Comedey of Errors - Wait or Medicate

Hi all!

Welcome to my comedey of errors.

I'll tell you the situation briefly first, and then a more detailed
version after.

1. New tank setup - less than a week old.

- 23 US Gallons
- Aquaclear 200
- 1 dose of Hagen Cycle, Aquaclear
- PH 7.0 - 7.5
- 79 - 80 degrees F

2. Fish

1 Placostamus
1 Pregnant Female Guppy
1 Pregnant Female Platy
1 Healthy Male Fancy Guppy
1 very sick (will probably die when I get home) Male Fancy Guppy
1 Male Platy
2 healthy Gouramis
2 Neon Tetras (one appears to have a salt grain on it - I think it is
ich!)
1 Baby platy in a breeding trap (very cute and healthy looking - 3
days old)
2 Serpae Tetras (I think this is what they are called)
2 Zebra Daneos
1 Clown Loach (it's a bottom feeding fish - I may have the name wrong)
1 Female swordtail

3. Current losses

1 Male swordtail
1 Female Guppy

What happened when the fish died :

Both fish became lathargic, hovered at the surface of the water, and
DIED.

My poor wife has become the aquatic grim reaper as she has been
putting the corpses in the freezer to bring back to the pet shop for
warranty (lucky us!).

The sick male guppy listed above is hanging around at the surface of
the water and his fancy tail is torn to shreds.

QUESTION:

I know the tank is very new and it needs to cycle to the proper
bacteria and nitrate levels. However, given the ich on the neon tetra,
I'm not sure if I should medicate or not.

As we don't have a hospital tank, I'm concerned that medications will
hurt our baby Platy and cause havoc with the cycling process.

The other fish in the tank seem to be ok.

Also, is it safe to do a water change? Do I have to be concerned about
temperature changes in the tank? Will a waterchange harm the cycling
process?

If I do a cycle change, can I put the aquaclear in after the water is
poured in the tank? Will letting the water stand overnight equally
remove chlorine?

Here is a little more detail as to what happened:

1. Got a 15 gallon tank.

Pet shop thought it was a 20 gallon tank and advertised it as such. I
bought too many fish for the size of the tank.

It was in this tank that the 2 fish died.

I tried treating the fish with Furon-2 for ich (the Neon Tetras I
mean). I could only give a 2 day dosage though because I had to swap
the tanks. I did not want to put this stuff in the new tank.

2. I got a 23 gallon tank.

I started everything fresh without medicine. I put the cycle and
chlorine clearing chemicals (Hagen). All the filter materials were
replaced with new ones.

I transfered the fish.

The Platy gave us a baby bundle which is in the breeding trap and is
growing fairly quickly.

The male guppy is going through a slow, lingering death.

Overall, I think the fish are doing better in the bigger tank - but
still...

Any ideas?


Neil