Who Gives A Fish Forums

I'm new to this, so bear with me. Here's what's going on:
Pineapple's tank is mostly good, except the water hardness is off (no water softener). Everything else checks out.
Heater's at 78 degrees.
Aqueon submersible pump is what I'm using.
I've got 3 plants in the tank.
It's a 10-gallon tank, new since May 10th.
I didn't know I needed to cycle the tank, so I didn't do it.
I checked the parameters before putting Pineapple in, and they matched the water he came with.
Temperature's the same as my other tank.
I kept 2 gallons from the old tank. Pineapple went from 2.5 gallons to 10 gallons.
He gets 5 pellets twice a day. I didn't know I was supposed to soak them. He gets blood worms 3 times a week or less.

When am I supposed to change the filter?
When do I do a full water change?
I clean the gravel once a week - is that enough?
Do I need to add that rescue stuff to his water with every partial change?

Pineapple's really agitated, always resting on his hammock. He sinks from the back and seems to be looking for air. His fins, tail, eyes, and sides all look good. I've only been doing this since I rescued him in February, but I've been trying to troubleshoot everything. The aquarium store said my water was great as of yesterday.
Is there something else I'm missing?

I'm assuming Pineapple is a betta, right. Nice upgrade on the tank, by the way.

To better understand what's going on, could you post your full water parameters - I'm talking ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH, the works.

I'd recommend swapping out the filter cartridges for some foam. It's way cheaper in the long run and better for the fish. Just rinse them every three weeks or so. For water changes, I'd suggest doing 25% weekly.

Your gravel cleaning schedule sounds good, once a week is fine. Now, about this "rescue stuff" you mentioned - is that a water conditioner? And do you add a dechlorinator every time you add new water?

To better understand the situation, could you post a full pic of your tank and a video of Pineapple? If you're not comfortable sharing it publicly, you can upload it to YouTube as unlisted and share the link here.

I'm using the Aqueon submersible pump filter, it's a triple filter.

cichlidgirl22 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 23, 2025 2:27 am I'm assuming Pineapple is a betta, right. Nice upgrade on the tank, by the way.

To better understand what's going on, could you post your full water parameters - I'm talking ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH, the works.

I'd recommend swapping out the filter cartridges for some foam. It's way cheaper in the long run and better for the fish. Just rinse them every three weeks or so. For water changes, I'd suggest doing 25% weekly.

Your gravel cleaning schedule sounds good, once a week is fine. Now, about this "rescue stuff" you mentioned - is that a water conditioner? And do you add a dechlorinator every time you add new water?

The water is spring water, and like I said, the only issue I found is it has low gh.

I'm using a triple filter Aqueon submersible pump filter, but I'm a bit concerned about the accuracy of my water tester - where did you get yours, cichlidgirl22?

I use the Aqueon submersible pump filter, it's the triple filter one.

cichlidgirl22 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 23, 2025 2:27 am I'm assuming Pineapple is a betta, right. Nice upgrade on the tank, by the way.

To better understand what's going on, could you post your full water parameters - I'm talking ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH, the works.

I'd recommend swapping out the filter cartridges for some foam. It's way cheaper in the long run and better for the fish. Just rinse them every three weeks or so. For water changes, I'd suggest doing 25% weekly.

Your gravel cleaning schedule sounds good, once a week is fine. Now, about this "rescue stuff" you mentioned - is that a water conditioner? And do you add a dechlorinator every time you add new water?

I got it from Aquatopia, it's an aquarium and pet store.

That water tester is really cool, where did you find it?

cichlidgirl22 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 23, 2025 2:27 am I'm assuming Pineapple is a betta, right. Nice upgrade on the tank, by the way.

To better understand what's going on, could you post your full water parameters - I'm talking ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH, the works.

I'd recommend swapping out the filter cartridges for some foam. It's way cheaper in the long run and better for the fish. Just rinse them every three weeks or so. For water changes, I'd suggest doing 25% weekly.

Your gravel cleaning schedule sounds good, once a week is fine. Now, about this "rescue stuff" you mentioned - is that a water conditioner? And do you add a dechlorinator every time you add new water?

The filter is an Aqueon 10AT submersible one, and it's got a sponge as one of the filters