Please help

[Countrydodgegal]

So this morning I woke up to an unexpected surprise my Molly gave birth to about 20 babies. I netted them and put them in a birthing net when I came back from the bet store my bleeding heart tetra was upside down still breathing. So I took everyone out and did just under 50% water change but by that time he was gone. But my lyre tail Molly (male) is swimming awkwardly his rear end doesn't seem to be moving but he is struggling to get to the top with his side fins. Does anyone have any ideas? I keep taking my water to pet store and they tell me it's fine. Bleeding heart do not seem to have red gills

 

[Legit Fish]

um do you always take the fish out during water change because that will stress them.

 

[Countrydodgegal]

Yes I do cause I thought when I add the fresh water it might get too cold too fast and shock them

 

[LadyApril83]

Yes I do cause I thought when I add the fresh water it might get too cold too fast and shock them

I would adjust the temp and not net them and take them out just stresses a lot more when already sick.

 

[Mebbid]

Yeah, I would definitely stop taking them out of the tank for water changes. You are causing all sorts of issues by doing that. To properly change your water siphon out the amount you want to change (generally not more than 50%) then using both the hot and cold water get it to a temp within 3 degrees or so of your tank water then after dechlorinating it you can add it right back into the tank.

 

[Countrydodgegal]

The problem I'm having with that is that I have to buy the water because my well water is so bad. So it's around room temputure but it needs to be a little warmer for the tank

 

[LadyApril83]

The problem I'm having with that is that I have to buy the water because my well water is so bad. So it's around room temputure but it needs to be a little warmer for the tank

What I do because I live in fl and my tap water comes out at 82-85 is keep my tank at 80 so maybe you can lower the heater setting a little or cut ur bottled water with a little bit of really hot hot hot tap..or even heated up bottled water...

I have even had to put ice in the water change bucket because in the heat of summer the tap water was so warm

 

[Countrydodgegal]

Ok I'll try that. So your thinking the tetra probably died from stress? I just want to make sure it's not something contagious that I need to fix to save the other fish

 

[Mebbid]

In that case i would run a heater in the water with a cheapo filter or powerhead for circulation constantly. Realistically the power consumption of those would be negligible at most and it would save your fish a lot of stress. You could also look into buying a r/o filter which would probably cost about $100 and would give you all the fresh drinking / tank water you wanted.

Just to check, you aren't using ro/di water are you? They regularly sell that at fish stores for saltwater keepers. The deionization of the water makes it unhealthy to fish.

 

[LadyApril83]

I would also invest in an API master test kit because online u can find it for around 20-25usd$ and it tests 800times! Saves on gas to go to the store and is more accurate than strips. You may have no ammonia but could be spiking nitrite

 

[LadyApril83]

Ok I'll try that. So your thinking the tetra probably died from stress? I just want to make sure it's not something contagious that I need to fix to save the other fish

Are the other fish showing signs of an illness like swimming strangely rubbing on decor...darting around the tank...if not its likely ur water...when its the water in my tank having an issue the fish turn pale and stay toward the bottom and are listless. When it was ich they were pale but swimming around funny.

 

[Countrydodgegal]

No I was just buying the distilled water cooler jugs but I heard that the reverse osmosis water was better so I thought maybe id switch? I will deffinately look into the water filter would save me a lot of hassle. If it is a spike in nitrite is there any way to get it back down other then frequent water changes?

 

[Countrydodgegal]

My lyre tail Molly is acting kind of funny his tail is looking limp and he seems to have a hard time swimming towards the surface. Before te tetra passed away he had what looked like a lot of little bubbles on his body and the Molly has that on his tail now. I thought it might be ich but it doesn't look like white dots just bubbles. Other then that they seem normal

 

[Mebbid]

No I was just buying the distilled water cooler jugs but I heard that the reverse osmosis water was better so I thought maybe id switch? I will deffinately look into the water filter would save me a lot of hassle. If it is a spike in nitrite is there any way to get it back down other then frequent water changes?

Distilled water might be unhealthy for your fish as well. It is very very low nutrient water. I would definitely switch to some other source.

If you were having a nitrite spike they would have told you that when you were at the lfs.

Also, I agree about buying your own test kit. It's much better to be able to test on your own time at a moments notice if need be. Check out Fish, Reptiles, Dog, Cat, Bird & Other Pet Products & Supplies They have the best prices I've been able to find anywhere.

 

[LadyApril83]

No I was just buying the distilled water cooler jugs but I heard that the reverse osmosis water was better so I thought maybe id switch? I will deffinately look into the water filter would save me a lot of hassle. If it is a spike in nitrite is there any way to get it back down other then frequent water changes?

The di water could be causing it its stripped of essential minerals...what makes ur well water so bad? Try cutting a little in per change...here where I live people envy well water compared to city especially for fish. It has minerals and no chlorine/chloramine in in. If u must use bottled try spring r/o mix or a mix of well and spring r/o


Mebbid knows a lot more than I do...these are just my ideas .

 

[Countrydodgegal]

Our well water has a lot of rust and sodium in it

 

[Mebbid]

The di water could be causing it its stripped of essential minerals...what makes ur well water so bad? Try cutting a little in per change...here where I live people envy well water compared to city especially for fish. It has minerals and no chlorine/chloramine in in. If u must use bottled try spring r/o mix or a mix of well and spring r/o


Mebbid knows a lot more than I do...these are just my ideas .

Hehe feel free to voice your opinions That's a good idea that I didn't even think to mention. Plenty of people cut their water with distilled or r/o water. If you want to do it safely do it a little at a time to allow your fish to acclimate to it. Start with a 90% distilled to 10% tap and every week increase the tap water by another 10% or so until you are at around 50/50. Depending on your pH thi should be a safe level.

As for the sick fish, a pic will help a lot in determining the problem. Ich generally looks like grains of salt. But bubbles could be a few different things... including bubbles My cichlids get bubbles sticking to them when the water level gets low

 

[LadyApril83]

Our well water has a lot of rust and sodium in it

Yeah rust would be bad. There are treatments/conditioners that treat for heavy metals. Trying to think of many options for saving u some money in the long run and be a quick fix for now but at the moment an r/o filter sounds best
In the meantime use a spring water instead of the di.

 

[Mebbid]

Grocery stores have self fill stations which are generally r/o filtered, carbon filtered, and then ran through a UV sterilizer. This is how I buy water for my salt tank.

 

[Countrydodgegal]

Thank you guys so much I am so new I this and the 22 Molly babies this morning kinda sent me over the stress edge lol. This is a picture of my Molly and the tetra that died from this afternoon you can't really see the bubbles