Molly problems

[Beavyg]

Hi to everybody on the forums.

I have two tanks as follows:

1 25 litre, temp 77 deg, ph 7.5, 3 deg dkh, ammonia 0, nitrates 0.1. This tank has a male and female white molly, 2 galaxy rasboras and around 12 molly babies.

1 55 litre, temp 77 deg, ph 7.0, 3 deg dkh, nitrates 0.1, ammonia 0. This tank has a male guppy, 2 glass catfish, a sucker fish, 2 cat fish and 4 tetras.

My problem is that the mollies keep getting pop-eye, we have had them since last October and they have both had it twice now. The rasboras we have had for around 12 months and never had any problems with them or any of the fish in the other tank, which we have also had over 12 months. I keep reading that mollies need salt in the water and wondered if I should move the rasboras into the big tank with the others, so I can put salt in the water for the mollies. What do you think?

Beavyg

 

[OhNeil1969]

You say that your mollies have had pop-eye twice already; how did you treat it before? I ask because if the treatment was successful it should give you a clue as to the possible underlying cause of the illness. Pop-eye can be caused by many different things, but I don't think a lack of salt, as in the case of the mollies, is the problem. Also, you mention ammonia and nitrAte readings. Your nitrAte reading is real low and there is no mention of nitrIte readings. High nitrIte concentrations are toxic to fish and can decrease their ability to resist secondary infections. Here is an article I came across concerning pop-eye: Popeye in Tropical Fish . Hopefully it may have some info that is helpful for your situation.

 

[OhNeil1969]

Came across a second article with even more info. Try this one: Fish Pop-Eye . Again, I hope you find something that can help with your fish.

 

[Beavyg]

Hi, thanks for replying, I made a mistake with the readings, the reading is for Nitrite, not nitrate, I do not have a test for that. I have treated them with Waterlife Myxazin, and it seems to work but ideally I would like to stop them getting it in the first place. I dont think its due to injury so I am thinking it must be due to bacterial infection. At the moment I usually clean the tank once a fornight maybe cleaning once a week would help.

 

[OhNeil1969]

I must admit I'm not familiar with Myxazin but the little research I've done seems to indicate it's a good product. This leads me to believe that there is something present in your tank that is contributing to your frequent pop-eye. I am concerned that you don't have any readings on nitrAtes. While in low amounts nitrAtes are tolerable they still need to be watched as at levels higher than 40 ppm it will become toxic. What are you using to test your water? If you are using test strips you will find that they are extremely inaccurate. Also, given the size of your tank (actually had to perform the conversion) I would think that waiting 2 weeks (had to convert that too) between water changes could lead to high concentrations of nitrAtes. This all makes me think that water quality may be a contributor to your pop-eye issues.

 

[Beavyg]

They aren't test strips, its liquid you add to the tank water and check the colour. I am going to take your advice and get a nitrate test kit, and clean the tank more frequently. Will let you know how they get on.

 

[doogle]

pop eye is caused by poor water quality, basicly. you should remove the other fish into a quarentine tank and then put them in another tank, meanwhile do plenty of water changes, maybe add a anti-bacterial medicine. i had various ailments with mollies before , i would add aquarium salt at the least...better to get a hydrometer and put marine salt in with the mollies creating a brackish water tank. salinity should be 1004 to 1016. anywhere actually because mollies can live in saltwater up to 1022 ish. they will get much healthier and colorfull. 4sure the marine salt will help. at least use aquarium salt, and make sure they have hard and higher ph water levels

 

[Beavyg]

Mollies

I didn't realize you had to test for nitrates, so bought a test at the week-end and realized they were way too high, am now in the process of doing frequent water changes to reduce them. Hopefully this will make my mollies a bit happier.

Thanks for advice.