Pammy

Hello everyone. My husband and I are new to fresh water fish. We bought Our 10 gallon tank and everything that goes with it first thing tuesday morning, rushed home to set everything up and used this "fast acting" solution that works in "seconds" that came with our kit. Later tuesday night we went to go pick out our fish around 8 pm. Came home re checked temp and acclimated for aproxx 30-45 min one thing we did notice was that one of our gupies had a wragged fin. Within a few hours that guppy turned upside down somewhat sawn to the bottom and wedged itself between the tank and one of the air hoses and died Our other fish seemed to be just fine. We have 4 guppy 2 neon tetras 2 dyed tetras 2 spotted catfish 1 molly 1 swordtail 2 bluesnails and 4 little shrimps. Yesterday (wednesday) we took our little guppy, and a sample of our tank water so they could double check that it was ok. They tested the water and said every thing looks fine, the amonia level are just slighty elevated but nothing to be alarmed about just use this stuff called "stability" and do a 30% water change. My husband did that last night and this morning one of the neon tetras was dead. We also noticed that our swordtail fish had white spots all over him We changed out black light for a bright white light and noticed about half of the fish have white spots all over them !! I dont know what to do I should of done my homework better on this I know. Does anyone know what can be done about this if anything? Also is this something they already had from the store? We've only had them since tuesday night and its thursday morning now.. I read somewhere it might take 7-12 days for the naked eye to see the white spots but I am so skatterbrained right now I just don't know what to do. Please and advice would be appreciated!

ABCDemily

First, welcome to fishlore!

Please read up on the aquarium nitrogen cycle asap! http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

This will stop fish from hopefully dying in the future. Do 30% water changes every day dosing with prime. Prime neutralises harmful ammonia and protects the fish.

A good way to gauge how many fish you should keep in a tank is using the inch per gallon rule. This stops the aquarium from being overstocked.

4 guppies = ten inches
2 neons = 3 inches
Dyed tetras? (Dyed is never a good sign, it shortens their lifespan considerably)
Catifhs have to potential to grow big
Mollies range from 3 - 5 inches. 4 Inches.
Swordtail = 2/3.

So we've got twenty inches of fish in a ten gallon tank, excluding the catfish and 'dyed Tetras' I'd take back a lot of the fish to the store you bought them from. The ammonia is elevated because you have too many fish in this tank.

As for the White Spot. This is commonly known as ICH. ICH is the common cold of the aquarium world. It is caused by very stressed fish being in water that's too cold.

What's the temperature? Heated? Filtered?

Treating for ICH is relativley simple. Gravel vac every day, (do this whilst water changing) and raise the temperature to 82-85 F max.

Good luck!

Lucy

Hi Pammy welcome to Fish Lore
I'm really sorry about your guppy and the problems you're having with your tank.
I apologize in advance, this is going to be a long post.

It's hard to start out and be given the wrong information.
I'm going to give you some links to read to give you a better understanding of what goes on with a new tank and some recommendations.

The first thing to consider is your tank is over stocked. When starting out with a small tank (and small fish) a good guideline to go by is 1" of adult fish per gallon of water.
This is by no means a hard rule as you'll learn along the way.
Fish create ammonia through their waste. A small tank can only handle a certain amount.
When you're overstocked they made too much waste for the amount of water in the tank.
It would be a good idea to consider returning some of your fish or if you want to keep all your fish, you'll need a bigger tank.
The guppys and the neons fully stock you tank. The shrimp can stay, they don't create much waste.
This link will help you learn about the nitrogen cycle
Since you're cycling with fish, it would be a good idea to do 50% daily water changes and use Prime as your water conditioner. This will detox the ammonia for 24 hours between water changes.
Your tank will be cycled when you have readings of 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites with some nitrates showing.
Be patient, it can take up to a month to cycle a tank.

It would be a good idea to get your own water testing kit. The liquid test kits are much more accurate than the strips. Many of us use the API liquid test kit, it's very reliable.
Test every day during the cycling process and keep a record of it. This way you'll know how the cycle is progressing.

If the white spots look like salt it's probably ich. This can be treated with out meds.
Slowly raise the temperature to about 84F, keep it there for at least 2 weeks, increase the aeration with an airstone because there's less oxygen in warmer water.
Do thorough gravel vacuums to pick up any ich spores in the gravel.

It's possible they came from the store that way but also ammonia is toxic to your fish. It weakens their immune system and makes them more susceptible to disease.

Here are some beginner articles to read:
Beginners

I'm sorry for the information overload. I know it can be very confusing when first starting out.
Hang in there, it gets better after the tank is cycled

Pammy

Thank you both for the advice! We decided after reading your posts it would be best to return some, so now we have 4 guppys 4 small shirmps and 2 snails. We also purchased some medicine to treat the ich and a freshwater testing kit. The temp is currently 80. I sure hope all our new babies survive! I'll be sure to ask more questions and do my homework before jumping into more fish later down the road ! Thx again!

Beeker

Hi Pammy. Welcome to Fishlore!
You made a very good move in returning those fish. Now you have a more manageable stock.
What medicine did you get? Be careful with people at the fishstore. They are notorious for selling unnecessary things and giving bad information. In reality, you didn't need to buy any medicine to treat the ich. Just raising the temperature in the tank and keeping the water clean would have taken care of it.
It is good that you came here to look for advice. These people know what they are talking about and have no ulterior, money making motives. Don't be fooled into trusting somebody at the store. In fact, a very important tip that almost everybody here will tell you is: Do NOT take advice from the people at the store. They only want to sell. They sold you fish that were not compatible with the set up you have, and waited for you to go back looking for help and spending more money. That is how it works. But, you were smart. Instead, you came here and asked for help and were given good, honest advice. So, when you walked back into the store, as they expected you would, you did something they didn't expect: you brought back more than half the fish they sold you. I am sure they didn't expect that. Good move.
So, now you are on the right track. Fish keeping can be quite addictive. When you see different pictures of other tanks , and hear of the personalities and beauties of other fish, you may end up with a larger fish family, and a case of MTS!

Keep us updated!