issues - what am I still doing wrong?? please advise!

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I decided about 3 1/2 weeks ago that keeping my betta in an unheated 1 gallon tank was cruel, and wanted to give him a better home.  I decided to take it up as a hobby and purchased a 20g starter kit with power filter, heater, gravel, driftwood and lots of plastic plants.  I set it all up at home and put my betta in.  The next day I went to the pet store and bought 5 neon tetras and four gold dust mollies and added them too (floated the bag, properly acclimated).

Two days later all the neons were dead and I brought them back to the store (had a 30-day policy) and brought home four platies.  The store tested my water at the time and said all was well.

A week later and three platies were dead as well as one molly and all remaining fish had ich, and my poor betta had such bad fin rot he could hardly swim (ate him right up to the body poor thing).  Had the water tested twice more a the store, both times was told it was fine ('ammonia a bit high, may want to do a water change').  They also encouraged me to add more fish.  From day one I'd been doing 15-20% water changes every few days, always dechlorinating before adding new water to the tank.

In complete frustration I finally started to do research and 'discovered' aquarium cycling.  So now I know what I did wrong (too many fish way too soon!) and stopped adding more fish and started testing the water.  I raised the temperature from 76 to 78, added an air stone, added aquarium salt and Hagen's Cycle, and continued with the partial water changes to try to save my remaining fish while my tank finished cycling.

As of this morning (11/19) my tank has been cycling more or less for 25 days and I have one molly and one platy left alive.  My ammonia levels have been zero for over a week and the nitrite seems steady at 0.5 ppm, no nitrates yet.  The water is very cloudy (we have hard water here, but the pH is neutral).

I know I have to wait for the aquarium to finish cycling before I add more fish.  However: what if my poor remaining two fish also die? do I put two or three more fish in to make it finish cycling? and why is my water so milky?  The molly is doing relatively well (indestructible? never even got ich, and has actually grown quite a bit), and the platy no longer has ich finally but swims with her fins clamped down (which I hope is the only reason she wobbles when she swims, and doesn't have a swim bladder problem).

I really wanted to make a nice home for my betta and more fish - I feel terrible about each one that died especially when I learned that if I'd researched it more first I could have avoided this.  I just want to make sure I'm now doing things correctly now so these last two fish don't suffer.

Having done a lot more research, I've now decided I don't want to put another betta into this community tank - don't want him to have to 'defend his territory' and the other fish I want are all a lot smaller.  I do want some mollies and platies but I'm concerned about the fry (seems barbaric to let other fish eat them, and I don't have a separate tank for fry).  I'm also considering tetras and danios especially since I've read they're so hardy.

If my two fish survive and the tank finally finishes cycling, I wanted to add just one fish first and then test to make sure the biological filter doesn't get whacked.  Would it be better to put in another molly or platy, or a tetra or danio? or does that matter?

Lots of questions and a real long explanation I know, but I'd really appreciate some advice.  I've talked to every fish place in town and they all tell me something different (pretty sure they just want to sell me more fish).

ANSWER: Hi Marsha:  I am curious to know what city you are in... Your email is an email that I receive too often.  Keeping fish is no easy task and there is a lot to be considered before taking up fish.  You have had a rough go of it with this tank. It sounds as though you are through the worst of it.  The tank is milky white because the bacteria are reproducing... just add more cycle to your tank and cut back on the water changes to once per week  10-20%.  Betta fish make really good community fish so long as you do not mix them with other fish with fluffy, fancy tails. you can wait until the tank clears and then add a couple of fish... no more then three... if you have other questions let me know...

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,
Thanks for the advice.  I am in Calgary.  I called the store that sold me the aquarium starter kit and asked why I hadn't been told about cycling; they said they 'always' tell ppl (obviously not).  I bought the fish at a different pet store and will likely buy fish there again as the stock seems to be healthy (more so than other places I've been to) but I'll tune out anything they tell me.  They have also told me bettas are perfectly happy living in puddles and water-filled footprints (I think they must get a lot of returned dead fish)!

I'd been doing the frequent water changes because I'd read that would help keep the ammonia/nitrite levels at a tolerable level for the fish during the cycling process but not affect the bacterial population.  Yesterday before I asked the original question I'd just lost the 3rd gold dust molly, and he had been acting strange right before he died - quick, sudden erratic jumpy movements all over the tank.  Yesterday evening I tested my water again and had 0 ammonia, 0.5 ppm nitrite and 5 ppm nitrate (yay, nitrates!) but my platy was starting to act just like the 3rd molly had and I was worried she was going to die too, so I did another partial water change and today she's acting much better (didn't eat at all yesterday, today has quite an appetite and her dorsal fin is up again).  She and the remaining molly seem a lot more 'subdued' than before, they don't swim around the tank as much and investigate everything any more, I was hoping that was just because they're missing others of their own kind (which I hope to rectify shortly).

The water is starting to look much clearer (whether because it's nearly done cycling or because I did a water change, not sure) but I added more Cycle and as you said I am hopefully done with the worst of this.

I'll consider another betta (are guppies too flowy for them?  I thought the betta might eat guppies bc he's so much bigger).  Once the tank's fully cycled I want to bring the population of mollies and platies to 3 each (and hopefully get two females and one male of each and not the other way around).

Thanks again!

ANSWER: Hi Marsha:  Bettas are remarkable fish. They are labyrinth fish which means they can breath atmospheric air. This means they can live in a small puddle of water or even in a hoof print of an ox... which is exactly where the Siamese use to find them when the water would recede.  They may not happy about living there but they just need to be kept moist to live.  Betta will chase and try to kill guppies... they think they are young betta.  I would add some more bacteria to the tank. The change in water chemistry and the lessoning of the white cloud indicate that the tank is on the downside of its cycle and about to finish cycling. The extra bacteria will help speed that along.  Jerky motions in fish is usually caused because they have a water chemistry issue that is burning their skin or irritating their slime coat.  You can remedy this with more slimecoat or stress zyme... the water change now should be no more then 10 percent... dave

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Do you think a betta would be ok in a community tank with some platies, mollies and a small school of bloodfin tetras?  I've been looking into shoaling fish to round out the tank (I guess no gupppies...) and have seen bloodfins recommended many times to go with betta - however just as many times they seem to be recommended NOT to be with betta!  I'm hoping to get all male platies and mollies so I don't get a population explosion (four of those, the betta and five tetras?)  Also I've read betta prefer quiet water, but I've got a power filter and an airstone and there's a pretty decent current in the tank, will he be ok?

Answer
Those would all make good tank mates. Shoaling fish to also look at would be: Harlequin rasbora, Lambchop rasbora, Cardinal Tetra, Lemon Tetra and rummy nose Tetra...The betta will do fine with your filter. They do not like to have a lot of water movement at the surface because it will disrupt their bubble nests...  dave