two dead guppies, molly shivering -- what next?

[sweetbeet]

hi all,

i'm new to fish & hoping to receive some tips & advice. i'm overwhelmed by the amount of information available online & in pet stores, & frustrated by how much it varies--i don't know who to believe, & i just want my fish to stop getting sick/dying.

currently, i've got a shivering white dalmatian molly.

here's the back story:

may 21, i set up my 16 gallon tank with water & filter (aquelon quiet flow 10 power filter with medium filter cartridge/100gph). i also suspended a skimmer net of food granules at the top of the tank--my boyfriend said it would help to get some bacteria going.

may 25, boyfriend said tank could get some critters. (he's had three 6-inch koi fish & a 4-inch pleco for a year.) i suspected pleco monster wasn't getting enough to eat with the koi, so i suggested moving him into my tank. we did, along with a small blue vase that was pleco monster's retreating place from the koi. everything was OK. boyfriend said i could get some fish the next day.

may 26, we picked out six male fancy tail guppies & two dalmatian mollies. i also bought a freshwater plant that feels like astroturf (but is real) & a piece of "faux driftwood," as the kid at the store called it, which he recommended soaking 1-2 weeks before adding to the tank.

may 28, astounded by the amount of waste pleco monster produced, i changed the water.

may 30, i found one of the guppies dead. i hadn't noticed him acting abnormally, so i don't know what the deal was with him. changed the water.

june 1, i noticed another guppy (polamalu) getting a frayed tail. i googled & found a result that said nipping from other fish. thinking he needed additional places to hide, i googled about the faux driftwood & read that its tannins would only discolor the water, not harm the fish, so i added it a day early.

june 2, polamalu's tail had several more rips & his other fins were looking wilty. i changed the water & bought some melafix &, following the instructions on the bottle, added it to the tank.

june 3, polamalu was hovering near the top or bottom of the tank, very still & sometimes shivering. i changed the water in the morning. that afternoon, he died. i took him back to the pet store with a separate water sample & asked if the sales girl could diagnose him based on his appearance & test my water. she didn't know about polamalu, but test results revealed that my nitrates/nitrites were high. i talked to another sales kid who "knew more about fish," & he told me to turn my heater down from 78 to 74 & add some prime to my tank to help the nitrate/nitrite issue. i followed his instructions.

june 5, i noticed the dalmatian molly acting the way polamalu did--hovering mostly near the top or bottom of the tank, very still, but shivering less frequently. i changed the water & the molly perked up & began swimming like its old self, but several hours later it became more still. i googled, found something that said the mollies needed the temperature to be higher, & adjusted the heater.

current tank parameters: GH, ~15ppm; KH, ~40ppm; pH, 6.5-7.0; NO2, 1ppm; NO3, 20ppm; temperature, 76-78.

i last changed the water around 2pm on wednesday (june 6). each time i do a water change (which seems to be happening every three days or less), i empty about six gallons (~35%). before i got the prime, i added aquasafe; now i just add prime.

i have been feeding the fish tropical flakes & tropical granules two or three times a day, just enough for them to nibble up in a few minutes, plus an algae wafer for pleco monster.

can anybody guess why my guppies died? is that related to the molly acting weird, or are these separate issues?

the more i read, the more i feel i am doing wrong (starting with adding fish way too early). my research leads me to believe the pH needs to be higher in my tank, which is why the molly is shivering, so i also bought instant ocean sea buffer ("increases & maintains pH & alkalinity," the bottle boasts), but i wanted to ask before i throw yet another additive into my tank & potentially make things worse. plus i don't know if this stuff is safe for pleco monster. an information pamphlet i picked up at yet another pet store says recommends a pH of 6.5-7.5 for him (& pH of 6.5-8.0 for livebearers), but i am quickly learning the kids at the pet stores might not be the most reliable source of information.

tell me how to do this right, please; i don't want anymore of these fish to die -- that isn't why i bought them.

thanks in advance, folks; i (& my fish) thank you.

 

[CallMeIshmael95]

It sounds like you began stocking way too fast and with too many fish. You should really only stock two or three fish at a time depending on their size and the waste they produce. Also,

Before you start adding so many fish you need to have a good nitrogen cycle and that can take a few months. Until you have a good cycle lots of fish are going to die. There isn't really a way around that unless you do a fish less cycle. When I set up my first tank I didn't know about cycling and had the same problem and lost about 20 fish because of it.

I usually try to stay away from guppies because I find them to be fragile and I can't seem to keep small fish alive. But, I really enjoy mollies they're definitely my favorite.

Finally, I've never had driftwood in my tank so I don't know much about it. However, I've read that it lowers Ph.

 

[CallMeIshmael95]

Also, I know all the medicines and water solutions at the store look tempting, but I would stop using them a way of constantly adjusting your tanks parameters. All diseases and water parameter problems come from a source that needs to be taken care of rather than adding chemicals to fix it.

 

[Catfish Lover]

hi all,

i'm new to fish & hoping to receive some tips & advice. i'm overwhelmed by the amount of information available online & in pet stores, & frustrated by how much it varies--i don't know who to believe, & i just want my fish to stop getting sick/dying.

currently, i've got a shivering white dalmatian molly.

here's the back story:

may 21, i set up my 16 gallon tank with water & filter (aquelon quiet flow 10 power filter with medium filter cartridge/100gph). i also suspended a skimmer net of food granules at the top of the tank--my boyfriend said it would help to get some bacteria going.

may 25, boyfriend said tank could get some critters. (he's had three 6-inch koi fish & a 4-inch pleco for a year.) i suspected pleco monster wasn't getting enough to eat with the koi, so i suggested moving him into my tank. we did, along with a small blue vase that was pleco monster's retreating place from the koi. everything was OK. boyfriend said i could get some fish the next day.

may 26, we picked out six male fancy tail guppies & two dalmatian mollies. i also bought a freshwater plant that feels like astroturf (but is real) & a piece of "faux driftwood," as the kid at the store called it, which he recommended soaking 1-2 weeks before adding to the tank.

may 28, astounded by the amount of waste pleco monster produced, i changed the water.

may 30, i found one of the guppies dead. i hadn't noticed him acting abnormally, so i don't know what the deal was with him. changed the water.

june 1, i noticed another guppy (polamalu) getting a frayed tail. i googled & found a result that said nipping from other fish. thinking he needed additional places to hide, i googled about the faux driftwood & read that its tannins would only discolor the water, not harm the fish, so i added it a day early.

june 2, polamalu's tail had several more rips & his other fins were looking wilty. i changed the water & bought some melafix &, following the instructions on the bottle, added it to the tank.

june 3, polamalu was hovering near the top or bottom of the tank, very still & sometimes shivering. i changed the water in the morning. that afternoon, he died. i took him back to the pet store with a separate water sample & asked if the sales girl could diagnose him based on his appearance & test my water. she didn't know about polamalu, but test results revealed that my nitrates/nitrites were high. i talked to another sales kid who "knew more about fish," & he told me to turn my heater down from 78 to 74 & add some prime to my tank to help the nitrate/nitrite issue. i followed his instructions.

june 5, i noticed the dalmatian molly acting the way polamalu did--hovering mostly near the top or bottom of the tank, very still, but shivering less frequently. i changed the water & the molly perked up & began swimming like its old self, but several hours later it became more still. i googled, found something that said the mollies needed the temperature to be higher, & adjusted the heater.

current tank parameters: GH, ~15ppm; KH, ~40ppm; pH, 6.5-7.0; NO2, 1ppm; NO3, 20ppm; temperature, 76-78.

i last changed the water around 2pm on wednesday (june 6). each time i do a water change (which seems to be happening every three days or less), i empty about six gallons (~35%). before i got the prime, i added aquasafe; now i just add prime.

i have been feeding the fish tropical flakes & tropical granules two or three times a day, just enough for them to nibble up in a few minutes, plus an algae wafer for pleco monster.

can anybody guess why my guppies died? is that related to the molly acting weird, or are these separate issues?

the more i read, the more i feel i am doing wrong (starting with adding fish way too early). my research leads me to believe the pH needs to be higher in my tank, which is why the molly is shivering, so i also bought instant ocean sea buffer ("increases & maintains pH & alkalinity," the bottle boasts), but i wanted to ask before i throw yet another additive into my tank & potentially make things worse. plus i don't know if this stuff is safe for pleco monster. an information pamphlet i picked up at yet another pet store says recommends a pH of 6.5-7.5 for him (& pH of 6.5-8.0 for livebearers), but i am quickly learning the kids at the pet stores might not be the most reliable source of information.

tell me how to do this right, please; i don't want anymore of these fish to die -- that isn't why i bought them.

thanks in advance, folks; i (& my fish) thank you.

First thing first is REMOVE the pleco and re-home him. A common pleco which you have needs to be in at least a 55 gallon, and preferably a 75. He's producing way too much waste for a 16 gallon and you will continue to have problems with fish dying.

Cut back your feeding to once a day, fish do not need to be fed 3 times a day. Their stomachs are only as big as their eyes. Continue with water changes, and try adding some live plants if you can. This helps with any ammonia build up and fish enjoy the plants.

But first thing first is remove the pleco

 

[Catfish Lover]

Ok, I re-read your post as their is a lot of info in there. I saw that you added a plant, never heard of that plant but try adding some more. Floating plants are great at sucking up ammonia and excess nutrients,( water sprite) is a good one if you can find it. I'm not sure just how many fish you currently have in the tank. Their is a good chance what you have may not survive. If that's the case I would do a complete tear down and start from scratch.

Another heads up, mollies also need a bigger tank, 30 gallons is minimum as they need space.

 

[thomasina]

Maybe someone mentioned it and I didn't see it, however get an API liquid testing kit. It will let you know what your numbers are and that lets you know where you are in the cycle. Sometimes if my numbers are off, and I can't do a WC right away, I use PRIME. It doesn't take out the toxins, however it helps the fish tolerate them. (I am not a chemist). I agree get the pleco out of there. The bigger the bio-load, the more ammonia. Go to the article tab above, then go under Freshwater, and then articles again. It is an article about cycling written by Jetajockey. Very good and will help. I hope all works out!