Gold Dust Molly in distress

[SoleMan]

Yesterday afternoon I found my molly lying on the bottom of the tank, seemingly unresponsive. The moment I added some food, however, it shot up to the surface to feed and proceeded to act normally.

This morning, though, it didn't come up to feed. It moves erraticly and can barely get off the ground. It mainly just lies there and moves its mouth a lot.

I did a 20% water change last Sunday and changed the filters. It's a 55-gallon tank. He went into hiding after the previous water change but seemed fine within a day or two; nothing like this.
The platies and tetras in the aquarium all seem fine. Are mollies more sensitive?

Ammonia checks out OK, and I'll test the pH later today after I get a test kit. What else should I be doing?

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

eeeeh, sounds odd--does he have any signs of injury or disease? what type of tetras do you have:? most livebearers appreciate and need some salt to thrive...lots of tetras don't...is this a new tank? have you tested for nitrite? are the other fish still acting ok?

 

[SoleMan]

thanks for the response

Sadly, my molly has passed on.
I think it may have succumbed to shimmies, since it had this funny side-to-side swimming motion. As a beginner, I didn't realize that this was abnormal.
I do use aquarium salt, but maybe I wasn't using enough. I was adding a tablespoon per 5 gallons with water changes, but I don't think I started out with even that much because I wasn't sure how it would affect the other fish. The tank is about two months old now.

Oops - the test I took (AquaLabs III) was actually for nitrite instead of ammonia. None registered though. I just determined that the water is moderate to hard, and the pH looks to be between 8 and 8.4. That may be marginal for my sunset wag platies, but I don't think it's too good for the bloodfin tetras. What would be a good balance between these species?

As far as the other fish acting OK, I'm not really sure what to look for.
One of the tetras seems to be spending a lot of time in the corner by the heater ( I keep it around 76 degrees. ) The other 2 tetras seemed to have paired up so he may be the odd man out.

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

if memory serves me correctly, that should be enough salt to satisfy them--that's a pretty high ph--how hard is your water, what is your gh and kh? rather than adding chemicals to try to lower it, it may be easier at this point for you to trade the tetras in on something that tolerates it better if you think they aren't happy--if the other two are zipping around though, it sounds like they may have acclimated ok...sounds like you may have great water for african cichlids, lol--although their behavior can be a challenge, especially for a beginner...as far as the one in the corner--is he smaller than the others? is anyone routinely picking on him and giving him reason to hide? are his fins looking nipped? you may not see the bully in action, some of them are sneaky and wait til they don't see you watching --i know that sounds nutz, but my friend caught a sneaky albino tetra beating on her other fishees by watching him for awhile in the dark....of course he was an angel when the room lights were on...

 

[Katfish]

Same thing happened to me

Hi all,

I just got 3 new mollies, one white, on black with white spotes and one white with black spots. At first everthing looked great, then the last one started swiming oddly and kept to himself, he went into hidding and the next day i couldnt see him, so i checked were he was hiding and found him dead. The other two look all right but i am still keeping an eye on them.

Catfish

 

[Katfish]

Me again

I have never used salt in my aquariums before or now.

I didnt know i had to. But should i use some? Why use salt? Is this because of the type of water or something. Here the water is high with clorine so i use bottled water, i also have two types of plants and a hanging filter Aqua-Tech 20-40. Can someone enlighten me on this salt issue please?

thanks,
Catfish

 

[SleeplessLwd]

I know someone asked this once before... what do you mean the water takes the minerals and nutrients from the fish???? And How?

 

[reefrunner69]

Water is the best solvent in the world. The reason why, is because it acts like a sponge, absorbing anything around it, until it is saturated. Very pure water is even better. Therefore the water will pull minerals etc...from anywhaere, including the fishes tissue.

 

[fishfreek]

Thanks kevin, I could not have said it better myself. In fact I know I would have not done any better.

 

[Katfish]

Mmmm

OK,

Lets see if this is ok. I use bottled water instead of tapwater. I also have two types of natural plants and not two many fish. I get the part about the water being to pure, however, i usually just add water to maintain a certain water level. When i notice that the aquarium needs cleaning i add about 2 to 3 gallons after using the syphone and cleaning the glass.
Thats probably why i dont have too pure a water level that might harm my fish. I have had 3 tetras and 3 bloodfin for 4 years now and doing fine.
Here the summers are very hot and the water temps spike over my thermometer readings once in a while. In the winter i use a heater to keep temps over 70. I guess my fish have grown into it.

The salt issue i will do some research on it and start using it.
Thanks

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

do you use any tapwater in the tank, or was it all bottled water at some point?