Okay sorry but this may be long and it may not make alot of sense but suggestions and help and names of medicines and etc would help. Ive been doing research on many diseases and stuff on my fish or what may be in the tank. But a few things have same symptoms as another thing and yet its different medicine for that treatment. So instead of going out and buying 100 bucks of all medcine i can find in the fish world ill ask for help and advice. I ll be honest and tell ya about my tanks not being cycled properly. It fucked up when i added fish. But i got a 29 gal tank from walmart stardard stuff that comes with it for filter and stuff. Also I put this tank together and added fish (which i think they are.. red zebra cichlid, and 2 yellow labs, and a jeweled cichlid i think. I dunno names for them i think its african. Well then later i put in 3 more fish (i dunno the names of them but few pics ive seen and names people called em are a blue Mbuna strips down side head towards tail with it on top fin, also got black something some wat same but very dark, and i think i got another small red zebra. well i added those after waiting some time. Then recently i added 1 more fish i thought it was a kyni or something its yellow black strip kinda fish like a bee . Its small too and two frogs. Well i added them all in some weeks. Also i dont have test strips and i had to pay big fine so i havnt had money to buy test strips. So i dunno the water numbers. Anyways Heres my problem. i did research on why there acting weird. I never seen this, so i dunno. But anyways i ve been watching my fish and after i added the last fish which is the yellow bee fish think its kanyi or something is when the symptoms i seen kicked in but i dunno. I dont truly watch the tank all day and night. But anyways i thought i might have ich... because the it said that they rub on stuff like decos, fake plants, and walls, and also has white spots! Well my fish does everything except the white spots.. And i turned up heat to 78 to try to get the spots to pop up quicker if it was ich like ive read but i still see nothing for spots. So therefor i dunno if its itch but also the fish do seem to go towards the filter and stay under it latly which is unusual for them. So then i also looked around for this "flashing" i seen in the tank as well and it said that it could be parasites of some sort.. now i dunno wat it is nor do i know where to look for. Because ich didnt say that they hit the wall and jump to top of the tank like there crazy and also there breathing heavy. So i didnt wanna get ich medicine and also some sort of medicine for flashing and do it at once.. because i dunno wat it is and i dont wanna try alot of meds in which everything could just be 1 thing.. but also i seen where it could be normal of the flashing and the rubbing and hitting the walls and staying under the filter was said that it was normal from some other people saying it was aggresion towards other fish showing there territories. But anyways heres diff i see in fish. They use to sit at bottom and be normal and bright. And they did chase once in while. Now there alot of times at top like oxygen is out and there at top chillin alot. And some fish go and hide under filter all day and nite which is totally diff. And also the flashing like a spaz and rubbing on decos and hitting wall with head and jumpin to top.. SO all those things are symptoms but no white spots... so any help would be great ty and sorry for the big paragraph iam new

WOW - - you have a lot of different things going on here -first off, im not a fresh water guy, but sounds to me a few general rules have been broken here, 1st - way to many fish added to fast. I am pro-natural cycle, unless you have a disease, i wouldn't add chemicals at all, your just gonna have to struggle through the cycle pieriod which will now be longer than usual, no such thing as a quick fix in aquarium life {that's my opinion of course} I would look into the compatability of the different fish you already have and above all else figure out what you have.....and figure out what you want before you buy again. 2nd, fish at the top all the time, gulping, and banging the walls - it sounds like you are not oxygenating your water enough - -i'd put at least one air stone in there. 3rd whats your filter rated at - if its under 30-50 gallons, you might want to think about adding a sencond filter, you don't "need" a 500 dollar sytem, a couple 25 dollar filters will work, until then make sure the filter stays clean as it circulates water and adds oxygen as well. and finally, I understand how tight money can be, but i think you should make it a priority to take care of the issues you have before expanding any more - -might even try and find a buddy that will take some of the problem fish until you can get your system balanced - -well bud, that's about where my fresh water knowledge runs out . . . .keep asking questions there are a lot of good people in here - - good luck and welcome to the hobby "if it was easy, everybody would be doing it" lol

Snowboss and spongebob said pretty much what I'm going to say, but spongebob, I didn't see your post untill I wrote all this. First, you may have some fish that will not get along with the others, but that's the least of your problems right now. It sounds like your biological filter is overloaded and your fish are in a toxic environment. Ammonia can cause the symptoms you are describing, and it will kill the fish before too long. I would do a water change every day for a few days of about 50% the first day and use 2/3rds tap water with a good water conditioner to neutralize the chlorine's, and 1/3 of the amount changed distilled water. So put in mostly treated water from the tap, but add a few gallons of distilled water as well. This is if you're using water from a large city's municipal water supply. The reason is this. Water from most cities water supplies is very alkaline, and when ammonia is combined with alkalinity it is much more toxic to your fish, which means if you suddenly do a water change of say half the water and add city water, the ammonia left in the tank may kill the fish. By adding some distilled water which is not acidic, but contains no minerals that cause the water to be hard (which is associated with alkalinity), you are putting in a healthier water into your tank. I read this in an article and I'm not an expert, but only use a few gallons of distilled water for the first water change for your 29 gallon. Only distilled water will probably kill the fish as well. As Snowboss suggested, I think you need more filtration at this point, a lot more. You can buy a cylindrical sponge filter that slips onto the intake of the filter you have and that will help create a place for good bacteria to live, and clean it with unchlorinated water so you don't kill the bacteria, and this will be cheap to buy. Buy some ammo-chips or something that locks up or neutralizes the ammonia, and put it in your filter (as much as you can get in). Stop, or almost stop feeding for a couple days so you reduce the amount of new toxin into the water, and pray! Your fish sound like they're in trouble and you need to fix this quick to not have die-offs. You probably should buy an additional filter as this will be cheaper than a bunch of dead fish in the long run. I don't know if you are cleaning the gravel, but a gravel cleaning siphon is cheap and the best way to remove water. What you have is fish poop and or uneaten food making the tank toxic, so you both need to get the guck out and feed less. Right now if you don't have distilled water or can't use that in the first water change I would change only 30% of the water with tap water you condition with conditioner. Then go get some ammonia locking/neutralising product as well as charcoal for aquariums, and see if you can't afford another additional filter, and some distilled water. Keep doing 30% water changes daily till the fish get happy, there's no smell or a water sample tested at an aquarium store says all's OK, or do a 50% change the first day if you have distilled water and use only a few gallons remember. If you live where you can get spring water that would be the best water to use, but use conditioner in it anyway. Hope it all goes well!

Now this is long but its all my info I am posting then reading your guyest replys afterwards. But for help here is my info on everything. Sorry for it being SO big.

Tank- 29 gal standard walmart tank, heater(100watt cheap that keeps shutting off cause probably old)and a HOB aquatech filter. temp is 72-74 F it lowered over nite cause heater stop workin for while.

Deco's 4 fake plants, 2 tall trees, and log with few plants on it , and small building. Rocks are normal gravel rocks from store.

Here are few items i got today for hell of it. Any suggestions and weather or not there good as API kind is good help too i know its diff brand so is it same quality as in working? And suggestons help on filters heaters airstone(even tho i cant find 1 at store) , or lighting will help. But items i got are - Tetra whisper heater - 30-60 gal why is it able to go underwater? cant the top function twist thingy get wet inside and stop working?
- Air pump with hoses to go under water(is this good to make oxygen in water? i was just planning on setting em on side of tank to make bubbles. (30-60 gal)

Next are meds or chemicals are these all good and do they work as good as API kind? and when should i added em and how.
- Jungle brand test kit for PH, nitrates, nitrites, hardness, and alkality (quick drips on these in tube)
- Jungle brand test kit for amonia same thing quick drip.

I bought these just to have and are they good and work? And i use em as fish are in tank or before i put em in while iam cycling my new tank.
- Tetra algae control
- Tetra aqua - aqua safe does this take chlorene out of tap water? or no
-Tetra easy balance
- API stress coat - does this take chlorene out of tap water?
- Melafix drip-
- AP crystal clear
- Spyon hose i read how to use it. But adding water back into tank it says it helps take out chloren is that true or should i just keep using 5 gal bucket and use some sort of chemical to take chloren out with .

Now iam using jungle brand test drip strips.

These strips are gay and says go by color and get as close as you can but i dont get how to use em so can you explain.

For my amonia kit it says ... 0 ideal .5 stress .25 safe 3.0 harmful 6.0 pretty bad
well harmful is color light green and 6.0 was dark green but it was sorta in middle so how i get to figure number out? I thought there be numbers lol but anyways how i use em ) my color was in middle of bad and harmful.

Now for my jungle kit of everything else it same way just colors but it dont say darker the color worst or better or the lighter the color is the higher or lower it is... is just says compare and my colors are diff from the ones on answer sheet. anyways here lil description and u help tell me results number wise or watever .

Answer color on tube to compare too Says this pmm thing Color i got on that square
Pink Nitrite below 40pmm Big Red
Light tan Nitrates .5pmm or below Little Tan diff tan tho...
Darker brown Hardness 50 - 15pmm More stand out bright B but still dark brown
Light orange- Alkalinity 120pmm-300pmm dark green/bluish
dark bright orange - PH 6.8 7.2 Bright red big red

How the hell i compare colors? To the chart and the pmm it only gives me those options. iam confused;(

Luckly i get some responses from you guys on info on this and compare it to wat is happening

Also for my fish i have 2 red zebra 1 1'' and one 2'' 2 yellow labs 2'' each 1.5 '' jewled
2 small 1'' fish undefined i 1 is black with stripes from head to tail and other is bluish with stripes like a bee (vertical) and redish fins and i also got yellow bee lookin black strip guy think its keyni of some sort or something and i also seen mmbuna someone told me on those two others. and my tank is smelly but clear.

ok ill answer in parts...

no you have to use dechlorinator to dechlorinate water... brand like NovAqua.

As for smelly water, you need to do a water change each day for the next few days, about 20% water change each day... your filter should have media cartridge to change in the aquatech, make sure it has carbon so u can rid odor of water.

Your heater can go fully underwater if it says submergible... dont worry about knob on top... if it says submergible and i believe yours is, then put under water... and upright so heats all levels of the water evenly.

Air pump is great, will add oxygen, and help with smelly water.

As for water testing, the strips are hard to read, do ure best.... sorry not much help here... most of us use liquid test kit, not strips.

is that amonna good kind for cycling ? and by wat i understood i got 1 vote for using my chemical stress to dechlorize the tap water and 1 vote no anymore?