odd colored mollies?

[kcalbat]

hello people!!!!!!!

i bought two silver mollies when i set up my tank, which is now fully cycled. i've noticed though that the silver mollies are darker now on their upper bodies. What is this? they are acting normal..if fact the male is relentlessly harassing a cremesicle molly and the female silver molly is soon to give birth.

so what is with the color change? please help!!!

the pH reading is 8.0, the temperature is at a constant 75 F, the ammonia and nitrite reading is 0 ppm, and the nitrate is about 10, and there is one tablespoon of salt for each 5 gallons.

tank mates: albino red finned shark, tiny pleco, three mollies, one platy

the male looks more discolored..

please help...thank you!!!!

 

[GuppyDude]

well if everything checks out they will be fine. some times fish will change colors if they are stressed out, sick, or maybe excited. in ur case im gunna guess that u brought them home from a crappy aquarium store tank and put them into your clean tank. in which case the fish will darken up. its probably totally normal, an unless you see symptoms of illness, its probably nothing to worry about.

 

[kcalbat]

thanks for the reply...

will it go away?...its more on the male though..who is harassing a female molly...constantly

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I would just like to add that you shouldn't be using salt in a tank that has a plec in at all! Plecs, like other "scaless" fish, are intolerant of salt as it burns their skin and i wouldn't be suprised if your plec was in much discomfort, salt is even life threatening for plecs so i suggest you stop using it imediatly and do some water changes to help remove it.
I am not sure wether red finned sharks are intolerant of salt but i think they are too- you do not need salt for mollys to be healthy as in the wild they live in both brackish and freshwater enviroments and can live healthily in either.
Are you using normal salt or aquarium salt?

 

[kcalbat]

i am using aquarium salt. i read online that plecs can be tolerate to salt but some other catfish breeds are intolerate..but maybe i read wrong. The plec and albino shark are seemingly doing pretty good. i will do a water change today to rid some of the salt.

i only used salt once since i read it doesnt evaporate nor is it filtered..so its not an ongoing use.

it just seemed that the mollies (and the platy too) livened up afterwards....

thanks for the advice

but will the discoloring go away?