Stressed Fish

[Mia308]

Hello, I have a 5.5 gallon tank, 2 gold dust mollies and 2 other fish both I believe are types of guppies, 2 snails.
I did my first major water change yesterday and after that they all seemed stressed. I went and bought stress coat but that has only seemed to help a little. Their breathing has gotten better but they keep hanging out in just one corner
And idea why or what to do?

 

[Leopardshark20]

I’d start with making sure that you are maintaining your fish and aquarium properly.

First of all, don’t overfeed your fish; it’s common for aquarists to feed their fish too much which leads to health problems. Keep in mind that a fish’s stomach is only as big as it’s eye, so a tiny pinch of food is all your 4 fish will need daily. Also, varying your fish’s diet with 3 or 4 alternating foods will boost their immune systems.

Parameters: You may want to invest in a water test kit (I recommend vials over strips) to test the chemicals in your water. If too much ammonia, nitrate, or nitrite develops in your aquarium, your fish can contract diseases. Also, an extremely high or low pH can also stress fish.

Water Changes: It sounds like water changes are behind the stress of your fish. If this is your first major water change, you could have accidentally shocked the fish. If you remove too much water (I recommend no more than 75%), your fish may be stressed from such a quick change in parameters. Also, when you change the water, thoroughly clean the gravel to remove nitrates and fish waste that has built up in your substrate. Be sure that when you add water back to the tank, it is similar to the water in your tank. This means that the temperature and pH are ideal the same. Most importantly, don’t forget to add something to remove the chlorine in the water, otherwise your fish will likely die.

I also recommend buying bacteria on a bottle which can be found at most pet stores and will boost the immune systems of your fish.

Good Luck!

 

[SaraB]

Mollies need a larger tank (29+ gallons), they are probably bullying the smaller fish. If you have 1 male and 1 female the male will pester the female constantly trying to breed.

 

[Fishlegend]

+1^

But let's not over exaggerate I think 20-29 gallons is ok. But yes the female will die if the other is a male and the Same thing goes for guppies too. Also mollies do well in slightly brackish water. And your tank how long have you had it? did you cycle it? If this Is your first water change this Is kinda concerning. Because you either just put fish in or number two you haven't been doing them during your cycling?

 

[Autumnsky]

Mollies can get 4".

There is an article link in my signature about getting started. It has a number of extra tid bits of information which help keep your tank well.

The big thing which it has is the most important information which is the nitrification cycle which is the key to running your tank with a beneficial bacteria colony in the filter to process the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

If you changed the water did you rinse the filter pad in tap or treated water?

Only rinse the filter pad in dechlorinated water because other wise the chlorine in the tap water will kill your beneficial bacteria.

 

[kbalaz]

describe your maintenance process when you do your water change, maybe someone here can pick up on something you may be inadvertently doing wrong. Also if going to gravel vac only do so lightly on the surface of the gravel, don't deep gravel vac unless you are only doing a quarter of the tank at a time. I made that mistake early on in the hobby as someone told me to vacuum the gravel and caused a mini-cycle to start over from too much cleaning.