I Need Closer

[Rillan]

My female balloon molly died lastnight and i found her this morning. It shocked me and it hit my girlfriend really hard because the molly was like her favorite fish. We got a male and a female together about 5 weeks ago and now its weird looking at the tank and not seeing her swimming at the top of the tank. I dont know what was up with her. Before we went to bed lastnight we noticed she was swimming at the top of the tank but she was moving slow. I lifted the lid and she dident move. She just swam. I put it down to tiredness. Im sorry if this is an easy answer to how she died. But if anybody knows anything please tell me. Thank you

 

[Griz]

I'm sorry about your loss. Unfortunately it's a part of fishkeeping, or keeping any pet for that matter.

Sometimes there simply is no answer and if the other fish are fine, you may never know for sure. It may not be anything that you did. But I'll ask the following questions and maybe we can figure it out.

I see that your tank is 40 litres and the molly had been with you for 5 weeks. How long has the tank been running? Have you added any fish recently? How often do you perfom water changes and how many gallons/litres? Do you use a dechlorinator for the replacement water? Your tank has a compatable mix of fish but is a bit overstocked I think. Good filtration and frequent water changes can compensate for that however. What sort of filtration do you have?

 

[Rillan]

Ive had the tank running for almost 7 weeks now. When I got my tank I had a set of instructions and some remedies to follow. One was called Fresh Start and the other called Filter Start. The Fresh Start was usued to get the water at the right levels. The Filter Start was to be added once every 2 days for the first 2 weeks, it is to establish the bacteria in the filter and I did a nitrate test earlier and they test came back fine. I also did a PH test on wednesday and that came back at 7.5. I keep a notepad record of the date, times and results of every PH and nitrate test I run. I also keep a record of the water temp every morning and evening. I last added fish a week ago today and that was my dwarfs and my white molly. After chatting with my girlfriends dad who has kept fish for the past 20 years he advised I run a 30% water test every 5 weeks so I dont disturb the tank so much and leave the good bacteria to do its thing. The catfish I have do a good job of keeping the tank floor clean. I dont really know whatelse to say but thank you for everything.

 

[rdd1952]

Sorry to hear that you lost your fish. A fish swimming slowly at the top of the tank is generally a bad sign. If they are gulping for air, it generally means that there isn't enough oxygen in the water, usually a result of the water temp being too high and forcing the oxygen out.

You mentioned that you tested for nitrate and that it was fine. What was the actual reading? Have you tested for ammonia and nitrite? Those are the 2 you need to keep an eye on. If the tank isn't cycled, you won't ever have any nitrate as it is the end result of the the nitrogen cycle. if no ammonia and nitrite arebeing processed, no nitrate will be formed. I would suspect that your ammonia (and possibly your nitrite) is high and was the cause of your fish's death. And the toxicity of ammonia is directly related to pH. The higher the pH (and yours is 7.5) the more toxic ammonia is.

 

[my fat fish]

also 1 big problem i see is that you are doing a 30%water change every 5 weeks! thats way to far apart in a small tank like that i would reccoment at keast once every 2 weeks but preferbly once each week will help keep and harmful bacterias down and water more stable

 

[rdd1952]

also 1 big problem i see is that you are doing a 30%water change every 5 weeks! thats way to far apart in a small tank like that i would reccoment at keast once every 2 weeks but preferbly once each week will help keep and harmful bacterias down and water more stable

That would also lend credence to ammonia being an issue. In a cycling tank, daily water changes are usually necessary to keep ammonia and nitrite levels down.