male mollie death

[xander_chookeypud]

My male mollie has just died tonight, as you may expect I am quite concerned as I have only owned fish for a matter of days. The temperature of the water is ok and I have been feeding them a little pinch of tropical flake twice a day. The rest of my fish seem fine at the moment so I hope this death was not due to a fault I have made? I am concerned so could someone give me a little briefing of mollies?!
Thanks for reading

Xander

 

[Annastasia]

A little more information would be very helpful.

What other fish do you have?
What size tank?
Tank Params?
Any other physical signs on him?
Was he doing anything strange before he died?

If you can answer those, it would help a lot. Plus any other info you can give.

 

[shuhu]

The best/first thing you could do at the momment is to perform a water change of at least 20% (but no more than 50%), providing the info that Annastasia mentioned will help people help you better incase there is a problem in your tank

sorry for your loss

 

[xander_chookeypud]

Thanks for your help.

My other fish are:
10 guppy's (6 female and 4 male)
2 mollies (both female)
3 glass catfish (2 female and 1 male)

My tank can hold 96 litres and has the measurements 81L x 46H x 36W cm.

Leading up to his death he was swimming to corners of my fish tank at the bottom and staying there for about 15mins barely moving at all. Then about an hour later I checked him and he was stuck in one of my plants. He wriggled free seconds later and was upside down when he tried to swim and he was obviously not in control of his movements. He was still for about 30 seconds then occassionally trying to swim away (still upside down) before he got to a point and stopped moving.

I hope this is descriptive enough for you. Thanks for your help once again.

 

[petecrab]

He was being very odd, we thought he mite be an odd fella, he was quite big so it could be old age??
Im not sure
Im still annoyed that you had your fish for 3 hours before 2 of the gave birth, and none of mine have yet and have had them for a while now!

 

[xander_chookeypud]

oh- and i also have 4 babies swimming round. 2 of which are guppy's and 2 are mollies although i have only seen 1 baby mollie at any one time recently . Also have a lil shrimp- although can't remember the proper name off hand.

 

[petecrab]

Mr Shrimpy wasnt it?!?

 

[Annastasia]

Swimming upside down, or staying in plants sounds like swimbladder to me. What are your water params? And your water change schedule? And I assume your tank was cycled...right?

Just asking, because Swimbladder can be caused by bad water conditions...but if that all checks out, sometimes they just get an air bubble in there, or it fails...and then there is nothing you can really do.

 

[xander_chookeypud]

I have had my tank for only 3 days so I don't currently have a water changing schedule, how often do you suggest i change the water? Yes I have cycled, but what do you mean by water params...? I am new to fish keeping don't forget!!! )

 

[Annastasia]

I'd suggest 25-50% once a week.

Water params would be Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, and p.H readings. You'll need a test kit if you don't have one to test for that. I'd get a test kit as soon as you can, then test and post back the results.

 

[blitztidus]

I had the same thing happen to a swordtail. she was fine one minute then floating the next. all the other fish were fine and the tank was in tip top shape.

 

[xander_chookeypud]

Ah okies! I will get a test kit as soon as I can although may not be for a couple of days... All of my other fish at the moment seem to be ok so i dont think there should be too many problems if any. Won't hurt to check though!

Thank you for your help and advice As soon as I test the water and find that everything is ok I will think about gettnig a new male mollie

 

[blitztidus]

Sorry about the death but life goes on and once you get that kit you can come close to being the fishes god in a way. I am not trying to offend anyone but all i am saying is that you can probably be real close to it controling the fishes enviornment.