added the fish,they are still going up now and will continue to do so until ur filter is cycled (4 weeks or so)

This may have been the cause of the death,and the high ammonia levels are currently harming your platys.Do a large water change immediately (60%) and then another large change later this evening, in the meantime people will recomend how to get ur tank cycled to u (such as adding mature media,or returning the fish to the shop while u fishless cycle ur tank)

 

[ellena]

All the resources you need are here-have a really good read!
Fish shops do make me cross-of course your water was OK-it was dechlorinated tap water that had been sat in a tank with no significant amount of life in it for a few days-how could any ammonia, nitrites or nitrates have built up in it?
Anyway, you've found the right place now

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum Platygirl. You have been the victim of typical half statements by your local fish store. When you brought in the water sample it was probably fine but you have had fish living in the water since then. Fish respire ammonia through their gills and also add ammonia to the tank with their wastes. Unfortunately you do not have a filter that can remove that ammonia yet. Ammonia removal is done by bacteria that live in your filter and they have not become established. That means that you had no ammonia, then you added fish and thereby added a source of ammonia. Nothing has been removing the ammonia so it is building up. About all that can be done at this point is to do big frequent water changes, like I am presently doing on 2 of my tanks, to get the ammonia levels back down. If you can get a liquid type testing kit you can judge how much water to change and how often by trying to keep the ammonia from ever exceeding 0.25 ppm. In the meantime, without a test kit of your own, I would recommend daily 50% water changes. That guess is based on 2 small fish in a 10 gallon. I have more fish in less water and am doing 80% changes on my tanks.
The water change is done by removing the water then using a dechlorinator to prepare a volume of water that is about the same temperature as the tank. The siphon the water back in to the tank and the fish will perk up almost immediately.

 

[Platygirl11]

Thanks.
(I feel so bad for my fish right now )
Luckily, there is a tropical fish store about 15 min. from my house (not the petco I went to before). I think they have testing kits, so I can probably stop there today.
Also:
This morning my two platys are still doing fine, unlike my deceased guppy, who would just swim straight up while in a corner, then sink back down.

Also, I believe I have a carbon filter. Does that help or not?

On the filter instructions it said I had to run the filter under water to remove any "carbon dust". (This was on sunday).

 

[Platygirl11]

Ok, so I've been looking at the filter page: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=139488 . So, when I replace my filter, how do I prevent this whole thing from starting again? Don't the bacteria live on the filter?
Or something like that?

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Ok, so I've been looking at the filter page: [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=139488"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=139488[/URL] . So, when I replace my filter, how do I prevent this whole thing from starting again? Don't the bacteria live on the filter?
Or something like that?

Just like someone pointed out about the fish store only wanting to sell you stuff and not caring if its right, the filter directions are set so you just keep buying their product.

absolute rule as far as I know (still new myself tho) is that you should NEVER run your filter media under tap water...tap water has chlorine and stuff in it, and that stuff kills the bacteria you work so hard to grow. I dont know what filter you have, but I know the general rule is that you shouldnt replace the filter cartridges, just swish them in OLD tank water when you do a water change.

 

[Platygirl11]

OK!
SO I got some test strips:
1 kind that does
•PH
• Nitrite
• Nitrate
• Carbonate (what?)
• Hardness

As well as a different kind that tested for ammonia.
They also gave me some of the stuff in their filter. YAY!
Am I on the right track?
Ammonia readings currently at 0!
Alright, now I'll test the other kit...

 

[Platygirl11]

Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
PH-6.5
Carbonate hardness -0
General hardness-30
Is that OK?
Some were a little hard to tell, like carbonate hardness could have been between 0 and 40, it was a little of both. I also thought PH might have been 7 at first...

 

[kbekll]

test strips are not really accurate i am affraid

you will have ammonia in the tank as their is no / very little bacteria to consume it

i would get a liquid test kit not a strip

 

[Platygirl11]

test strips are not really accurate i am affraid

you will have ammonia in the tank as their is no / very little bacteria to consume it

i would get a liquid test kit not a strip

OK.... Liquid test kits....
Are those sort of in a generally acceptable range??? I could probably do a water change.
Oh, and our house uses well water. Does that affect anything? Like the hardness?

 

[OldMan47]

If we could believe your test results, which I will not, the water would be low in pH buffering capability and the pH would be a bit low for livebearers but otherwise it would be fine. As kbekll said, a test kit on a new tank with fish in it that reads zero ammonia is lying to you. The kind of kit you want is almost any kit that uses little test tubes and liquid testing chemicals. The things you need to measure are ammonia, nitrites and pH. It is also useful to be able to read nitrates and hardness, including carbonate hardness but it is not essential for the average tank set up.

 

[waterdrop]

Many of us on this forum like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Another similar one is the Nutrafin Mini-Master Test Kit. Hope this helps,

~~waterdrop~~