howdy yawl

First topic message reminder :

im new to this as yawl see i live in tx started my new tank, 55gallon, i got 7 balloon mollies(they r my favorite ones), 7 silver long finned tetras( my bf's favorite ones), 3 dalmation mollies, red long finned tetras, 3 swordtails, 3 platys, 3 high sailed fin tetras(dont know if thats their real names, and of course a pleco. im new to this i only had goldfish and anythin i need to know bout my fishies then im glad for the info. would love to know more bout their personalities well the general personalities as all animals hav their individual one. i used to break and train horses dfor a livin but once i got trampled my back cant take anymore of that stuff so i started this.
thx
ashleigh

nope nobody picks on her, i dont knowif the males even pick on her. she looks happy tho i mean she eats swims around and all. i miss florida i went there for my bf's grandmothers 100th bday and it was really nice to be back wihs i could see the ocean wen we did go but we drove wit my water proof cat and my 2 dogs, so that was hard on its own. and wat kind of pic do u want, my fish? if u do i hav to scounge for my camera if i do find i think its dead lost the charger to it, i might be able to steal my bf's camera. just tell me wat u want a pic of? if u want her pic the balloon molly she hard to get a pic bc she does sometimes fly round wen she wants to, the lady that caught her had a hard time and she was that heavy i just got her not to long ago maybe 2 days now.

[quote="pillierox1"] we did go but we drove wit my water proof cat and my 2 dogs, so that was hard on its own. and wat kind of pic do u want, quote]

I want a pic of this cat! Got to meet this guy. Sounds like one of a kind!

Pics of all of them would be nice.

Next time your at a semi decent LFS get a liquid test kit. The strips are quite inaccurate. I use the tetra laborett kit, has most everything you need and is a reasonable price ($25). API master test kit is also very good but a little on the pricey side ($50).
So the fish in question is a new guy? Did you quarantine her before you added her to the main tank?

if u mean quarantine u mean leave her in her baggy for 20 mins then put my water in there and leave her for 20 mins and then grab her out of the bag then put in my tank, then i did i did that all my fishies. she seems better today i think just stressed out from new tank issue and i do hav a liquid test kit it came wit the tank i bought(i got it used for 200,for everything filter heater bubbliers hood lights u name it was include, it did hav a 10 gallon as well but my bf kind of leaned on it and broke). sure ill some pics wen i can mozart the waterproof cat is a typical black tiger striped cat short haired i got him next to walmart, like i did wit bailiey the blutickheelerbeagle cross, mama cat we got her at spca(she got that name bc she 6yrs old and 20lbs), and my little dog satoshi(means darling in japanese) and shes a maltese/shitzu mix she came from a puppy mill, she had fleas and all, i still hav a hard time wit the tapeworms i giv meds and they keep on comin back and hard to keep weight on her. the only normals in my apartment is the fish, bailey thinks she huge and she has the presence to do that, toshi thinks shes a cat, mama well she hides all day. mo is a turd butt thats destroys my plants, gets into ur face, he is the king of chaos in that little 7 lb body(he eats dog food instead his own cat food). ill try to giv u all the pic of my animals. if i can keep them from runnin round.

i just notice my newer dalmation molly is kind of stayin close to the gravel and back in the corner, i put food out she ate but she went back to the corner. wen i tested my water again, my ammonia was a little high .25. should i use this ammonia neutralizer or should i do somethin else. this happend one time and i did a 50% water change and everything went well. do i hav to do that again.

If in doubt do a water change The only chemicals I use in my tanks is de-chlorinator on the new water. Old dirty water is the main cause of fishy illnesses, keep the water clean and fish tend to do well and can fight off most anything.

Quarantining new fish means when you get a new fish you put them and any other new fish into a spare tank for 2 weeks to be sure that they are healthy and not carrying a disease or parasite. This helps keep your main tank free of communicable diseases or parasites that tend to come from new fish.

It is also good to keep a spare tank so that if one fish gets sick you can isolate him and treat him in the smaller tank so that your other fish are less likely to catch whatever that fish has. 10g tanks are good for quarantine tanks. A way to 'quick cycle the quarantine tank is that you keep a Hang On Back (HOB) filter rated for a 10g running on your main tank. To set up the quarantine tank you fill it with water from the main tank and move the small filter on to it. Once done with the tank you do not move the filter back before it has been sterilized, this is how I do that. Take all the filter media/ cartridges out and throw them away. Wash the filter out well with tap water and let it dry for a week, by a window where the sun hits is a plus. That way anything that could have been living in the filter from the quarantine will be well dead before you put a new cartridge in the filter and put it back on the main tank and get more bacteria growing on it. The bacteria is what converts your ammonia through the cycle to a less harmful state.
Are you using anything in your main filter other than just the filter cloth?

not that i know of its a marineland that fits 55g to 60g and it has the 4 filters and the wheels on it but i hav left those on for a while now, since i started the tank. the fish seem fine now i havnt been able to check on them all day. like i said i did hav another tank but my bf broke it but im lookin for another one.

well the dalmation molly died but she did hav some growth on her it was white cloudy thing on her back, wat should i do now, i do want to do a water change since that happend, how much water should i take out and all that should i do a 50% water change or more/less?

If your in a situation with a tank and you don't know what to do, do a waterchange, 50% is pretty much max per day. Its always the best first step!
Sounds like fungus, if your other fish are healthy and don't have any open wounds it should not affect them.

okay no everybody seems fine swimmin round being fish. do u think its bc i get them at petsmart and some ppl wen they do get them r kind of rough, well not the way i would treat them but idk. thx ill do a water change tomorro just to back me feel better.

hefty my big balloon molly is fine now shes settled in and be very healthy and happy. i named her hefty bc shes fat and huge

Could be, I have seen some people who work in the big chain place break fishes backs when trying to catch them. If your buying fish from a place like that I highly suggest you get a quarantine tank. Their fish tend to be riddled with some foul plague or another that can wipe tanks out. If you start looking on craigslist you should be able to find a 10g with everything you need for $10-15, don't pay more than that though....

ya ive been looking, but i only find 30 dollars and my bf wont let me buy anything right now since i dont hav a job right now and my other dalmation molly has some weird growth on the lips i put some melafix to see if that works if she does die im not goin to buy anymore cant afford it, thx for the help.

okay well i did the water change and now most of my fish stay on the floor sort of resting i guess. i dont know wat to do i lost a fish last nite(i gound it dead this morning) what should i do i checked my water, and my nitrites and nitrates r high. the nitrite r lik 3 and my nitrate r 80 wat do i do i just did a water change, wat else can i do my ammonia is low.
im still looking for a small fish tank but no luck right now, so i hav to do it in my only tank wat do i do?
thx

Welcome Aboard!

Very nice people here, where everyone is just like family.

Feel free to post your questions to the forums, and photos to the gallery.