Sick Mollies

[synergy123]

Hi all,

I'm super new to this, so please forgive my ignorance. I've learned a LOT in the last couple weeks, but that's mostly because I've already made some real rookie mistakes.

I've just inherited a 46 gal tank from my grandma. She had used the tank for years and years with lots of success, but I'm not quite sure how long ago it was emptied. I assume about 2 months. At the very least, she had a pleco & cory in there for years, and took great care of them. Often lots of other fish and live plants too.

As soon as I got it, I set it up. No soap, but I did wipe it out a bit before filling it. Mostly new decorations & gravel, but she had 2 big rock slats and a little ceramic bridge that I kept & put in from the start. I have a new filter (Marineland Penguin - 200B I think), heater, food, etc, because hers didn't make it to me until later. I use Aqueon water conditioner & API tropical flakes.

On the advice of the guy at the store, I had everything set up and turned on for about 48 hours and then brought home my first fish: 4 mollies (only 1 male). The smallest is about 2" or less, and the biggest is almost 3". I had never heard of the nitrogen cycle at that point.

2 weeks later (Halloween day) I brought home 4 rasbora scissortails (2.5", give or take), one dwarf pleco (clown? rubbernose?) who is about the size of the tip of my pinky finger, and 1 more molly, about 2". These went straight into the tank - a mistake I won't make again.

Last night I tested the water for the first time with my new test kit (no strips).
Temp = 78
PH = 7.8
ammonia < .25, -- the chart has nothing between 0 & .25, but the colour is somewhere between the two. Probably closer to the .25 though.
nitrate = 0
nitrite = 0

I don't know about the water hardness yet, but we don't have very hard water where I live.

Last night I noticed the new molly was swimming a little funny. This afternoon her fins looked like they were against her body - is this clamped fins? I couldn't see any other symptoms - her gills looked normal (as far as I could tell), no weird colouring or signs of fungus, and eyes looked normal. Sometimes she would swim up near the top, and other times she would go hide in the plants. We couldn't find her by dinnertime, and a couple hours later I went digging around & found her dead around the base of a plant. I've removed her immediately.

Around dinnertime I noticed that two of the existing mollies were acting similar - stiff when swimming, hanging around either near the top, or hiding around the bottom, and bottom fins not fanning out like normal. However, a couple hours later I saw one of these two swimming/acting normal again, and her fins were fanning out properly. ??? The other fish all seem fine (touch wood)

I've set up a hospital tank today - new, 5.5 gal, filter with carbon removed, heater, no gravel, and a couple of the synthetic plants from the home tank. I picked up a vacuum for the gravel (I'm going to do that after I post this), and some meds: Marineland All-in-one Remedy - as suggested by the guy at the store. It does list clamped fins as one of the ailments it fights.

So... being that the hospital tank has not been cycled yet, and I'm guessing that the main tank has not finished cycling yet(?), I'm not sure whether to move only the one molly that is still having troubles to the hospital tank, or also the one that looked like it was having troubles earlier today. The latter happens to be my 4yr old daughter's absolute favourite, and I would hate for anything to happen to her. She was also obviously pregnant for the last couple weeks, although I'm not sure if she is still??? Should I move the one, start the treatment, and then move the second tomorrow if the symptoms return? Does clamped fin ever come and go like that?

Does it sound like I'm on the right path with the hospital tank? I'm planning on using it in the future as a quarantine tank for new fish (hoping to get a few ottos to finish off the community). I assume I should change the water after I medicate the fish, right? What about the decorations? Do I need to worry about possibly contaminating the main tank again?

As for the ammonia, could that be causing the fin clamping? Or was it more likely something brought in from the new fish? I'm definitely going to vacuum out the bottom and I'm continually trying to watch them feed so I can ensure they finish it all & I'm not overfeeding them. Previous water changes (30% every week or so, so far) were using a cup & bucket rather than a siphon, so it wasn't getting the nastiness at the bottom - hence why I just bought the vacuum. Shall I assume that's the cause of the ammonia, or would the tank still be lacking healthy bacteria? Could the bacteria have survived from the previous set up, despite being without water for a period of time?

If you made it this far, thank you so much. Any advice is welcome. In the meantime, I'll go vacuum that tank...

 

[katana]

I would maybe do water changes more often until it is cycled, just to help keep the water super clean. I doubt any bacteria made it from the original set up, so you will probably have to start the cycle completely from scratch.
I was a newbie with no advice about cycles and whatnot when I started my 45 and stocked it full of fish. My mistake but I did lots of water changes and that kept the ammonia down. I was able to prevent any spikes.
As for the sick Molly, I have some and heard they can be sensitive. Perhaps the slight ammonia reading is what caused her to act strangely? How long did you have the one in the tank that died?
What are you using to test the water? Strips or the liquid tests?
I hope they get better and your tank turns out splendid


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[synergy123]

Liquid tests.

The one that died was within 3 days of getting her from the store.

Unfortunately the ammonia didn't seem to budge even after a 25% water change... is that normal? I was siphoning from the bottom of the tank.

 

[Matt68005]

So moving them from one uncycled tank into a smaller uncycled tank is not gonna work in the long run unless you drain that 5g daily and replace the water, feed sparingly. Is nything wrong with them besides clamped fins? That can be a sign of any number of things.......
My guess is the ammonia/nitrite, but if you change 50% of the water every single day and use prime, you can fish-in cycle tanks even with somewhat sensitive fish, but goldfish work better, you can cycle a tank with some healthy feeder goldies or commons, even fantails, as long as their not too fancy.
Do you use prime?
Have you dosed with any probiotic "zyme" product?
Vacuming is not that big of a deal, if your noticing alot of crud at only 2 weeks in, your waaay overfeeding. next time you feed, feed the normal amount you give them, and look at the food from BELOW the waterline, that will give you a idea just how much food it really is that your giving them several times a day, and why ammonia is building up so fast.