# 10 gallons and problems



## barbiegrl75 (Oct 5, 2011)

I am currently in college and I live in a dorm. A 10 gallon fish tank is all I am allowed to have so I decided to go for it. I cycled my tank and got three male guppies but one killed another and I took him back and the third one died so I decided to get something else. The guy at Petsmart talked me into getting 3 female Lyretail Dalmatian Mollies (which I had to take an aggressive one back the next day). Down to 2 mollies and had them for a week, and one gave birth over the weekend while I was not here! She died :rip: and now I have AT LEAST 10 fry and now my other molly has ich! I'm taking the dead mommy back to Petsmart and the fry to a LFS, but I don't know whether to keep and treat the sick molly or take her back too...
AND if I do take her back should I get something else or wait a while (what kind of fish would you suggest)? If I don't take her back will she be lonely without her friend and could that cause her to die (between the stress of being alone and the treatment)? AND yes I know that most people would recommend a 15 gal tank but I found this out after I had already brought them home (it was the workers suggestion).
Thanks for any help and advice!


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

It sounds like your tank wasn't cycled to me. Can you test your water?


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## barbiegrl75 (Oct 5, 2011)

No i can't test it. I usually take it to Petsmart to test it and they said everything was perfect...I'm going to take some water tomorrow to get it checked again though...


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## Ghost Knife (Mar 12, 2008)

barbiegrl75 said:


> No i can't test it. I usually take it to Petsmart to test it and they said everything was perfect...I'm going to take some water tomorrow to get it checked again though...


Yeah, definitely test everything: ph, nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia. There is certainly something amiss.


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## barbiegrl75 (Oct 5, 2011)

I'll post the levels tomorrow! Thank you for pointing it out


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## barbiegrl75 (Oct 5, 2011)

Come to find out it was my water levels that didn't help the situation. My tank is still going through the cycling phase. Also my LFS told me that adding aquarium salt to the water would help with my livebearers...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Get your tank and fish cycled and healthy before adding anything else. If you keep the fry, your tank will be full soon.


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## barbiegrl75 (Oct 5, 2011)

I took all the fry to my LFS and have gotten rid of my sick molly. So I have an empty tank now. I'm not putting anything in it until it's finished it's cycling.


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## Toshogu (Apr 24, 2009)

pro tip, find a local fish store, petsmart sucks and their fish are diseased 80% of the time


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Agreed. 

Also your tank will not cycle unless there is some source of ammonia in it. Go to the grocery store and buy a single cocktail shrimp. Drop that in the tank and it should cycle properly. Keep in mind it can take up to 6 weeks to properly cycle a tank.


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