Urgent Help Needed

[pandapops001]

Help, i have been fishless cycling for ages and finally my levels dropped right down to ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate 30.

I was told this was a safe level to add fish, so i bought 2 mollies and 2 platys, (very small), when i added the fish originally they swam round happy enough and looked fine, however one of the mollies then went into hiding, after some advice on here i realised that the one that was hiding was a male, and the rest were all female, not only this but the female molly was constantly nudging him(biting maybe??), so i was told to add another molly, female to even the ratio out.

We purchased a female molly today and added it in, the male molly instantly started swimming around the new one and looked really happy, he really livened up.

But i've just tested the water and Ammonia is at 0.1, nitrate between 50 - 110, nitrite 3.3, and i really dont know what to do, i havent got a syphon yet, as i wrongly assumed i wouldnt be able to do a water change for a while anyway because they are only small fish in a 27.5gal tank.

The LFS have advised that i purchase Nitrazorbe, but they will close before i can get anywhere near them, and i'm really concerned

The fish are still happily swimming around and the dalmation female molly is still eating from the gravel and rocks, which she hasnt stopped since i got her yesterday, what can i do??

BTW - the shop where i bought my fish have told me today that they dont test their water, and i think this may be why all of a sudden my levels have jumped, could it be that in adding the fish and water from the bag, i have added their bad levels??

Please help, i really dont want to lose my fish, i know i've only had them since yesterday, however i'm still incredibly attached,

 

[tstenback]

Just do water changes until the nitrite is down around 1 ppm. It wont bother the fish and may only marginally affect the cycle. I would do a 25% change right away and then do another in a few hours if the nitrite level is not back to around 1. It would be odd if not impossible to get those readings just from adding the LFS water into the tank(which is a big no-no, you could introduce any number of diseases etc, if the LFS doesnt test their water then who knows what is in it besides fish.) HTH

 

[pandapops001]

ok i'll start now, do i need to net them from the bag in future, or just buy them elsewhere, i just assumed that it would be safe, and it wasnt until i tested my water and rang them to check their levels to see if it was the cause, that i realised how stupid i'd been.

 

[pandapops001]

Tstenback, do you mean keep changing the water today, until levels are ok?? or do a change everyday, or every other day??

 

[tstenback]

Not stupid.... just excited about getting the new fish. It happens to all of us. We see the new fish, get all excited and dump them in, after the acclimatization period of course. I have found oout through many experiences that you cannot trust any water other than your own to be safe, not even from the best LFS around.
Yes just net them out. HTH