DEADE BLACK MOLLYS

[stivhixon]

This is my first aquarium, I always had one as a kid and now I actually have to CARE for it, I went about it all wrong got fish to early, had a couple of casualties. My filter did not work at all, probably didnt help that I got fish to early, I was kinda excited and thought fish were easy to care for. I started off easy with some neon tetras and zebra danios, and 2 black mollys. The filter was not working at all so I went to the pet store and spent alot of money on a good filter a vacuum, etc.. I started to vacuum the tank and it was filthy, debris all over. So I decided to empty the tank, start all over replace the gravel with stones, basically try to start fresh. In the process with the water change I ended up losing one of each fish, almost 2 mollys the other came back from the dead. I let the filter fun the rest of the fish prospered, I picked up 3 more mollys so the lone one wanst alone got a couple of angel fish, and everythings been fine. until today i came home and 2 mollys were dead, well one dead one half dead, I dont understand why its only the molllys dying, the weird thing is the one that almost died the first time and literally came back from the dead is just fine. The rest of the fish are eating and zipping back and forth, does anyone know anything about black molllys and maybe can help me in tere upkeep? Are the yhard to keep, maybe require a higher temperature or PH or anything I may not know about them that may help, just yesterday the were at the surface hanging around - today at the bottom dying, any help would be greatly appreciated, I hate watching them die, I go to scoop the out and they come back alive just to die later, HELP

 

[tttnjfttt]

Can you please test your water and post the results? (Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH).

Also, how big is your tank, and exactly how many fish do you have in there?

 

[stivhixon]

thanks for replying! It is a 30 gallon tank Ihave 3 angel fish, 2 gouramis, 4 tetras and 4 zebras, and after an hour ago 1 molly. I bought a complete set but was only given an ph balance, it is around 6.8 hard to tell wit the color scheme, I do have a pool and tested the water that way but obviously it does not test nitrates and nitrites, but if that would help Ill go buy whatever it takes. If it helps I bought two mollies from one pet store, One died when I changed the water, when that one died I boht 3 more from a differnt store, I noticed one dead a week later at the bottom of the tank. The otjher two seemed fine then all of a sudden I didnt see them one was dead and one dying. I didnt know ehat to do so I tok some water out of the aquarium( because some other fish were pecking at him) didnt know if it was th etemp or food so I aded both but he diddnt make it, thr only Molly to survive is the one I first bought tht had died and come back to life. The other fish are fine they eat and seem very active, I will go to the pet stoe tomorow and find out what I need to test the other chemicals in the water, but the others seem fine, thanks for your help though I kinda wanted to save the other one, but hes gone, never realized it would bother me that bad but its only the mollys, I always heard they were a hardy fish so I dont know if Im doing something wrong or if the place I bought them from is not that credible, I f you have any advice let me know cause Im not sure what too ask for to test the water or when I do what is acceptable or not THANKS

 

[tttnjfttt]

I've never kept mollies, so I don't know how hard they are or aren't to keep. Well, technecially, I have owned a molly, but that was one of my first fish keeping disasters, so I wouldn't take my advice on their care.

Your tank isn't over stocked. I would be careful with the angels and the tetras...sometimes they become angel fish food. There is less of a chance if the angels are younger. Check out this discussion on this.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=98895


How long has your tank been up and running? Did you cycle it before adding fish?

As for what test kits to buy, I recomend buying a master test kit. Try to find one that you add drops of liquid to test tubes. The dip stick ones are less accurate. You should get a test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH. (yes, you already have the pH). I've been told that some of the chain LPS will match prices. Big Al's Online has some really good prices...might be worth a try. Before you try to convince them of this, ask them to test your water. Most LPS will do it for free. Then try to convince them to match the price online This way, if they won't, and your nitrites and ammonia are zero, just walk away.

 

[stivhixon]

ok Ill buy that tomorrow and get to ya with the results, thanks

 

[stivhixon]

i just reqad the topic on neons and angels, I never knew that and they are actually fine together, I assume the angels are babies as most are not over an inch long, but that is good to know obviously the pet store didnt tell me that

 

[Lynz781]

In some cases, mollies require salt, although some thrive without it. In my experience with mollies I believe this to be true. Sometimes people use mollies to cycle a marine tank and then replace with marine fish. So basically mollies can be seen at their best in salt water. But certain fish cannot tolerate salt, i.e. catfish.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Don't add salt to the water because your tetras and danios won't tolerate it and it won't change the underlying problem of water quality issues if you have them. I would do a 60% water with dechlorinator asap(you are using dechlorinator aern't you?), your tank is cycling and i suggest you read up on cycling in the pinned articles at the top of the beginner section.
For a matured tank your tank is not overstocked but your tank is new and still cycling, when you cycle a tank you cannot add hardly any fish at all- you need to rehome all the fish apart from the danios as they will most likely die or suffer alot from the water problems caused by the cycling of the tank, you can buy them again after the tank is cycled. Needless to say, do not buy anymore fish.

 

[alexkay]

I have black, white, speckled & a blue molly - my 1st lot where fully black & died within 2 wks of us setting the tank up so I know where your coming from. My mollys died because they were bullied & tail nipped by black widows & pengiuns & they looked as though they were gonna die then would come straight back to life was strange.

What I must say is that my friend breads Angel Fish & he wont let me have angel fish in my tank as they are all communial fish & he said the angel fish will eat or kill by nipping the communials.

Another friend did have over 300 neons in a massive tank & added 2 angel fish when she came down in the morning all neons where gone & the angels where very fat!!! (if you get what I mean)

Do you know how the fish are dying? have they been nipped ??

 

[stivhixon]

Hey everyone I appreciate the help and responses to this question. Ok Here are the test results- The ph. I think is 7.2 it looked darker but I did the high ph test and that came 7.4 which means that is the lowest it could read so I figure the 7.2 is accurate. Nitrate=0, Nitrite=0, and ammonia =2.0. I figure it must be the ammonia, that should be at 0 also right? The guy at the pet store gave me some salt and said it might help the water, but that was before the test results. Is that the reason you think the mollys died, the other molly is fine, I did buy these mollys at different stores. The guy at the pet store also showed me Stress Zyme- is that something that can solve the ammonia issue? Like I said the fish dont nip each other and seem happy but then again the mollys seemed happy, the next day-not so happy I really thought the test were going to be a lot worse considering I changed the water completely, but its only the ammonia I guess, any ideas or comments?

 

[dwarfgourami]

Complete water changes is not what you want to be doing at this stage (or indeed ever, unless you have accidentally poured poison in the tank or have a massively infectious disease in there). The reason for the high ammonia is that your tank has not yet developed enough friendly bacteria to cope with the waste of the fish.
These bacteria live mainly in the gravel and filter media but need time to grow. (sadly, changing the gravel was the last thing you wanted to do, but you weren't to know that). So it's a balance between allowing for this procedure and keeping the water safe for fish by eliminating anything other than small traces of ammonia, through frequent small water changes, say a 40% water change now, and then daily 20% changes until the ammonia stays below 0. 5 ppm (make sure you dechlorinate the water).

The problem was caused by adding too many fish too soon; if you cycle a tank with fish you need to add them very slowly and wait for the ammonia and nitrites to settle down first. Read up on the cycling your tank- pinned topics. Vital stuff, but unfortunately what they don't tell you in the shops.

It's 30 years since I kept black mollies, but even then I found them less hardy than my other fish (and I kept a large assortment), very sensitive to ich in particular, no doubt caused by my less than perfect water stats. If your ph is over 7 that shouldn't be the problem.

Hope things go better soon.

 

[stivhixon]

by dechlorinate do you mean add stresscoat? Like I said I always had an aquarium my whole life but my job was to feed my parents took care of the rest, now I know how the y felt I did add stresscoat should I add stress zyme for the ammonia or is water changes the best way, for some reason I think chemicals are not natural but I guess for aquariums they are necessary, like the stress coat said to add a tablespoon for every 10 gallons it just seems like alot, but then again I am a beginner!! and I guess I like to learn the hard way