Momma Died

[mathman]

My daughters preschool has a tank that I stocked with 2 mollies. One was obviously pregnant when we bought her and gave birth less than 2 days after being in the tank. She was fairly small and had about 20 good sized fry. I have never had problems with the moms dying after giving birth and was wondering if it is a normal situation. I brought the male home to watch but have never moved fry that young.
The lady there has tested amonia and nitrites and said the nitrites were a bit high but doesn't know how to fix it. Unfortunatly neither do I. As in one of my previous posts I must have been extreemly lucky since I had seldom tested my water when I had fish before. None of the other tests can be done at this time as we dont have access to test kits and it will be a while before anyone will be able to make the trip to get the needed supplies as it is about 80 miles to the nearest lfs other than Wal Mart that does not sell anything in the way of decent kits or other supplies.
My question is...(reiterated)...is it a common occurance for the mother fish to die after birth?

I almost forgot. I was unaware at the time I chose mollies for their tank that their is no way for anyone to get in to feed the fish over the weekends and in just under a month everyone will be gone for spring break. What can be done to make sure these fish don't starve? (right now it is just the fry in the tank.) and how young can you move them? I used to wait till 2 months before i moved my fry to my comunity tank but we are thinking we should reconsider what type of fish if any would be best since they will be left alone aften. I can take the fry when they are old enough to survive being moved.
If this would be better read in a different forum please move it as I don't have much time...

 

[William]

Sorry to hear of your loss Mr Bink, you know about cycling right? After time the nitrites will decrease due to the bacteria building up in the filter, to lower the nitrites you can simply do a water change of 20-30% to lower them considerably if they are too high and risking the fishes health, this will extend the time it takes for the bacteria to be established in the filter but it may save your fishes lives.

their is no way for anyone to get in to feed the fish over the weekends and in just under a month everyone will be gone for spring break

Adult fish can survive for 2 weeks without food added, the babies may be a problem with them dying due to starvation but if you've got some planted areas they should survive fora couple of days over the weekends on food left in the plants and in a months time they'll be quite large and more able to cope with you going away!

Also a momma who has just given birth is more at risk of dying than a healthy one because the birthing is very stressful.

I just read through the message quickly let me know if I missed anything!
Sorry for the slow reply!!

 

[gadazobe]

Can you take them home for the long Easter break?

 

[mathman]

YOu didn't miss anything. I have a habbit of typing to much.


I cant bring them home unfortunatly and they have no live plants and I would have to do some arm twisting to talk them into it.

Don't worry about the reply I have just been very stressed trying to take care of 2 brand new tanks, life in general, and this damn war. I apologize for my outburst.