Good golly shimmering molly

[Noviceafter2yea]

20 gallon
Ammonia 0
N2. 0
N3 30
Ph 8.1
80 farhenheit

1 dalmation Molly
2 platy
3 bleeding heart tetra
2 julii cories
1 male guppy

Yesterday I noticed my molly shimmying. I did a liquid test and had the above readings. Did a 40 percent water change with vacuum because I read shimmies can be due to poor water quality and to bring down N3. N3 brought down to about 20. I have a very hard time differentiating the shades of orange.

Prior to the water change I fed shelled peas in case there was constipation. She ate some, but missed a few times. She had clamped fins, no pinecone. She was hanging out by the heater.

Today, no shimmying, less clamped fins, but still near heater with lower lip kind of jutting more than normal.

Cannot see and white flecks on her or other fish. She does this weird thing with her mouth where she stretches it out while opening and closing. I cannot tell if the inside of her mouth is dis colored because she is a dalmation. There does not appear to be any cottony tufts.

Currently I have pimafix and ich/velvet parasite meds going with activated filter removed.

I have not added salt because of the cories and I did have a snail which I moved to my QT tank that is occupied with 7 week old platy fry.

I know female live bearers are easily pregnant, but have had her since late February, with no males.

How can I give her salt without hurting other fish? Could I do a bath? Would it be with aquarium salt or the deconstipating salt?

I have another 1 gallon makeshift tank with newborn platy fry.

Any suggestions or ideas what might be going on?

Thanks.

Ps - I know I need more cories and bleeding hearts
Also know platy ratio should be 2:1, other female died a few days ago from bloat and my misguided, overzealous attempt to help. She was QT in the 1 gallon that now has the newborn fry.

I thoroughly cleaned (no soap) with boiling water the 1 gallon before the fry.

 

[Delapool]

Did it start with the pimafix dosing? I've had that where female live bearers shimmy or get bloated after dosing meds, mainly I've noticed it with pimafix. Otherwise unfortunately I'm out of ideas.

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Did it start with the pimafix dosing? I've had that where female live bearers shimmy or get bloated after dosing meds, mainly I've noticed it with pimafix. Otherwise unfortunately I'm out of ideas.

No, I Pima-fixed in response to concern that she may have a fungus or mouth rot based on the mouth movements she was making.

I don't think I have ever done a full treatment as recommended by the bottles. Usually, I will start the treatment with removing the filter media and see if there is any slightly noticeable change and then I end up convincing myself that water quality is more important so I do a water change and put the filter media back in because I don't want newly kicked up gunk floating around.

So many people on here express Scepticism about Pima and Mela fix and their efficacy. If I knew exactly what the underlying problem was and was using actual medicine, I would follow the instructions regarding full treatment. I think these products mostly have a placebo effect on me.

I have not noticed female live-bearers react negatively to dosing...now I probably will.

I did another large water change and she seems to be going about her business. I just find myself doing lot of large water changes lately to maintain minimal conditions.

I did one yesterday. I think it may be time to change out the charcoal in one of the filter pads.

Currently I have two pads in there: one with carbon and one without. I've read on here that people don't even bother with charcoal anymore. I know people keep the filter bags for a long time because it helps maintain the BB.

I was thinking I could remove the charcoal and refill the same bag with new charcoal. I've learned over time to only rinse or soak a filter in the removed water. In the past when I changed the coal I ran it under the tap to remove all the black dust. I am not sure how to remove the black dust other than soaking the restocked bag in removed water.

I was going to start a thread asking for input on how to do that - so thanks!

 

[Delapool]

No, I Pima-fixed in response to concern that she may have a fungus or mouth rot based on the mouth movements she was making.



I don't think I have ever done a full treatment as recommended by the bottles. Usually, I will start the treatment with removing the filter media and see if there is any slightly noticeable change and then I end up convincing myself that water quality is more important so I do a water change and put the filter media back in because I don't want newly kicked up gunk floating around.



So many people on here express Scepticism about Pima and Mela fix and their efficacy. If I knew exactly what the underlying problem was and was using actual medicine, I would follow the instructions regarding full treatment. I think these products mostly have a placebo effect on me.



I have not noticed female live-bearers react negatively to dosing...now I probably will.



I did another large water change and she seems to be going about her business. I just find myself doing lot of large water changes lately to maintain minimal conditions.



I did one yesterday. I think it may be time to change out the charcoal in one of the filter pads.



Currently I have two pads in there: one with carbon and one without. I've read on here that people don't even bother with charcoal anymore. I know people keep the filter bags for a long time because it helps maintain the BB.



I was thinking I could remove the charcoal and refill the same bag with new charcoal. I've learned over time to only rinse or soak a filter in the removed water. In the past when I changed the coal I ran it under the tap to remove all the black dust. I am not sure how to remove the black dust other than soaking the restocked bag in removed water.



I was going to start a thread asking for input on how to do that - so thanks!

Weeelll, could just be me too

I wasn't sure why or how you were removing the filter media?

I keep pimafix and melafix and will often try them first. I've had good results when fish are off but shift to MG/acriflavine if it gets worse. It's cheap as well. Options here are limited as well on meds selection.

I largely agree carbon is getting a bit dated but still keep it and use it. I do find it useful but can see myself going to purigen one day when the price gets cheaper. I hose off the new carbon outside and replace the old carbon.

Generally I like to leave the filters alone but I've jammed in a lot of ceramic biomedia which I rarely touch and should be where most bb are. Then I clean/replace filter sponges or carbon as needed. The sponge and carbon are just a small part of my filter setup (even though take up a lot of room) that I'm not too worried on loosing bb from them at cleaning.

The water changes sound really good. Are you getting water issues or sensitive fish? To me I don't think you are a novice

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Weeelll, could just be me too

I wasn't sure why or how you were removing the filter media?

I keep pimafix and melafix and will often try them first. I've had good results when fish are off but shift to MG/acriflavine if it gets worse. It's cheap as well. Options here are limited as well on meds selection.

I largely agree carbon is getting a bit dated but still keep it and use it. I do find it useful but can see myself going to purigen one day when the price gets cheaper. I hose off the new carbon outside and replace the old carbon.

Generally I like to leave the filters alone but I've jammed in a lot of ceramic biomedia which I rarely touch and should be where most bb are. Then I clean/replace filter sponges or carbon as needed. The sponge and carbon are just a small part of my filter setup (even though take up a lot of room) that I'm not too worried on loosing bb from them at cleaning.

The water changes sound really good. Are you getting water issues or sensitive fish? To me I don't think you are a novice

I think it is a combo of both water and sensitive fish. I don't want to accept it, but part is also my overzealous ness in trying to fix the problems.

When you wash out the new coal, what do you put it in? Mine comes in a foil bag so i can't was it in that. Your filter sounds pretty sophisticated. Mine sounds ghetto in comparison. It literally is the filter pad with carbon in it. I chose to add the extra filter pad sans coal because of things I read and because I knew I was going to be starting a second tank at some point because of all the platy fry. Many people,suggest rehoming the male platy, but I feel so guilty and figured I would try a second tank if I could find an inexpensive one. I found a 14 gallon, never used, starter kit for $30 and opted to splurge. Work is,very slow for me, so I have to watch my budget.

I have all new gravel - washed and ready to go, but keep putting off,starting the tank because I haven't decided where I want to put it and think I may want to put it on this cabinet that I need help from someone to move into another room.

Thanks for the confidence in my aquarium prowess, but I still feel like a newbie especially with all the input I ask for. I had a tank for a year and could never get the water right, lost all but 1 fish, so I bought a new glass part and started from scratch.

I get really attached to my fish and am really affected when any die. I do my best to research things and when someone else needs input, I try to pass along what I've learned through my trial and error so they don't feel the same sadness I do. I try to be clear (name aside) that I am not an expert, but I want people who are asking for help to at least feel heard.

Don't know if Ive helped anyone solved their issues, but it makes me feel better to try. I can tell you are compassionate too because I see you ask follow up questions about how someone's fish is doing.

 

[Delapool]

I think it is a combo of both water and sensitive fish. I don't want to accept it, but part is also my overzealous ness in trying to fix the problems.



When you wash out the new coal, what do you put it in? Mine comes in a foil bag so i can't was it in that. Your filter sounds pretty sophisticated. Mine sounds ghetto in comparison. It literally is the filter pad with carbon in it. I chose to add the extra filter pad sans coal because of things I read and because I knew I was going to be starting a second tank at some point because of all the platy fry. Many people,suggest rehoming the male platy, but I feel so guilty and figured I would try a second tank if I could find an inexpensive one. I found a 14 gallon, never used, starter kit for $30 and opted to splurge. Work is,very slow for me, so I have to watch my budget.



I have all new gravel - washed and ready to go, but keep putting off,starting the tank because I haven't decided where I want to put it and think I may want to put it on this cabinet that I need help from someone to move into another room.



Thanks for the confidence in my aquarium prowess, but I still feel like a newbie especially with all the input I ask for. I had a tank for a year and could never get the water right, lost all but 1 fish, so I bought a new glass part and started from scratch.



I get really attached to my fish and am really affected when any die. I do my best to research things and when someone else needs input, I try to pass along what I've learned through my trial and error so they don't feel the same sadness I do. I try to be clear (name aside) that I am not an expert, but I want people who are asking for help to at least feel heard.



Don't know if Ive helped anyone solved their issues, but it makes me feel better to try. I can tell you are compassionate too because I see you ask follow up questions about how someone's fish is doing.

I was lucky and it came with a little mesh bag. I have used a large fish net on occasion to do the same thing for washing carbon.

I do have a 5gal with a little hob and that is also pretty basic. I've jammed in an extra dozen ceramic bio-noodles for peace of mind. I must admit the filters on the larger tank are canister filters with a bit of size to play with .

 

[Noviceafter2yea]

Wow. Good call on the fish net! I would never have thought about that. Perfect solution.