Dalmation Mollie Fry Grew Up Some Still Young....randomly Dieing?!

[fishychick77]

when i got my dalmatian mollies i bought 2 putting them with 2 ghost catfish, one other type of mollie, and 2 x ray fish( this was back in april)
few weeks after i got them the mollie was pregnant had the fry and things were all good up untill now. i know my tank (10 gallon) is well WAS a little crowded but it ended up balancing out. now for some reason my mollies are randomly dying and i cant figure out why.... 3 one day 1 yesterday and 1 today.. im gonna do water changes more to see if that would help if anyone can help before i lose them all or my other fish

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to our forum fishychick77.
In a small tank like that, chances are that you are seeing water quality issues. I would do a nice 90% water change and expect to see the fish acting better right away. Something to be aware of is that mollies need water with fairly high mineral content. One secondary indication of lots of minerals is a pH well over 7.0. If you have a hardness test available to you,look for a GH of at least 7 degrees. The hardness test is a far better indicator than pH but many people are just not equipped to test for hardness. If you have no other fish in the tank, you can even add so much sea salt that you create a reef tank saltiness for mollies. They really do tolerate sea salt well and it gives them the mineral content to thrive.

 

[fishychick77]

thanks i did a few water changes and they seem to be swimming around more and the waters clearer