My First Molly Has The "shimmies"

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Opcn

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Its a black sailfin male, the water is nice and hard, 8 dKH. Fins are not clamped, temp is 78, nitrates are @ about 5 ppm, amonnia and nitrite are both undetectable. So what besides lack of salt could this be? I had to work really hard to get this guy into my 24 gallon and I don't want to lose him, thanks.
 
Not likely to be anything else. This topic has been gone over many times, and despite what the retailers will tell you, mollies, particularly hybrids like black mollies, need brackish water.

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?s=&sho...dpost&p=1095240

Is he with other livebearers like guppies? If so, then adding salt is an option, and while slightly brackish water isn't optimal for platies and swordtails, they will do fine. Guppies can be adapted to anything up to full strength sea water (though this takes time and isn't recommended). A specific gravity of 1.003-1.005 will be more than enough for the molly, and harmless to platies, swordtails, guppies, halfbeaks, and most other livebearers.

Tetras, barbs, most catfish, gouramis, etc., don't like salt at all.

Cheers,

Neale
 
The SG of the tank is 1.023 @ 20 C

The female I bought to replace the one that died waiting to be aclimated is doing fine, and so is the gambusia, Both of these fish are found in fullmarine strength salt water in the wild.

Thank you for the link.
 
In a marine tank mollies should be fine (obviously) as far as salt and hardness go. The "shimmies" is 99% of the time a problem with mollies kept in freshwater aquaria. There's some debate about whether it's the marine salt itself the mollies need or the hardness/alkalinity that goes with it, but either way, keeping mollies in brackish water usually works well. What's the pH?

My understanding (which is limited) is that the shimmies is a symptom of neurological damage. It's possible the damage was done before you got the molly, I suppose. Provided the molly is feeding and not otherwise damaged, it should get better itself. I'd definitely increase the temperature, too. Mollies like a lot of heat, at least 25 C, and probably nearer 28-30 C.

If all you're keeping is mosquitofish and mollies, I'd be tempted to drop the salinity a bit. You're probably spending more on salt than you need to. An SG of 1.005 is plenty even for brackish water livebearers. High SG means less oyxgen, which is obviously bad, especially if you superheat the aquarium to a balmy 28 C for the benefit of the mollies.

Cheers,

Neale
 
78 f =25.5 C

Althought ueually its up around 80

I am not just keeping mollies and mosqitoe fish, I also have a sea urchin, Pistol shrimp, fanworms, and snails. as well as live rock.
 
"The "shimmies" is 99% of the time a problem with mollies kept in freshwater aquaria. There's some debate about whether it's the marine salt itself the mollies need or the hardness/alkalinity that goes with it, but either way, keeping mollies in brackish water usually works well...."

I set up a new aquarium. After one week I added fish. At three weeks I changed the water for the first time without adding salt. My mollies developed the shimmies that night. When I finally noticed, I did another water change and added more salt this time. I saw improvement within an hour! Thanks Neale!
 

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