Welcome to the forum.
My first advice would be, Never take advice from that LFS again! I am assuming it was them who told you you not to do any more water changes, verry bad advice and cruel to the fish.
Ok, so it sounds like you have read through some posts on here which is good there is lots of really good info about fish in cycling.
So if I was you first chance you get buy a test kit, you will need one that can test your PH - Ammonia - nitrite - nitrate
There is alot of different products but I have always used liquid test kits, I would suggest ( API Freshwater Master Test Kit ) will cost no more than £20 and will last a long time. Personally when I cycle a tank I test every day but this is personal preference.
More importantly you need to do a water change right away, at the verry least 50% guessing from what you have said maybe more, then test your water and post the results on here so we can help you more, keep a record of your test results on here and I'm sure there will be someone willing to help you through. what are you using to treat your fresh water before adding it to your tank ?
What filter are you using ?
What temperature is your water set to ?
I completely concur. Especially about the advice your LFS have given you. I have had some bad advice from so-called "fish experts" before, but never anything as dumb as not do a water change when you water is out of whack.
Just a few things to add. First, have you read about fish-in cycling in the beginners resource section? If not start here: http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/224306-fish-in-cycling/
Second get a liquid test kit like the API Master Freshwater kit mentioned above a.s.a.p. Then test you water once a day at least for ammonia and nitrite until you tank is cycled. Any time that you get a reading of ammonia or nitrite other than 0ppm you need a 70-90% water change. Any time you do a water change use temperature matched dechloriniated water.
Third, you are using a dechlorinator right? That is the only thing that you should always add to you water. If not, we recommend Seachem Prime because it not only remove chlorine from tap water but also detoxifies ammonia and nitrite for up to 24 hours giving the bio-filtration time to remove it without harming your fish. And it is also very concentrated and cost effective.
Yep I've got 'tapsafe' but will buy seachem prime asap and a water test kit! so will the water change be ok to do with the tapsafe for now, until i get the seachem prime?... do i leave the water to sit with it in until its room temperature, and then do the change? sorry i didn't realise HOW new i was to this until i joined this forum!!
Tapsafe will work just fine for getting chlorine out of you tap water. Use it to do your water changes. Prime is better because it also makes ammonia and nitrite safer for a short time while some other dechlorinators only get the chlorine and chloramine and maybe some heavy metals. Like was said before what is important is doing a large water change as soon as you get any reading other than 0ppm on ammonia or nitrite. Any dechlorinator will work for an emergency large water change.
My process for a water change is:
1. Turn off my heater and filter. I actually pull the suction tube up out of the water on my filter or my filter will siphon water back into the tank leaving no water in the filter (dry media is bad) and then I have to refill the filter and prime it to get it running again. You may not have to do this if your filter is better than the hang on back one that came with my tank.
2. Using my gravel vac I siphon tank water into a clean bucket (one that has never had soap or any harsh chemicals in it.) Depending on how much water you need to remove and how big your bucket is you may need to dump the bucket and repeat several times. Once your fish barely have enough water to swim in stop draining water.
3. I put my bucket under the tap and run both hot and cold water using my hand to test water temperature. The temp doesn't have to be exact a couple of degrees cooler than what you removed will be fine. You just don't want to dump lots of 60 degree water on fish that are swimming in 80 degree water. I also add my dechlorinator in the bucket as I am filling it for the size of the bucket.
4. I slowly pour the water on a large piece of wood in my tank so as not to disturb the substrate. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until tank is full.
5. Turn back on heater and filter making sure that the filter actually starts moving water. Sometimes I have to reprime my filter to get it going again.
