I have three Balloon Mollies and they seem to like to swim around the bottom. Im worried because they use to swim up top and the newest one did swim up top but stopped when she realized the other two were at the bottom. I tested the water for the pH balance but the strip was hard to read. It was orange then in more light it was a dark pink then it dried right between. >.< Can anyone tell me what's going on and if my fish are sick?????

how can i raise the pH. my tester also says i have very hard water. what does this mean, and how can i fix it.
i have had a really good set up, until the ike hurricane, gave us no power for 5 days. now i cant get it right.

i have several large gold fish and bala fish, along with a large cat fish algae eater and peacock eel

my levels are…..
NO3–250
NO2–1
HARDNESS(GH)–280 very hard
KH–180
pH–6.2
i own a TETRA test easy strips–5-1 test.
what is of normal and how can i fix it. and keep it good.

whats weird is my water has a pH of
7.6, and i change 5 gals and it will change my pH, but the next to days, its low again.

I have a 10 gallon tank (im new at this, now realize bigger would have been better) I had one then 2 danios to assist with cycling the tank, checked water everyday, thought it was cycled.. had the cloudy water, that cleard up, did water changes after awhile etc, then one by bloody one my fish died I tested the water everything seemed normal so i slowly, re-stocked my tank, same thing happend…the Ph was a little high but i decided to take the water to the pet store for eval. The test revealed that I had NO Ph, the lady said she’d never seen the test strip turn that color. (my tests strips were obviously misleading) So I just drained my entire tank and washed all the plants and ornaments. QUESTION #1 why was my Ph so low? I used a water treatment, let it sit at least 24hrs before adding it. Was my water too soft??? #2 when I re-stock will i have to re-cycle again?? should I rinse my gravel off? does it contain the good bacteria? please help me, I miss the pretty fish. i did add salt.
i used tap water, with a water de-chrlorinator
i hadnt rinsed the gravel yet, till i found out if I should, there is about an inch of water left over the gravel

does anyone know if clorox toliet bowl cleaner with bleach is an acid or a base, i mean if i put a ph indicator strip in it would it show up acidic or basic??? thanx