The OP has already said that any upgrade for a more spacious vessel is out of the question. Several times. He is a student in a small apartment. May I humbly suggest we wait for the water parameters issue to be resolved and go from there. Let's keep it focused, colleagues, otherwise we find ourselves going in circles like a hamster in a wheel.
4D3, if you can help the OP with contacts, please, by all means, do that! I imagine this is the most helpful thing anyone of us can do for the poor guy and his fish at the moment.