Molly

[miltiadis_s]

i just bought a molly and its on the gravel. My question is will he die or is he adapting to a new environment. Also can i keep mollys with guppies and tetras? And how can you tell the difference between a male and female molly. thanks

 

[dwarfgourami]

This is usually a bad sign, but it depends on how long it goes on for. Could also be stress, constipation or (if a female) imminent birth. You tell males from females by looking at their anal fin: females have a rounded fan-shaped fin, males have a rod-like contraption. I have kept mollies with guppies and tetras in the past; the only problem is that mollies require hard, alkaline water (many even prefer brackish) while some tetras need soft acid water and tetras definitely don't do brackish. If you can get hardy tetras that don't mind too much about water stats, they should be ok. Not neons or rummy noses.

 

[Stone Warior]

If you didnt alcilmate the fish MOST likly it will die, if its on the floor if you alcimated it then its most likly stress, birth or death like the person above just said

 

[Seidge]

I hope your fish survives, turn out the lights and dont disturb the water, if its stress it may take a couple of days to come out from hiding especially if you have other fish.

If it starts to look light, as in it looks more like its floating without moving it fins around to maintain its position its probably given up and is going to die.

You can keep mollies with tetras when they are of similiar size i believe, however mollies can grow much larger and bullying can happen although mollies tend to be quite placid with other species in a community tank

 

[Annastasia]

How long did you acclimate him for? Is he by himself, could you add in some salt?

 

[miltiadis_s]

his by himself. I increased the temperature to 27 degrees and his up now. What he does is goes up and down the side of the tank, i think its because of the reflection, he thinks some other fish is there.
I am going to get guppies so would i need salt in the tank? does salt lower or increase the ph? thanks

 

[Stone Warior]

his by himself. I increased the temperature to 27 degrees and his up now. What he does is goes up and down the side of the tank, i think its because of the reflection, he thinks some other fish is there.
I am going to get guppies so would i need salt in the tank? does salt lower or increase the ph? thanks

Wrong fish dont see there refletion its an optical illusion. Get "Aquarium Salt" if you could its good and healthy shouldnt mess with ph either

 

[-fish-fanatic-]

i'm pretty sure you molly is jsut adapting to the new enviroment...
or r a little stressed out

 

[miltiadis_s]

i have put some conditioner in the water, the aquarium guy said theres salt in there. he also said that 1 week is all a 30Litre tank needs to cycle, is this true? thanks

 

[Annastasia]

Nope. There is no set time for cycling, but a week is excessively short. Do you have a test kit to test your water params? You'll want that, since you have fish in there, and during cycling the levels can get deadly. You'll need to do a lot of water changes to bring them down to the acceptable range.

For Mollies, they should really be kept in brackish water. Check out the pinned topic for more information. As far as I'm aware, conditioner does not have salt in it, aquarium, marine, or otherwise.

 

[kathym1977]

I ahd two die recently like that because of a amonia problem in my tank. i lost all but 3 of my 15 fish and felt like a murderer! Good luck and hang in there molly!!

I hope your fish survives, turn out the lights and dont disturb the water, if its stress it may take a couple of days to come out from hiding especially if you have other fish.

If it starts to look light, as in it looks more like its floating without moving it fins around to maintain its position its probably given up and is going to die.

You can keep mollies with tetras when they are of similiar size i believe, however mollies can grow much larger and bullying can happen although mollies tend to be quite placid with other species in a community tank

 

[miltiadis_s]

he looks ok now. i havent tested any levels but PH which is at 6.6. i am going to add ph up to get it to neutral. i am adding this white power thats meant to boost the PH to neutral and keep it like that but it doesnt seem to work in my tank . thanks guys

 

[Annastasia]

It doesn't really work in any tank, it's not just you. It's better to let your pH be then to mess with it. Messing with it causes large swings in pH, which are 10 times more stressful to fish then them being in a "improper" pH. Your pH is perfectly fine, 7 is just a neutral number. If you have it, great, if not, oh well. Some fish will even prefer a more acidic pH, like Tetras for example.