In Need Of Urgent Advice

[Brett_dale]

Im concerned about the health of my fish, as you can see from my last post http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/368932-1st-topic-and-after-advice/page__st__20 i was under the impression that my apisto's were about to start breeding, both the female and male had been guarding the cave, seemingly taking it in turns.
This morning while doing the checks i have found the female swimming at the corner of the tank at the surface of the aquarium, litteraly the top of her around her eyes on the surface, she doesnt seem to be gasping but at the same time she seems reluctant to move and only uses the smallest amount of movement to keep her posistion, she doesnt appear to be pale and ignores everything around her. This is a behaviour i didnt expect especially if she has eggs in the cave. The only thing i can visibly see with her is a very fine hair like white poo hanging around her vent. The male again isnt so active as usual but is staying around the cave still. The Mollys also dont seem as active as usual but will go into a frenzy as usual when fed. Tetra's are swimming around as normal.

Water params checked yesterday with 3 differently branded kits and again today with just one kit

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 20
kh, gh and the ph are stable as they have always been

Cheers Brett

 

[KittyKat]

The spawn failed and there wasn't another female for the male to bother, most likely. Apisto. cacatuoides are a harem breeding species, not a pair species, which is why I do not recommended keeping them in pairs. You probably won't be able to add another female later on either, as the footprint of the tank is too small for more than one.

What are your pH, KH and GH? Stable is good, but high will encourage bacterial and fungal infections in some softwater fish.

 

[Brett_dale]

the male molly is clamped up and doing worse, i dont think this is due to a failed spawn and up until recently they have been thriving.
ph7-7.5
kh 180
gh 180

Im stumped as to what is going on but on the advice obtained on a few other forums i have started to treat with something called esha2000, Sadly the female hasnt made it.

As far as mollies and apisto together the advice i have been given by countless fish keepers, breeders, forums and fish shops was that it all depends on where the fish come from and the water they have been bred from, my mollies came from local water and the apistos from a water that was not to different from mine. Not sure what is right or wrong now as everyone seems to have a differing opinion, assuming the current fish recover im now looking at buying a larger tank, mollys will stay in the current tank and the rest will go into the larger tank where i will try create a biotope more fitting, complete with softer water and a lower ph.

 

[KittyKat]

eSHa 2000 is an antimicrobial, you can find information about what it contains and does here: http/aquariumadventure.wordpress.com/2011/09/24/cyanobacteria/

eSHa 2000 is not harmful, so you may as well treat… but I usually advise against treating with random medications. Edit: …and by random I mean that you don't know what is actually wrong with the fish.

Did anyone recently do any housecleaning around the aquarium or in the room which it is in or within 5 meters? Did they use any chemicals?

the male molly is clamped up and doing worse, i dont think this is due to a failed spawn and up until recently they have been thriving.
ph7-7.5
kh 180
gh 180

My thinking behind that is that frustrated fish (after a failed spawn, for example) can have a go at each other, hurting each other quite badly, or at least stressing each other enough for you to see clamped fins, and your tank is small enough that they wouldn't be able to get away from each other.
Most aquarium kits measure GH as permanent hardness + KH, but it looks like your GH kit (and also water boards give the reading like this) shows only permanent hardness.

As far as mollies and apisto together the advice i have been given by countless fish keepers, breeders, forums and fish shops was that it all depends on where the fish come from and the water they have been bred from, my mollies came from local water and the apistos from a water that was not to different from mine. Not sure what is right or wrong now as everyone seems to have a differing opinion, assuming the current fish recover im now looking at buying a larger tank, mollys will stay in the current tank and the rest will go into the larger tank where i will try create a biotope more fitting, complete with softer water and a lower ph.

Personally, I wouldn't mix Apistos and mollies.
It isn't the pH that is important, it's the GH. Assuming that my understanding of your permanent hardness reading being 180 ppm (10 degrees) is correct, your water is rock hard. The unfortunately popular assumption that water type doesn't matter is very much incorrect. As a general rule of thumb, softwater fish can do well in hard water, but they become more susceptible to bacterial and fungal diseases. Hardwater fish, for the most part, will not do well in softwater. This is a matter of genetics, not where the fish is bred. If you want to know more about it, read about osmoregulation and effect of acidic water on bacteria and fungus. Of course, most fish are able to adapt well to a variety of conditions.