Help its all gone wrong

Hi guys thank you in advance for taking the time to read and assist me. I have a 58L tank. It had been at my parents for over a year with an established cycle and successful keeping of the fish. Original fish being an electric blue ram, 5 ruddy nose tetra (one has one eye but has been that way for a while and seems fine and happy.) One neon tetra and a grown honey gourami and one smaller honey gouramis. I had a sword tail which has now also died There was an angel fish there for a while whom lived peacefully in the tank but when we moved the tank to my new place about 5 months ago soon after his behaviour became more dominant but didnt pose a threat really more of a chase however ive rehomed him in my spare 25l tank for the moment as he was picking off the gouramis. I have the api master kit but recently have encountered a higher nitrate reading so I bought a cycle aid to reduce it but also bought a balloon molly and a plec. I also bought a pure water bomb to help balance the live bacteria and promote health. Since doing this something is now really wrong! Unsure if it's the new additions or a water issue that's worse. My ruddy nose tetra seem twitchy and not as vibrant which suggests a problem. The two new additions the golden spotted plec and the balloon molly died about 40 hours after being added. The fins on my blue ram seem whethered a bit and some scale loss on one of the tetra I've noticed. In addition to all this I've done a water change and conditioned the water to try keep in control. The honey gouramis (lsrge) has all of a sudden started attacking its smaller friend and I've woken up to notice the smaller ones eye is missing! It's not doing well so I have isolated him for the moment. Something is just really off in the tank it smells quite strongly too which it's never smelt quite so bad!I have the heat at 27 degrees and thought I was doing well in tropical gish keeping but it seems I have alot to learn. I feel the gills are unseen some stress too. I will take readings and post pictures of the api results. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to help my fish and establish a good community again so please dont be too harsh with me as this is the first time I've encountered a problem I have a 4 year old tank that I kept the same fish through their lifespan in previous years and felt I had this sussed. Please help advise me. Thanks for your time. Ps the aquarium water bomb I used came as just water when I thought it may be jelly type like the ballast to put into the filter which I've previously used and found helpful. Maybe there was an issue here too as it rapidly has declined in health. It's a pump system filter which I'm not as sure about compared to my good old plug in fluval I had in my smaller tank. Thanks again

I'll add a picture but to me the reading from api are
pH 6.0 (or below as it doesn't register under)
Ammonia (Nh3 and NH4) around 0.50 I think maybe higher
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 160ppm
I'm unsure if I'm reading it correctly so I'll add the picture thank you so much for any help!

Your nitrate reading is way too high. Do a 75% water change every day for a week and after that make sure yo do a 75% change every week. This tank is very heavily stocked for such a small tank.

Once your nitrates are under control please test yor pH and hardness. Your pH suggests your tank is unsuitable for livebearers such as mollies and swordfish - but this needs to be confirmed after a few water changes.

Water changes will also get the ammonia reading down to zero.

Thank you everyone. It's coming down now will update as the days go on with readings. They seem a bit more content I'm just sorry they had to endure that! Got some plants in there too. Water changed more bio support and water conditioner. Will keep changing and doing the readings. Thank you all for your help and advice.

You also should consider having some live fast growing plants in your tank. Anacharis, moneywort, water sprite and hornwort are good choices and will help absorb some of the ammonia and add oxygen to the tank. You can let them float or "plant" them if you want. They are easy to care for and you do not need to add anything to the tank they will absorb what they need from the water.

seangee mentioned hardness - look on your water company's website for 'hardness'. If they give it, we need a number and the unit of measurement rather than some vague words. (We need the unit as there are about half a dozen they could use)

Fish have evolved in water with a certain hardness, some in hard water, some in soft, and some in 'middling'. We need to keep fish with a hardness range similar to our tap water. Keeping hard water fish in soft water, and soft water fish in hard water, shortens their lives and makes them more susceptible to disease.



You mention buying a cycling aid to reduce nitrate - I'm afraid that doesn't work.
Fish make ammonia as their waste product. In a cycled tank, bacteria eat this ammonia and turn it into nitrite; more bacteria eat this nitrite and turn it into nitrate. In fish tanks there are no bacteria which eat nitrate, the only way to remove it is by water changes. We should aim to change at least 50% of the tank water every week. Yours is very high so you need to do more water changes than that to get it down, and once it is the same level as your tap water nitrate, then you can go to weekly water changes.
Live plants also help because they take up ammonia as fertiliser faster than the bacteria and they don't turn it into nitrite or nitrate.

One thing more, Hello and welcome to the forum

Yes, hello!!!

I had that issue too I find having moss balls on the tank helps with the nitrate level too since I have mine in my tank it has been good

Michelle150 said:

I had that issue too I find having moss balls on the tank helps with the nitrate level too since I have mine in my tank it has been good

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I have moss balls in all my tanks, that was the first plant I ordered when I went to live plants. Very good at absorbing nitrate considered by some #1 at it. I have 15 of them

Retired Viking said:

I have moss balls in all my tanks, that was the first plant I ordered when I went to live plants. Very good at absorbing nitrate considered by some #1 at it. I have 15 of them

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Really?
Not that you have 15, but that they are #1.

How big are the moss balls you guy’s use?

Here are a couple of articles where they list moss ball #1 or #2
https://www.paintafish.org/best-aquarium-plants-to-reduce-nitrates/

Deanasue said:

How big are the moss balls you guy’s use?

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The biggest one I have is the size of a baseball and the smallest is like a ping pong ball, They all grew since I bought them.

Retired Viking said:

Here are a couple of articles where they list moss ball #1 or #2
https://www.paintafish.org/best-aquarium-plants-to-reduce-nitrates/

6 Best Aquarium Plants To Reduce Nitrates Reviewed 2023

Best aquarium plants to reduce nitrates are mainly utilized to oxygenate the water, provide freshwater aquariums a natural look.

www.amoskeagfishways.org

How to Lower Nitrate Levels in Your Aquarium - 6 Vet-Approved Tips | Hepper

What causes high nitrate levels, and how can you control them? Find out here and how to lower them in our complete guide.

www.aquascapeaddiction.com

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Thanks!
How long do they take to grow?
Have they been in there the whole time from the shipwreck?