why did my mollies die

[dolphinonj]

I have a 3 gallon take and every time i got a mollie it died with in two weeks
mollies have beome my fave. tropical fish, but i am now leary of getting more mollies. has this happened to anyone?

 

[Raechal]

I believe a 3 gallon is kind of small for a molly. A molly can get 3-5 inches full grown I think so she would need a bigger tank. Did you cycle you tank? Do you have a filter, heater, pump, light, hood? What equipment do you have with it? Do you have test kits for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Also, Ph level?

A lot of things can cause a death of a fish, by answering all the questions above helps others narrow it down to a specific cause.

Welcome to TFF.

 

[dolphinonj]

with my 3 gallon i do have a filter and a heater and light w/hood i do not have a test kit , i was unaware that i should have gotten one , i will go get one now that i know i should have one and be testing all these levels.
The people at the petsmart where i live are not to helpful.
what do recommend?
brian

 

[Raechal]

with my 3 gallon i do have a filter and a heater and light w/hood i do not have a test kit , i was unaware that i should have gotten one , i will go get one now that i know i should have one and be testing all these levels.
The people at the petsmart where i live are not to helpful.
what do recommend?
brian

Yea you'll learn very quickly that a lot of the people that work at local fish or pet stores aren't very helpful and will most likely try to sell you anything.

Well, are there any fish in there currently or did all of them die? If there is no fish in there at the moment I would rinse out the gravel and the water and change it, then set it up again. You need to cycle your tank before you should put any fish in.

Cycling means your tank has established "good" bacteria that breaks ammonia down into nitrItes then nitrAtes. Ammonia and nitrItes are extremely poisonous to any fish and could kill them very quickly. Once it can break down to nitrAtes, your tank will be cycled. You should keep the nitrAtes down below 40 to keep everything safe. You can do this with weekly water changes.

There is two ways you can cycle your tank. With fish, or without fish. Since your tank is so small I would consider fishless cycling. Your tank would probably cycle within a week or so, so it won't take THAT long. Okay so there is fishless and fish cycling:

Cycling with fish:
You pick out one hardy fish to cycle your tank with. Many people use zebra danios but since your tank is rather small and they are a very active fish I would recomend doing a fishless cycle. You then pick out a fish that is very hardy and put him/her in your tank to produce the ammonia through waste. After about a week or two your tank will have established the "good" bacteria that breaks down the fish waste into nitrAtes which isnt harmful to fish when it stays below 40ppm. But even though this fish you used is hardy and stronger than most, it is still being effected by the waste in the water and could very well become ill later on or have a shortened life.

Cycling without fish:
You can buy pure ammonia at any Walmart. There is a brand called Seamist which contains pure ammonia. I am using it now for my fishless cycle in my 120 gallon. Once you bought that and your test kit, add one drop or two to the 3 gallon until you get up to about 3-4 ppm ammonia. Then you can test the water every day or every other day to see what the results are. I would keep adding a drop of ammonia everyday until you start getting readings of nitrIte then the nitrIte will break down into nitrAte. When your levels of ammonia and nitrIte are 0, your tank has cycled. Then do another large water change and fill the tank back up with fresh clean water with dechlor. Then add your fish.

There are some helpful pinned topics around here you could read. they would help you out a lot, they helped me.

 

[Raechal]

It is always a good thing to have a test kit around to test the water levels, but if you don't have the money right now you could just go to a local fish or pet store and ask if they charge to test water. Some places I go to do it for free and some charge a small fee. Then you could get your water tested every other day at a pet store without buying a kit until you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrItes.

 

[Jen21]

Maybe he was lonely and wanted a friend. My mollies also died, but my platies and swordtails are fine.... its weird.

 

[dolphinonj]

with my 3 gallon i do have a filter and a heater and light w/hood i do not have a test kit , i was unaware that i should have gotten one , i will go get one now that i know i should have one and be testing all these levels.
The people at the petsmart where i live are not to helpful.
what do recommend?
brian

Yea you'll learn very quickly that a lot of the people that work at local fish or pet stores aren't very helpful and will most likely try to sell you anything.

Well, are there any fish in there currently or did all of them die? If there is no fish in there at the moment I would rinse out the gravel and the water and change it, then set it up again. You need to cycle your tank before you should put any fish in.

Cycling means your tank has established "good" bacteria that breaks ammonia down into nitrItes then nitrAtes. Ammonia and nitrItes are extremely poisonous to any fish and could kill them very quickly. Once it can break down to nitrAtes, your tank will be cycled. You should keep the nitrAtes down below 40 to keep everything safe. You can do this with weekly water changes.

There is two ways you can cycle your tank. With fish, or without fish. Since your tank is so small I would consider fishless cycling. Your tank would probably cycle within a week or so, so it won't take THAT long. Okay so there is fishless and fish cycling:

Cycling with fish:
You pick out one hardy fish to cycle your tank with. Many people use zebra danios but since your tank is rather small and they are a very active fish I would recomend doing a fishless cycle. You then pick out a fish that is very hardy and put him/her in your tank to produce the ammonia through waste. After about a week or two your tank will have established the "good" bacteria that breaks down the fish waste into nitrAtes which isnt harmful to fish when it stays below 40ppm. But even though this fish you used is hardy and stronger than most, it is still being effected by the waste in the water and could very well become ill later on or have a shortened life.

Cycling without fish:
You can buy pure ammonia at any Walmart. There is a brand called Seamist which contains pure ammonia. I am using it now for my fishless cycle in my 120 gallon. Once you bought that and your test kit, add one drop or two to the 3 gallon until you get up to about 3-4 ppm ammonia. Then you can test the water every day or every other day to see what the results are. I would keep adding a drop of ammonia everyday until you start getting readings of nitrIte then the nitrIte will break down into nitrAte. When your levels of ammonia and nitrIte are 0, your tank has cycled. Then do another large water change and fill the tank back up with fresh clean water with dechlor. Then add your fish.

There are some helpful pinned topics around here you could read. they would help you out a lot, they helped me.

Yes i have 2 tertas and 2 barbs that are doing really great no problems at all. it's been about three weeks since all this has happened. the tank is real clear now .
i also have a 10 gallon that i let run for about 36 hours before adding my fish was this a no no? since i am very new at this and am very impatient any guidience would be gratly appreciated
bri

 

[Raechal]

Well if you decide to get anymore fish I would maybe go with a betta. Do you like those?

EDIT: Nevermind, I didn't read that you had fish in the 3 gallon still.

What kind of tetras and what kind of barbs? When your molly died did it have any injuries, marks or anything unusual about it?

You have a 10 gallon as well, what fish do you have in there? To speed up your cycling process, maybe you could go to the local fish store or pet store and ask for some of their gravel as that will contain some good bacteria and help your tank along.

 

[dolphinonj]

Maybe he was lonely and wanted a friend. My mollies also died, but my platies and swordtails are fine.... its weird.

i know right i have 2 tetras and 2 barbs that are doing great

 

[Raechal]

Have you had the tetras and barbs in there for 3 weeks? Then your tank is probably already cycled. I am guessing your mollies died from high nitrites and nitrates while your tank was cycling. It may already be cycled if you had the tetras and barbs in there for 3 weeks.

 

[dolphinonj]

Well if you decide to get anymore fish I would maybe go with a betta. Do you like those?

EDIT: Nevermind, I didn't read that you had fish in the 3 gallon still.

What kind of tetras and what kind of barbs? When your molly died did it have any injuries, marks or anything unusual about it?

You have a 10 gallon as well, what fish do you have in there? To speed up your cycling process, maybe you could go to the local fish store or pet store and ask for some of their gravel as that will contain some good bacteria and help your tank along.

Love bettas have 2 of them thats what started me on this finding nemo journey, my friends are calling me a fish wh...
did know you could do that, wow ! i should have done some research before all this .
In my 10 gallon i have 2 gourami a angelfish 4 platy and 1 algea eater .... to much?

 

[laboul]

Hi there - just to let you know, the Petsmart in my area (Canada) does free water testing, just bring in a little baggie of water. Hopefully they do this in Illinois too.

It would be smart to ask them what the actual values for nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, and pH are. Sometimes they will tell you your water is fine without showing you the values... because they just want you to buy more fish.

Your values should be:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: below 40
pH: between 6 and 8

Values higher than 0 in ammonia and nitrite indicate that your tank is not cycled yet. Sorry if I'm repeating things that have already been said.

Test kits are good if you can afford one eventually because changes in a small tank can be more drastic. Also, the liquid based test kits are more accurate than the strip tests, or so I've heard.

I'd say 2 platies and 1 algae eater are enough for that tank, even overstocked. You'll need to find another home for the angelfish and gourami. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The general rule is one inch in length of fish per gallon. That means with 2 platies at an adult length of at least 2 inches you'll be overstocked in a 3 gallon.

Don't feel too bad about not knowing this stuff beforehand. It's not like Petsmart tells you how to properly take care of fish. I started there too and my tank was a disaster: I killed 2 fish and a snail from ammonia poisoning and disease. I've learned so much on this forum in just a month and you will too!

Good luck!

 

[Raechal]

Well if you decide to get anymore fish I would maybe go with a betta. Do you like those?

EDIT: Nevermind, I didn't read that you had fish in the 3 gallon still.

What kind of tetras and what kind of barbs? When your molly died did it have any injuries, marks or anything unusual about it?

You have a 10 gallon as well, what fish do you have in there? To speed up your cycling process, maybe you could go to the local fish store or pet store and ask for some of their gravel as that will contain some good bacteria and help your tank along.

Love bettas have 2 of them thats what started me on this finding nemo journey, my friends are calling me a fish wh...
did know you could do that, wow ! i should have done some research before all this .
In my 10 gallon i have 2 gourami a angelfish 4 platy and 1 algea eater .... to much?

The angelfish will have to get either a larger tank or get sent back to the local fish store. It will get way too tall for the 10 gallon and it's fins will probably stick out of the water.

What kind of gourami do you have? What do they look like? You may be able to keep two in there if they aren't two males. They may get a little territorial and attack each other. You can tell a male from a female by their dorsal fins. The fin on their back. The female will have a shorter more rounded dorsal fin and the male will have a more longer pointed one.

4 platies is fine as well but beware they will breed very easily and give you lots of baby fish!

What kind of algae eater is it? A common sucker fish? Is it brown with brown kind of spots on it? These can get longer than a foot when they are their adult size! I would take him back as well with the angel. Then you could probably add the tetras and the barbs you have in the 10 gallon and get a betta for the 3 gallon. Normally tetras should be in schools of atleast 5, but since you don't have room I guess it would be better to keep the only 2 you have.

 

[Raechal]

Hi there - just to let you know, the Petsmart in my area (Canada) does free water testing, just bring in a little baggie of water. Hopefully they do this in Illinois too.

It would be smart to ask them what the actual values for nitrite, nitrate, ammonia, and pH are. Sometimes they will tell you your water is fine without showing you the values... because they just want you to buy more fish.

Your values should be:
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: below 40
pH: between 6 and 8

Values higher than 0 in ammonia and nitrite indicate that your tank is not cycled yet. Sorry if I'm repeating things that have already been said.

Test kits are good if you can afford one eventually because changes in a small tank can be more drastic. Also, the liquid based test kits are more accurate than the strip tests, or so I've heard.

I'd say 2 platies and 1 algae eater are enough for that tank, even overstocked. You'll need to find another home for the angelfish and gourami. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. The general rule is one inch in length of fish per gallon. That means with 2 platies at an adult length of at least 2 inches you'll be overstocked in a 3 gallon.

Don't feel too bad about not knowing this stuff beforehand. It's not like Petsmart tells you how to properly take care of fish. I started there too and my tank was a disaster: I killed 2 fish and a snail from ammonia poisoning and disease. I've learned so much on this forum in just a month and you will too!

Good luck!

Same here, my first tank was a disaster as well and I ended up killing a few fish because I wasn't experienced at all. I think we all do it because we are just so excited to have a new tank!

If he has dwarf gouramis I could see him getting away with keeping the gouramis.

This is what I would keep in the 10 gallon:

2 gouramis (if they are dwarfs)
2 platies
2 tetras
2 barbs

And then return the rest and you'll have an empty 3 gallon to put another betta in. Then maybe you could even add a tetra or two to the 10 gallon.

 

[laboul]

PS. Many people say mollies are hardy but I have had two die on me and they were from Petsmart too. I wouldn't get any more just yet.

Just read Raechal's post while I was writing this, very good advice. I'd definitely return the larger fish and you may even want to consider upgrading your ten gallon to a 20 or 30 gallon eventually. Once your tank stabilizes you're going to have baby fish from those platies!