mollies acting weird... :(

[epjan7]

So I have three black male mollies and one male swordtail (I know, it shouldve been 3 females and one male but I was in a rush) and they have been fine for the past 4 weeks. My 20g tank just finished cycling the end of august.
However, the past few days two of the mollies have been in the top corner not swimming or anything, unless I feed them then they swim. (I attached pics)
Everything seems to be fine, but i also noticed two weeks ago my gravel and decorations is covered in brown that wont come off (brown algae?).
Also, I did a 25% water change last week and the week before that. Usually my pH is 7.6ish but I tested yesterday and got:
pH: 6.6
Ammonia:0
Nitrates:20-40
Temp:78-80
But kH is 0


I dont know what could be going on...they usually are bolting around the tank. Also how much should I feed them? I feed them once or twice a day and they eat two or three pinches really quick and its like they are always hungry.

Thanks

P.S. I have two live amazon swords in there that have brown spotting. I assume its the brown algae or not enough light so I ordered a dual t5 ho light for 48w instead of 15w that I have now. Hopefully that wont cause more brown algae.

 

[Fishfur]

Do you have a GH test ? Mollies like hard water, it sounds like yours may be too soft for them. Any chance you have a water softener on the house water supply ?

The brown is probably diatoms, common in new tanks, it usually goes away once it has used up the silicates. Usually it is quite soft though, and not that hard to wipe off. Nerite snails love to eat it though, so they can clean it up for you if need be.

Get a GH test, do a water change, test again for everything and let us know. If you are using dip strips, it may be better to get the liquid test kits. In the long run they are cheaper as you get a lot of tests per pack, compared to dip strips and they are more accurate.

 

[epjan7]

Do you have a GH test ? Mollies like hard water, it sounds like yours may be too soft for them. Any chance you have a water softener on the house water supply ?

The brown is probably diatoms, common in new tanks, it usually goes away once it has used up the silicates. Usually it is quite soft though, and not that hard to wipe off. Nerite snails love to eat it though, so they can clean it up for you if need be.

Get a GH test, do a water change, test again for everything and let us know. If you are using dip strips, it may be better to get the liquid test kits. In the long run they are cheaper as you get a lot of tests per pack, compared to dip strips and they are more accurate.[/QUOTE

The GH is 4 degrees or 4 drops.
I did all my tests with the API master test kit and then the API GH and KH liquid tests.

 

[Fishfur]

Though mollies can adapt to a lot of conditions, ideally, they want water that's like this,, and give me a minute to find out what this translates to in German degrees, which is what your measurement is in. Ok, test kits vary, but GH of 4 degrees is about 74 ppm.

• pH – 7.5 - 8.0
• KH -100 – 150+ ppm
• GH – 200 -300+ ppm

Yours is clearly not close to this. I think the symptoms are because the water is not hard enough and hasn't enough calcium and other electrolytes in it.

Is your tap water hard or soft ? Is the GH of 4 usual for the tap water ? If so, I think you need to get some calcium added to it, Wonder Shells maybe, or a buffering product that raises KH and GH.

Marine salt mix in this case may help, not because mollies need salt per se, but because it contains a lot of other minerals and electrolytes the fish need and will increase hardness of the water.

If your tap water is soft, you will need to use a remineralizing product to keep the GH and KH up.. KH as low as yours can lead to vast swings in pH which is also very hard on fish in general. KH is the buffering capacity of water. it's calcium content, where GH is both calcium and magnesium, and your water has little of either one.

If you have a water softener, you need to get water that is not going through the softener process.

 

[epjan7]

So I did a water change and added a half teaspoon of baking soda. Fish are fine and happy. But now there is one molly that hides inside a skull and was the fish that was hanging out behind the heater.
This molly is acting weird. Its swimming slowly and didn't come out when I fed the others until they were done.
I also noticed a big dime sized (a little less) whitish spot on the body. Its not raised and its not solid white its sort of a grayish white discoloration. I am attaching a picture.

 

[Fishfur]

The one molly does appear to have some issue going on, but it's very hard to say what it might be. That spot may be a scrape or some other injury, it may have damaged itself somehow.. Adding some salt to the water may be helpful in healing it.

As for the feeding question earlier, it's better for fish to be still a bit hungry than for excess food to remain in the tank. The old rule of thumb used to be no more than the amount of food the fish can eat entirely in 3 minutes or less, 2 to 3 times a day. If they are growing and behaving normally, they are getting enough.

If you are worried they are not getting enough, keep adding a bit more at one feeding until they stop eating. Then you'll have an idea how much they want to eat. Any food that is still in the water should be removed with a net so it won't go bad.

Then after that, feed that much twice a day. If sometimes they don't eat it all, cut back the next time. Appetite can vary with age, activity and other factors so don't expect them to eat the exact same amount every time.

 

[epjan7]

I kind of have a theory now. The fish are hanging around the heater. And that fish keeps itself between the heater and glass. And so now I think that that actually might be a burn. But im not really sure.
I mean they are eating fine but a lot less active then they were a week ago

 

[Fishfur]

No heater should be able to cause a burn. If it's that hot, it's malfunctioning.

I think it may still be a case of water not being hard enough. Did you test after the baking soda ? if so, what results did you get ?

 

[DeirdreHoyle]

This happened to me recently, I had two black mollies that were very active and chased each other around the tank all day. Then one day they started swimming very slowly and hiding in caves most of the day. I noticed some tiny white areas on them but thought nothing of it, and it turned out they had Ich and it killed them and all but two of my other fish in a very short time span. I think it couldn't hurt to try a half dose of Ich treatment in the tank. Raise temp, add some salt, and if you can get to a pet store, buy some Heavy Duty Ich Cure. Hope this helps!

 

[epjan7]

Yeah I actually dont think its ich because its more of a spread out discoloration on the body. Not really white spots.
The reason im not asding salt is because of my plants.
I am testing the water tomorrow so ill let you guys know asap.
Thanks ")

 

[epjan7]

No heater should be able to cause a burn. If it's that hot, it's malfunctioning.

I think it may still be a case of water not being hard enough. Did you test after the baking soda ? if so, what results did you get ?

Okay. Did a test today.
Kh=2 drops
Gh=3 drops
Ph=(7.6 on normal range-test caps off at 7.6 and it was 7.6 so I did high range and that is on the lowest high range of 7.4 soooo? 7.5 maybe?

Gh droped from 4 to 3. Idk how

I assume that is a really drastic change from the old ph and kh. They are probably in shock from the rapid change. I also noticed they are more lethargic now and dont eat as much as they did before. Or maybe im overfeeding and I wont feed for a day or two. Confused.

 

[Fishfur]

Water at GH of 3 is simply not hard enough. KH of 2 is way too low. If you can't fix this with either another water source or a remineralizing product to raise the hardness, the fish will not get better. The pH is fine as it stands.. big changes in pH are hard on fish ,but the hardness is a much bigger issue. It's affecting their ability to regulate the salt and water content in their bodies, and I think that's why they are lethargic.

Edit. Sorry, the KH should be ok if it's at 2, the baking soda will have raised it to that. But the GH has to come up. Seachem makes Equilibrium, it's designed to raise the GH. Tom Barr makes a similar product for raising GH, dont' know the name, but his site would have info. It's a bit of a balancing act, but you have to get the GH up for these fish to have a reasonable life.

 

[epjan7]

I just ordered equilibrium itll be here friday. Hopefully it works!!
Thank you

 

[Fishfur]

I sure hope so too. Best of luck.