Molly sick or depressed?

[Missy]

Another questions,

Both of my female mollies have died in the last week or two, one due to giving birth, the other seemed weak from the beginning and died during the Ick treatment (having trouble getting my tank stabilized). Anyway, I now have one Male Molly left. He looks healthy but for two days now, he hasn't come out from a leaf he's hiding in. He did eat though, and went right back there.

I really shouldn't add any more fish now because although my Ammonia is 0, my Nitrites are still raised. What should I do, he is a very handsome fish and I really don't want another fish to die.

If I add 2 mollies in today will my tank whirl out of control again? I could do a 10% water change each day for a week or so to help it along.

FYI there is currently 3 swords, looking great, one Pleco and one Dwarf Gouramis (who also need a friend) in there too. (20 gallon tank)

(P.S.) just posted another problem...film on top of water

 

[Alien Anna]

Both of my female mollies have died in the last week or two, one due to giving birth, the other seemed weak from the beginning and died during the Ick treatment (having trouble getting my tank stabilized). Anyway, I now have one Male Molly left. He looks healthy but for two days now, he hasn't come out from a leaf he's hiding in. He did eat though, and went right back there.

I really shouldn't add any more fish now because although my Ammonia is 0, my Nitrites are still raised. What should I do, he is a very handsome fish and I really don't want another fish to die.

If I add 2 mollies in today will my tank whirl out of control again? I could do a 10% water change each day for a week or so to help it along.

FYI there is currently 3 swords, looking great, one Pleco and one Dwarf Gouramis (who also need a friend) in there too. (20 gallon tank)

(P.S.) just posted another problem...film on top of water

If your nitrite is anywhere please don't add so much as a snail, let alone a fish! Nitrite is poisonous. I hope you don't, but you could well lose your male molly as well

Everyone in your tank is likely feeling unwell. Nitrite prevents their bodies from processing oxygen so they will all be feeling like humans do when we get mountain sickness. Their survival instincts will make them do one of two things:
1. Keep as still as possible, hiding so they don't have to flee from predators.
2. Dart to the surface where the oxygen concentration is higher.

Darting may also be caused by hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) which causes the fish to be irritable.

Get your water quality to as near perfect as you can make it (frequent, small water changes, minimal rations) and as soon as you've finished the ick treatment, do a 20% w/c and get some carbon in there to get it out of the water. That film on top of your water is probably a bacterial bloom of some kind - I wouldn't worry about it as long as you've got the rest of the situation in hand.

Any "friends" you add to this tank would be like one more dinner guest in a famine - and could cause the demise of everything in your tank. Not that dwarf gouramis need "friends" - they're not schooling fish and are actually perfectly OK on their own. You molly will probably appreciate a new harem when he's got enough oxygen to think about something other than basic survial.

Please try to be patient and wait until your tank is fully cycled (ie. zero ammonia, zero nitrites and a small amount of nitrate) before doing anything more. It's no fun watching fish die.

 

[Missy]

Thank you so much.
I never really could figure out what Nitrites did to the fish, I just knew it was bad.
I'll add an air stone to the tank today to help them get oxygen and continue with water changes. Thanks.