[needhelp]

hi im new to planted aquariums i have a 60 gallon tank its two weeks into its cycle. I was told by my fish store to use black mollies to help through the cycle, now i have 15 babies in my tank and all the adults died (6) of them to be exact i tested my water and everything came back great except for my PH which was at 7.6. so i guess my question is this where do i go from here, thank you for reading this any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[kakkoii]

Hi! welcome to APC!

I don't think your PH killed the mollys. What do you want to do with your tank? If you want to keep molly fry move the to another established tank, unless they seem to be in stable condition. If you really need a cycling fish go with Danios. I personally would not put any fish in until all you water parameters are under control.

Drew

 

[davemonkey]

It sounds strange that the adults would die and not the babies. Something other than pH.
We need more info to tell you where to go from here.
What do you feed, how often? Water conditions? Lighting? Substrate? What is your goal?

 

[needhelp]

my substrate is Eco-Complete with live water (black) water conditions are PH7.6 Nitrite 0-.25 Nitrate 0-5 Ammonia 0-.25 lighting so far i have Nova Extreme 48" 108 watt t5 and i feed once a day a pinch of just your basic flake food. my goal is not to have an overgrown tank i just want some nice plants and fish

 

[Ebichua]

The ammonia and nitrate is what killed them. Especially since you used them to cycle the tank, it really must have took a tole on their health. I would assume the babies are fine because they were born into that situation. If you have hornwort available, throw a chunk of that stuff in and let it float to suck up the ammonia and speed the cycle up even more.
I think it's kind of strange for your LFS to suggest mollies to cycle a tank. Personally, I would never use a livebearer to cycle (if I were to use fish, that is...).

 

[Bert H]

If you start with a heavily planted tank from the beginning, cycling is typically not a problem. Let me suggest these for you to read through. They should help you understand how to do some of what you want.
http://www.aquatic-plants.org/articles/basics/pages/index.html
http://www.rexgrigg.com/
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ums/14684-new-tank-setup-guide-parts-1-a.html

 

[needhelp]

thank you very much for your help sometimes this stuff gets so technical its a little overwhelming

 

[GIfishguy]

Did you dechlorinate your water? Also are you using test strips or a kit to test your water?

 

[needhelp]

yeah i have the freshwater master test kit by api and the conditioner i used is by seachem called prime