New mom to three platies

[MrsAhab]

My daughter loves animals more than anything in the world. I got her a small tank kit and three platies, I'm almost sure they're male because of the skinny fin on the bottom. It's going to be our starter learning aquarium so we can get several more. Someday she wants a coral reef. She is in love with her fish. She named them Pickle, Cucumber and Fishy. I got the kind of tank with bacteria already in the filter that was included with the kit but I read up on how to cycle it and test the ammonia every day anyway just to be extra safe. I don't want anything to happen to them.
The problem is we all have a gluten allergy and can't touch gluten or we'll get a rash, so I can't use fish flakes unless I'm in gloves and even then it's risky. I bought BeneFISHal fish food paste that you boil and mix together and freeze into cubes. We dropped one cube in the tank and it's slowly dissolving. But how do I know the fish are eating it? I think Pickle was nudging it but the other two are just swimming around and opening their mouths occasionally.

 

[Naughts]

Is this product designed for fish? If not, remove it all and do a large water change. They need foods manufactured for their needs, your fish store should have a range of different products that are suitable.

 

[MrsAhab]

Yes, it's fish food. This stuff: https://store.drtimsaquatics.com/Bene-FISH-al-Freshwater-Fish-Food--Economy-Pack_p_554.html

 

[Naughts]

Thanks for the link, I found something completely different when I searched! Sorry.
That sounds good, if they're still not interested in eating we need to look at tank conditions and fish health.

What is the bacteria product in the filter, did you use anything else to cycle the tank? What are the results for ammonia, and for nitrite and nitrate if you could test these? What size is the tank and what is the temperature?

Any other information and photos may help find the problem.

 

[MrsAhab]

I'm not sure what bacteria is in the filter, it's just what came with the Aqueon Minibow kit. I can see that the water is bubbling down so I believed that we didn't need a separate bubbler. But I didn't believe that the filter would fix all ammonia so I bought water conditioner and am testing it every night. The ammonia test came back perfectly yellow last night, the very lowest possible reading, and the moment it's green I'll cycle half the water with distilled and add a drop of conditioner.
I think they are eating after all because there's some poop stuck in the filter just now and another bit that fell down onto the rocks. I'm only used to seeing fish swim up to take pinches of flakes, I've never used the cubes before. But they're swimming happily and leaving strings of poo and the cube is all gone, so I guess they've been eating as it dissolved.

 

[MrsAhab]

And the temperature is a little warm, I stuck my finger in there. We got a tank heater because the house is drafty. I'm going to stick on the thermometer I bought the next time I do a water test.

 

[Naughts]

I'm not sure what bacteria is in the filter, it's just what came with the Aqueon Minibow kit. I can see that the water is bubbling down so I believed that we didn't need a separate bubbler. But I didn't believe that the filter would fix all ammonia so I bought water conditioner and am testing it every night. The ammonia test came back perfectly yellow last night, the very lowest possible reading, and the moment it's green I'll cycle half the water with distilled and add a drop of conditioner.
I think they are eating after all because there's some poop stuck in the filter just now and another bit that fell down onto the rocks. I'm only used to seeing fish swim up to take pinches of flakes, I've never used the cubes before. But they're swimming happily and leaving strings of poo and the cube is all gone, so I guess they've been eating as it dissolved.

Sounds like a plan. You'll need to test for nitrites and nitrates before long too.
Just a word of warning, those tanks look very small and unsuitable for any fish long term, maybe a betta if it is the 5 gallon one. You may need to upgrade to a bigger tank for the platties. Keep us posted.

 

[MrsAhab]

Yes, the pet shop said three in the tiny tank was okay, but looking around I see they need a much bigger tank. I'll be very careful of the water for now. And only feed them half a cube because today I watched them eat, they enjoyed half the cube but the rest dissolved and will make the water cloudy. ASAP, probably with the tax rebate at the end of the month, we'll put them in a larger tank with a couple new friends and only use the desktop mini-bow for a betta or something. Eventually we'd like a big freshwater tank and a big saltwater tank with coral.