Black Molly Gasping At Bottom!

[Sarahstan]

Hi guys, New on this site - hoping for some advice for my poor Molly!
I've had an aquarium for a few yrs, just set this new one up its 125L, been cycling for a few months (fishless) and after getting water tested (all good) a few weeks ago at fish shop I got 3 black mollies, 2 girls 1 boy. A week later I got my water tested again (and again all good) and got a few Platys. That was a week ago. This morning I went to do my weekly water change and have noticed one of a girl Molly at the bottom of tank gasping! All the other fish look fine and are swimming round normally. I did my water change and added extra Cycle and Aqua Plus, and 1tsp aquarium salt. Is there anything else I can do and how long do you think it will take for the fish to react to the water change etc. I don't have a testing kit or a quarantine tank

 

[Xzavier247]

How does the fish physically look? Bloated? Scales?

 

[Sarahstan]

Looks totally normal, not bloated or pregnant looking, scales look normal too. Its been about 5hrs since I did water change and fish still doing the same thing.

 

[XeroTolerance]

A picture would help but I am curious as to what type of test your LFS uses. If they are the strips then they are good for nothing and I question if your tank was fully cycled in the first case or if the readings are off, possibly are little of both. I wouldn't go so quickly to jump that far though but just make sure you your water quality is good (which you have been doing) and increase the number of water changes you are doing to 3 or so 15% - 20% a week. Gasping for air on the bottom of the tank usually means ammonia poisoning in most  circumstances. If I were you I would buy an API Master Freshwater Test kit. They are much more reliable and it will save you the drive to your LFS!

 

[Sarahstan]

Thanks will get one tomorrow - they used a chemical one not a paper one. Can't do a photo sorry. Will do another water change on Friday then. What do I do as far as adding the salt in since I am doing all these water changes?

 

[XeroTolerance]

Do you know what chemical one they are using? Here in the states all the LFS use the cheap paper testers which are absolutely horrible so you may not need to purchase a test kit unless if you want to. As for the salt, do you normally add salt or did you just start because of the problem? IMO it would be fine not to add the salt. Oddly enough, sometimes its the best thing to do.

 

[XeroTolerance]

Also, how are the other fish acting? If the rest are fine then it could be a swim bladder problem. Possibly try feeding a shelled, blanched pea to it. From what I know, there isn't a good chance of survival when fish start acting like that.
 
Are the gills red in any of the fish??

 

[Sarahstan]

The other fish seem to be fine at the moment. I have 3 red mickey mouse platys that all have reddish gills but it could be the colour they are I can't remember looking at them and noticing that change so not sure - they are all acting fine ( except the stupid woman in the shop gave me 2 males and a female instead of the other way round so one is chasing the other grr, was gonna get another girl tomorrow so they both have a girlfriend but I won't now!!  And the other 2 mollies seem fine too. I usually have salt in there and when I have done 3 or 4  25% water changes I usually add the salt again. Bugger I hope they don't all die you got me worried with the red gill thing!!

 

[Sarahstan]

Do you think I should do another water change tomorrow? How much water could I safely change without stuffing up the good bacteria in the tank??!!! AARRGGHH!!

 

[Gruntle]

You can change all of the water with very little effect on the bacteria, they live on the surfaces not in the water itself. There would be a few floating about in the water but nowhere near enough to worry about.

Sorry, I have no advice about your Molly.

 

[XeroTolerance]

What he said ^ 
 
You can do as many water changes as you want. I recommend 25% every other day or maybe even everyday. Just add the salt like you normally would after a weekly water change. I don't have any experiance with salt but it seems like that would be the logical answer to your question. Is the troubled molly female or male then? This could be a case of swim bladder but im not entirely sure. There could be many different problems causing this or maybe if a few combined.

 

[the_lock_man]

How did you fishless cycle? Did you add bottled ammonia?

 

[Sarahstan]

The Molly didn't make it (it was a female) 

I went to another shop and they tested the water and it was high in the ammonia dept. I have been doing 20% water change daily since I posted and will be getting it tested 2moro when I go into town. All the other fish still alive and swimming round normally, so that is a relief!! Thanks for your help everyone

 I added some fish food in when I did the cycle. It's always worked before, or maybe I have just been lucky in the past

 

[Lynn96]

My black molly is doing the same thing I just had an orange molly die from what looks like the same reaction to whatever
She used to be JET black but now looks fading into white around the eyes and head mostly gasping at bottom of tank

 

[Lynn96]

My molly