Strange Brown Mark?

[razer121]

i bought a female balloon molly from pets at home last friday and when i got home i noticed a brown mark on her "head", now ive posted about this in anouther topic but didnt think it was a major problem, anyway i was directed here as i am abit worried about it, is this safe? should i be worried?

its not the best picture as she doesnt want to come out atm...i will try get anouther if its needed...

 

[razer121]

anyone got any idea??

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.
Any snails in the tank.

Brown marks can be columnaris to velvet.
Does the brown mark look fluffy like cotton wool.
Any sign of flicking and rubbing or laboured breathing.

 

[razer121]

well, i think its a 65L tank, i dont know about the ammonia levels as i have no idea how to test them, the test kit i used gave back these results for

nitrite 10
nitrate 100
PH 7.2 -7.6 (it was between these)

im doing water changes to try and sort out an ammonia spike although im not 100% im having one im sure i do because my water is very cloudy,

also please bare in mind my molly was like this when i got her!

also its not fluffy or anything when you say rubbing yes she does rub herself against stuff but then so do the other mollys lol

i dont know what you mean by flicking, or laboured breathing....

 

[WILDER]

How many fish and which type do you have in the tank.
How long has the tank been set up.
How often do you maintain the tank.
What type of test kit are you using.
That nitrate reading is really high.

We need full water stats as flicking and rubbing and laboured breathing can also be due to bad water quality.
Flicking and rubbing means the fish will flick on things in the tank like something irratating the fish.
Laboured breathing means the fish is finding it hard to breath or gasping as surface of tank.

Take a sample of your water to the lfs and ask them to write the readings down for you.

 

[razer121]

ok, well right now i cant go to my local lfs, but here are the readings ive got with my tetra test kit (stirp kind)

4 nitrite
80 nitrate

there the main ones, everything else is in the "safe" zone on the strip kit....by the way ity doesnt test for ammonia and i dont know what does.....

in the tank are,
2 mollys
1 balloon molly
1 betta
1 guppy
4 neons
1 pleco
1 zebra

before you say it or anyone else, my betta and guppy get on very well

im almost sure the water is bad, ive been doing water changes every day to try and tackle it all,

yes she is flicking and rubbing agasint the sand (form one side of tank to the other) and also on the bridge i have in the tank, she only tends to do this every now and then, but she does not gasp for air. shes eating well and feeding well, although she has become VERY shy...keeps hiding under the filter, also noticed she is going and doing her bisness ALOT! i mean leavin a trail of about an inch behind her at least 3 -5 times daily...maybe shes just gredy im not sure

 

[WILDER]

Your water stats are really bad.
How often do you do a gravel vac as plecs are massive waste producers.
You need to sort your water quality out or you are going to lose the fish.

I would remove all ornaments and do a good gravel vac.
When did you last rinse your filter sponges in old tank water. Do they look really mucked up.
Just rinse one filter sponge slighly in old tank water.
What filter are you using.

Its hard to say if the fish has a parasite as bad water quality can make them flick and rub, and gasp or labour breath.

 

[razer121]

thanks for the reply, well i used sand and it was horrible, ive recently changed the filter aswell as the sand, im now using gravel and a fluval plus 2 filter, i used to use a interpet ph1 although im now unsure which filter is better as my tank is disgusting now, its become really cloudy and dirty looking, it looks like there is a constant flow of little sand particals swirling through the tank....im pretty worried about the general health of all of my fish now as the tank cannot be nice to live in but i dont know what to do

should i go back to my old filter?? (well it5s only 3 weeks old but still)

or should i keep the fluval plus 2? (this one is a gd few years old now BUT MAKE LESS NOISE!)

ive not feed my fish as im trying to solve this big problem im having.....

 

[WILDER]

The fluval 2 sounds fine for the tank size.

It maintance that counts.
How often are you maintaining the tank.
Do use a gravel vac.
Do you get all the sand out of the tank before you added the gravel.

 

[razer121]

well since add in fluval it seems my tank is now worse....i noticed bits still floating around the tank...i think the filter is broken

anyway as i have no way to test i think i will just buy a brand new one...

i maintain the tank everyday! im doing at least a 25% water change each day,

yes i do use a gravel vac

when i took the sand out i did it very oddly i think....i moved about 70% water to anouther tank then i used the gravel vac to get as much sand out, then i used a jug (bought the jug just for the fish) to get the remaining sand out AND THEN i used a net to get the last bits of crap and sand floating around, after all this there was of course about 10% or so of water left, so anyway i added the washed gravel in then put all ornaments back in and the the fish went back in with there old water, i toped it up with treated water of about 10%,

since then its been mank of course the filter was changed aswel but i lil while before hench why i think the filter is not cleaning the tank properly

 

[WILDER]

Sand can break the impellor inside the filter.
Wash the impellor to see if that makes a difference. Also clean inside the area where the impellor goes.
If you do buy a new filter just transfer the old sponges.

Are you replacing the white matting in the filter. It removes fine particles from the water.

 

[razer121]

Are you replacing the white matting in the filter. It removes fine particles from the water.

what white matting?? the only white stuff in my filter is the filter media? thats the 2 white sponges of course,

also the new tank is just under 30gal

would a fluval 3 be ok with all my fish? or would i need to get a fuval 4?? thanks in advance!

 

[WILDER]

You need to sandwich some filter matting or filter floss between the sponges. It removes fine particles from the water.

A fluval 3 or 4 mgiht be to big for your tank.
There eheim aqua ball. I used them and they were good.
Get you a link.

[URL="http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue...wer-filters.asp"]http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue...wer-filters.asp[/URL]

So the new filter not for the other tank then.

 

[razer121]

well, i chose the fluval as it doesnt make loads of noise lol, how does the eheim aqua ball fair? and which model would i need... bare in mind i sleep like nearly next to my fish tank so i do tend to hear it ALOT lol, and also i thought of the fluval plus 3 as it said its recommended for tanks up to 28 gals?

 

[WILDER]

It wasn't a noisy filter as far as I remember.

This is the one you need for a 30 gal.

Eheim Aquaball 2212 Filter
Suitable for tanks of between 100 - 200 litres
650 l.p.h output 6 watt motor
Length : 270 mm Diameter : 96 mm