Balloon bellied mollies breathing hard.

[fishtankfish]

I have three balloon bellied mollies (and a cory) in my ten gallon tank. Lately, they seem to be sick. They are very lethargic, their gills seem to be working extra hard and they have long poop strings hanging off of them. I do regular water changes and the parameters tested fine. Any ideas?

 

[TankGirl]

Usually breathing hard has to do with water quality, and the first suspect would be nitrite. Long, stringy poop can mean a parasitic infection.

Can you post the exact water parameters?

 

[fishtankfish]

i use distilled water from wal-mart on my 30% water changes. is that healthy? it says it is manufactured from reverse osmosis. I'll have to get back to you on the exact parameters.

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

No, I've always heard (and I may be wrong but this is what I've heard) that you should NOT use distilled water. It's like "Stripped" water if you will- it has none of the minerals usually necessary for the fish to be healthy. If I were you I'd test the distilled water by itself and see how the parameters come out- the pH levels may be different enough fromt hat in your tap or tank to cause problems...