allycat7813
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi I have been on this site before to look up problems I'm having with my fish. This is my first aquarium, bought it about 2 months ago. Set it up and added 2 mollies and a pictus. They died within a day. We decided we needed a hardy fish to acclimate the water. So we got a betta. Put it in with new water and everything clean and filter ran for a few days. The betta was great in there. He loved the 10 gallon tank he was in for a week. Then we decided to get some peaceful fish to put in with the betta. We got 2 platies and 2 coreys. The betta went nuts and chased them everywhere. So needless to say, I got a 5 gallon and he's in there happy as a clam! After that, they seemed to be doing good. Then a week later we got 2 more platies (sunburst) and 2 mollies. However one of the mollies was a lyretail.
Within 2 days the lyretail had clamped fin. He died the next day. So now I have 7 fish. Shortly after the molly died, one small sunburst platy starting getting white spots. Then the next day the other sunburst, both orange platies and the molly have white fin spots. (Ick). But at first I thought it was fin rot because the lyretail had clamped fin. We started treating it with Melafix. It didn't do anything so after 5 days we stopped. We did 20% water changes every 2 days. Then we were told to stir up the gravel to get rid of the bad stuff on the bottom. We did that and have been doing water changes everyday pretty much. The cloudiness did go away and we decided to try LifeGuard (for all diseases). The last 2 days the fish with ick have been laying on the gravel in one spot for hours. Last night they barely moved. This morning they all came out for food. They swam around for a while. And some still are.
Yesterday the molly started wiggling in one place and I read that it's because the water needs electrolytes. Also, we had to do baking soda the other day because the ph was low.
We test the water a lot. Right now, the nitrates and ph are correct. The nitrites are a teeny tiny bit high. We have soft water here and I condition it.
Basically, I don't know what to do anymore. We stopped messing with the water starting yesterday and we are hoping the LifeGuard medication will help them all.
The one plus....The coreys are great!!
Within 2 days the lyretail had clamped fin. He died the next day. So now I have 7 fish. Shortly after the molly died, one small sunburst platy starting getting white spots. Then the next day the other sunburst, both orange platies and the molly have white fin spots. (Ick). But at first I thought it was fin rot because the lyretail had clamped fin. We started treating it with Melafix. It didn't do anything so after 5 days we stopped. We did 20% water changes every 2 days. Then we were told to stir up the gravel to get rid of the bad stuff on the bottom. We did that and have been doing water changes everyday pretty much. The cloudiness did go away and we decided to try LifeGuard (for all diseases). The last 2 days the fish with ick have been laying on the gravel in one spot for hours. Last night they barely moved. This morning they all came out for food. They swam around for a while. And some still are.
Yesterday the molly started wiggling in one place and I read that it's because the water needs electrolytes. Also, we had to do baking soda the other day because the ph was low.
We test the water a lot. Right now, the nitrates and ph are correct. The nitrites are a teeny tiny bit high. We have soft water here and I condition it.
Basically, I don't know what to do anymore. We stopped messing with the water starting yesterday and we are hoping the LifeGuard medication will help them all.
The one plus....The coreys are great!!