today a fellow at a LFS who seemed to know a lot said, just put in a goldfish for now. he also gave me something to nuetralize the ammonia, as well as a small bottle of this bacteria for freshwater. he said it really is comparable to biospira. and in a week I can bring back the goldfish.
We have I think algae, grey particles laying on decorations and he was gonna give me a bushy nose catfish for no charge, but I told him I had added CopperSafe to get rid of worms. he said the catfish is highly suspectible to copper so its best to go with the goldfish.