Mollies Dying?

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ocminpin

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My 20g L has 40-50 Molly Juvie's ... They eat 3xs a day. Everything has been normal until about 3 days ago. I did my normal 80% PWC that I do 2xs a wk. My API reading was:

Ph- 7.4
Am- 0
Nitrites- 0
Nitrates- 40
My tap is known to have 10-20 ppm

A lot of the fish were standing on end shuddering ( like my adults do when they're showing disapproval of another fish ) on and off. They're at the water line a lot but still come to the glass immediately when I approach the tank.
I did another PWC of 50% a few hours later when I noticed their behavior. Nothing changed...
It's been a hectic few days.. My dog had glaucoma that worsened and had to have her eye removed today. So I haven't been able to do another PWC...
Tonight there were 2 of the smaller ones dead, 1 panting on the gravel, and some at water line doing their shiver thing...

Parameters are same as other night...
I've just battled bringing down crazy high nitrates since Christmas... They were 160... Brought down to 40 in a week... Hasn't dropped below 40 in this tank yet.
Although I was able to get my 29g to 10!

HELPPP! :-/
 
Yeah the fresh water will provide them with extra oxygen, let me know how they act when you're done with the pwc.
 
Fishnova said:
Yeah the fresh water will provide them with extra oxygen, let me know how they act when you're done with the pwc.

Just finished a 75% PWC and full gravel vacc...
Filter on... Let's see.

Wonder why other day when I did the PWC it didn't change their behavior??
 
Well after I do PWC's they peck at the gravel for a good 45 mins... Water is crystal clear.... Some are doing usual gravel pecking, some males are trying to mate, some are paying attention to me, and some are gasping at the surface/ shivering on vertical end. These ones that shiver have no problem swimming... This doesn't make sense!! I don't understand at all.
However I did notice that a few of the Dalmatian males have developed late. They all appeared female until now around 4 mths...
Where as the Creamsicle males show their gonopodium at 2 mths...
So could this be a too many males in the tank issue? And males are disagreeing with so many other males? Even one TINY TINY one pecks at one of the shivering ones... The tiny one is 1/4" long runt and it's picking on something that's 1 1/2" !!
AhhhhHhhhh!
I'm going to test in the morning..
 
It sounds very mysterious
Is it just males that are doing that shiver?
 
Fishnova said:
It sounds very mysterious
Is it just males that are doing that shiver?

Right now they seem ok. I hope PWC helped..
No.... Both males and females...
Came out to living room because I couldn't sleep and they're all resting in their respective places... All lights out and most go lay in gravel till morning...
 
Very interesting
So they are all acting as they usually do?
 
There are no more fish in there than there's been before. Last month I had a group of 25 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" Dalmatian mollies I sold to the LFS... they all acted normally and healthy.
If that weren't the case I'd suspect they were getting too big for so many and were using up the oxygen. This can't be The case as there were much larger fish in there without a problem.
 
Oh no. I'm no help but I hope it's just odd behaviour and nothing else.

While we are talking molly deaths, whats your fry survival rate?
 
What does the shiver look like exactly? They are vertical position shivering their whole body?
 
cheeky_monkey said:
Oh no. I'm no help but I hope it's just odd behaviour and nothing else.

While we are talking molly deaths, whats your fry survival rate?

My very first batch with an uncycled tank and doing everything wrong gave me around 20/43. I sold at 3 mths old..

Since then my tanks are cycled and from a batch that was born Nov 1st ( 10 wks old ) I have 100% 15/15. they are raised in separate tanks from adults.
There are some usual few here and there and then they go thru a phase where I lose a few per week but I've never had one die past 3/4".

I have a batch of 44 Dalmatian Mollies born 22 days ago... They all have survived so far..;
 
Fishnova said:
What does the shiver look like exactly? They are vertical position shivering their whole body?

YES. Their entire body vibrates standing on end.
My adults will do that occasionally if there's an argument in the tank.
They shiver 5 secs or so and then do it again...
 
Sorry to divert from the original post but just wanted to pick your brain a bit. My two week old fry seem to be picking on my one weekers. I had 100% survival rate so far on my first batch and now this second batch the older ones seem to be picking them off one by one I've lost roughly 10 so far. They aren't that much older so I didn't think there would be any bullying!
 
Sounds like they have shimmy. Bring temp up to 80 degrees, add and airstone, and slowly add salt to 1tsp per 5 gallons. Mollies actually do better in hard alkaline water. What is the KH,and GH of your water?
 
Foster53 is correct, his advice is great

I did some research on shimmy disease
One source stated the fish have this behavior due to lack of electrolytes in the water, which affects the fish's metabolism, which inturn creates behavior
Salt provides electrolytes

Seems reasonable to me
 
foster53 said:
Sounds like they have shimmy. Bring temp up to 80 degrees, add and airstone, and slowly add salt to 1tsp per 5 gallons. Mollies actually do better in hard alkaline water. What is the KH,and GH of your water?

Temp is 82...
What is KH & GH?

I once added salt and they freaked out panting and flashing horribly. How slowly do I add the salt? Dissolve in aquarium water in a cup first then add to aquarium, right? Last time I dumped it in there and they stared pecking and trying to eat it.
1 tsp/ day for 4 days?
My API aquarium salt says 1 tbsp (not tsp) per 5 gal...
What should I do? And when I do PWC and vacc how much salt do I add?
I stopped adding salt to my tanks when I read it's by necessary with the exception of sickness/ shimmy etc...
I'll do it I just dont want to add too much...
 
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