Whats Wrong With My Mollies

[emilythestrange]

i have a fully cycled 100 uk litre tank. today i brought 2 sailfin mollies and 2 shrips. i have nothing else in my tank. my mollies are at the bottom of my tank and not moving ( but they are still alive because of the fins moving )

whats wrong with them ( please help me !!!!! )

 

[Davo86]

i have a fully cycled 100 uk litre tank. today i brought 2 sailfin mollies and 2 shrips. i have nothing else in my tank. my mollies are at the bottom of my tank and not moving ( but they are still alive because of the fins moving )

whats wrong with them ( please help me !!!!! )

how long has the tank been setup?
how was it cycled?
do you have any water stats?
how did you introduce them into the tank?

 

[emilythestrange]

i have a fully cycled 100 uk litre tank. today i brought 2 sailfin mollies and 2 shrips. i have nothing else in my tank. my mollies are at the bottom of my tank and not moving ( but they are still alive because of the fins moving )

whats wrong with them ( please help me !!!!! )

how long has the tank been setup?
how was it cycled?
do you have any water stats?
how did you introduce them into the tank?

Using Pure ammonia, Its been up since 17th november
These are my first fish, I checked the ammonia this morning and it was 0ppm
Just 1 day ago i emptied 90% of my water to reduce my nitrAte down because it was 80ppm + at the end of the cycle

 

[Davo86]

ok, how long have they been in the tank? could it be that they are just stressed from being transported ?

I would leave the light off for the rest of today just to help keep them calm until they settle in fully

what are their colours like?
are they gasping?
what are the nitrite, ammonia and nitrate levels now?

 

[emilythestrange]

ok, how long have they been in the tank? could it be that they are just stressed from being transported ?

I would leave the light off for the rest of today just to help keep them calm until they settle in fully

what are their colours like?
are they gasping?
what are the nitrite, ammonia and nitrate levels now?

They arent gapsing
Theire colours are the same as when i brought them, They seem very jerky and they hide at the back of my tank amongst the plants.
I know it was the transportation because the woman who scooped them wasnt really being gentle.
They have only been in the tank since about 1pm i think...

However the shrimp are fine..

 

[mattbond]

someone correct me if im being stupid, but dont mollies do best in water with a little bit of salt?

did they come from water with salt or water with significantly different parameters?

 

[Davo86]

sounds like they simply are just stressed, keep the light off and add some stress coat if you have any and see how they are in the morning

 

[emilythestrange]

I dont have any stresscoat, but i will leave them as they have plenty of room in my 100litre and plenty of coverage,
I havent added any salt and i wouldnt know if my lfs has added salt to their aquarium,
In the future, i will add tetras, guppies and platys... probably why i didnt think that mollies needed salt.

 

[OldMan47]

Mollies do best in hard, high pH water. One way to accomplish that is using marine salt but it is not necessary. It sounds like your mollies are new to the tank so they may just be scared. Try leaving the lights off for a day or two for them to get used to the new surroundings. If you know that you have soft water or low pH that can be a major issue with mollies and should be corrected. Usually I don't like to fuss with chemistry but I make an exception for my mollies. I do intentionally make sure their water is hard and has a pH over 7.0 at all times.

 

[emilythestrange]

Mollies do best in hard, high pH water. One way to accomplish that is using marine salt but it is not necessary. It sounds like your mollies are new to the tank so they may just be scared. Try leaving the lights off for a day or two for them to get used to the new surroundings. If you know that you have soft water or low pH that can be a major issue with mollies and should be corrected. Usually I don't like to fuss with chemistry but I make an exception for my mollies. I do intentionally make sure their water is hard and has a pH over 7.0 at all times.

I have checked and they are fine this morning, the male chasing the female, they are still abit scared but are exploring the tank more, so im not worried anymore.

Im just wondering.. when would the next time be safest to add more fish (if i test the Ammonia NitrIte and NitrAte daily)
It was 0ppm for the ammonia Nitrite last night.

 

[OldMan47]

If the mollies are the first addition to your new tank, I would wait at least a week and add no more than the bioload of a pair of mollies.
If you fishless cycled, you should be able to go to about 80% of full stocking instead.

 

[emilythestrange]

If the mollies are the first addition to your new tank, I would wait at least a week and add no more than the bioload of a pair of mollies.
If you fishless cycled, you should be able to go to about 80% of full stocking instead.

I did fishless cycle, but the ending was sort of complicated, i didnt let it completely diminish 5ml of ammonia in 12 hours, it took 2 days.
However 2 pipettes of it took less than 12 hours

Tested ammonia and nitrIte again 0ppm for both, definately dead on yellow and blue for the API liquid kits.

The fish are looking happy, just my tank looks bare!!

I was going to stock slowly, getting new fish each weekend, i wont go above the bioload of 2 mollies (as this was what i first stocked it with) and its doing great!

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds like you aqre on the right track Emily. If you have very pregnant female molies, you may want to hold off a bit and let them add to the bioload by giving birth.