Chemical levels in Tanks

Question
QUESTION: Hi there, I am new to taking care of a fish tank, I have a 29 gallon tank with 6 goldfish, 2 molly fish and a pleco. (My tank is only 4 days old) I was wondering if you could give me a breakdown of how my tests should read...Ex: ammonia Okay from x -x, danger from X - X, Toxic from X - X, Nitrate, okay from X-X, danger from X- X Toxic from X-X, etc. etc....
I have been doing so much research and reading all the directions but the "ok" areas are so widespread and some things will say a certain reading is okay, while other things say a reading is toxic and needs to be corrected immediately! Can you please help???
Thank you !
ANSWER: Hi Brandi
Well to start out, your tank is overstocked.  It's usually not recommended to mix goldies with tropical fish, they both have totally different requirements.  Goldies produce a lot of ammonia naturally through their waste & respiration, and they prefer cooler water-in the 68-74 F range.  Mollies and plecos generally prefer higher temps of at least 76-80 F.  Not to mention, depending on what kind of pleco you have, the common ones are usually what people get, grow up to 12+ inches.  Your tank is too small for one of those.  Goldfish usually require a minimum of 15 gallons per goldfish.  So, being a new set up, I would recommend returning either the mollies and possibly the pleco-depending on the type, and only keeping 2 or 3 goldies, or return the pleco(depending on type) and all the goldies, and you can eventually add a few more mollies to the set up.

Now, for the water test kits, yes they all vary on what is considered "normal".  The only acceptable water parameters are 0 ppm for ammonia and nitrites, and under 20 ppm for nitrates.  BUT, you have a new tank, and it's going to be going through a "cycle process", and those levels are/have to spike for this process to occur.  You may end up with some dead fish as well, because the ammonia and nitrite spikes are toxic(any level is really toxic) to the fish.  Here's a great link that explains the cycle process, need to copy/paste to your browser:

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/startupcycle/Step_5_The_Cycle.htm

Once your tank is completed with the cycle(about 4-8 weeks), those levels should read what I stated above.  Doing weekly water changes of about 25% once a week, and not overstocking the tank will usually keep the levels in check.

Hope that helps and good luck!  Let me know if you have more questions!

Christy

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

QUESTION: Thank you for getting back to me so quickly! I really appreciate it. The gold fish were actually put in just to help it cycle, I really wasn't expecting any of them to live. The pleco, I'm not sure, the girl told me it was a butterfly pleco, but now I'm not so sure, his markings look more like the common pleco (he's dark brown with beige-ish spots.) I'm going by pictures I have seen on certain websites. I asked at the pet store when I purchased the fish if they were all compatible and they said yes...the girl there was pretty knowledgeable so I thought it would be okay. She knew my size tank and everything that was in it and she said they would all be fine....hmmm...now I don't know what to do. So back to my original question...now when I have these spikes, my fish will die? How do I prevent that?

Answer
You're welcome :)

Actually, I'd say the goldfish will probably make it through better then any of the others in the tank lol.  They're pretty hearty fish!  I have 5 "feeders" I bought about 7 years ago.  I couldn't get my tank to cycle, so broke down and added the goldies.  Only one died during the cycle process....the rest are living out the good life in a pond, all about 8-9 inches.

As for the pleco, since you've been looking at the pics online, there's so many of them, and some that look similar, sometimes it's hard to tell.  And some stores are notorious for mislabeling fish....I would also find out to make sure you weren't overcharged if one variety is more expensive then the other.  Try this site/forum, www.plecofanatics.com lots of info and pics on plecos.  Probably can post a picture on the forum and someone will tell you what you have.  They don't do too well for the cycle process, so might be best to return him.  A

nd, don't necessarily listen to pet store employees lol.  Do your research online beforehand when buying fish or any fish related product.  Some employees are great and really do know their stuff, but most don't, and are just looking off a "cheat sheet" in the back.  I just made a courtesy call to a chain store I just bought fish from a few days ago.  The fish all died, and I described it to the kid on the phone.  I'm thinking it was possibly columnaris, neon tetra disease, or fish tb-the last 2 are pretty serious and can wipe out a tank quickly, as well as infect people.  He tried to tell me it was ich.....reading off his cheat sheet.  Anyway, just wanted to share....

Your fish may or may not die.  A vast majority of them do though.  You really can't prevent it if you do a fish cycle.  You'll need to do small daily water changes to help dilute the toxins.  The tank has to go through this cycle process, otherwise you'll always have problems.  Or you could return all the fish, give the store heck for selling you "incompatible" and possibly wrongly labeled fish, and do a fishless cycle.  You just drop a cocktail or salad shrimp in the tank, and let it rot.  That'll put out ammonia the beneficial bacteria needs to survive, and start the cycle process.  Then just buy the fish after the tank has cycled.  That's really the only way to prevent the fish from dying.

Christy