Is my fish sick?

[MarcosDiaz]

My male molly has clamped fins and is swimming with his body. What can this be ? I have tested the water (everything normal) and did a 30% water change. He is still acting funny .. I don't know what else to do. I have no fish medication on hand

 

[Khuligirl93]

I would do another, larger (50%) water change. If you just now did the 30% one, maybe wait a couple hours to see if there's any improvement. What are you using to test your water? How long has your tank been set up? We need to know exactly what your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are.
Edit: just read your other threads and saw that you have 7 balloon mollies all in a 10g tank, and you're in the process if cycling, is this correct?

First of all, that is way too many fish in a 10g. I'm sure you are dealing with very high ammonia and nitrite levels that will stress/kill your fish if you are not doing 50% water changes every time ammonia or nitrite are showing above .25ppm. Which I'm guessing will happen very quickly with that many mollies :/
My guess is that everything is not "normal".

Here's an article to help, if you haven't already read it:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/i-jus...g-but-I-already-have-fish-What-now/Page2.html

 

[Rivercats]

You need to get rid of the mollies as even 1 is too many for a 10g. I haven't read any of your other threads but if your cycling you need to read the articles provided on the link above, get the proper test kit, and cycle your tank properly whether fish in or fishless cycle. You also best watch your Ph as it could easily drop with a cycling tank and that many mollies.

 

[MarcosDiaz]

Thanks for the replies! I have read many different articles including that one about cycling a tank. I am currently waiting for my API master kit to get here and I'm using test strips in the mean time. They are telling me everything is normal. I do 10-15% water changes about everyday to keep everything normal. I know that I do have too many fish for the 10G but I am getting a 30 gallon really soon so there's really not much I can do about that. I have looked more into why my fish is "shaking" and it turns out he has what is known as called the "shimmies". Turns out their water is good for normal freshwater fish but due to all the changes in water my salt was fluctuating and caused him to get the shimmies. I need to get me some marine salt and hopefully everything will clear out after that.

 

[Khuligirl93]

There is no way to know for sure what is causing his illness since your test kit has not arrived, but I am very confident that it is probably ammonia or nitrite poisoning and not a salt issue.

I'm glad you have done your reading and are doing frequent water changes, but It would be better if you were doing larger ones because 15% is not enough to dilute harmful toxins (ammonia and nitrite) in the water. Especially if the fish are showing signs of stress or are swimming funny, you should be doing 50% changes.

 

[MarcosDiaz]

I will start to do 50% water changes now. I panicked and did like a 80% water change a few minutes ago. That couldn't have been good for the fish or my cycle but I just don't want my fish to die. I will be crushed ! He is my only fish acting like this .. Should I maybe separate him from the rest?

 

[MarcosDiaz]

API master kit came in today. Just checked water
Ammonia is 0.
Nitrite is 0.
Nitrate is 5.0 ppm.
PH is 7.6.
Didn't bother checking Hard PH.
Is the water ok ?
His shimmies has not gone away but it's less than before.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Hm that is very interesting. How long did you say you've had the tank set up with fish? Did you add any used filter media or bacteria starter?

 

[MarcosDiaz]

I did, I added tetra safe start on 3 separate occasions. I've had my tank set up for about two weeks now.

 

[MarcosDiaz]

Would you say that my tank is 'cycled' ?

 

[Fishperson]

Would you say that my tank is 'cycled' ?

Right now, it looks cycled, but with a large water change like you did, it could only look like that. But it is certainly on its way if there are nitrates. Also, with that many fish, I would recommend doing a 50% water change at least twice a week. Test your water at least every other day until you are sure you are cycled.

 

[MarcosDiaz]

Yay! This is exciting. And I will twice a week 50%

 

[Fishperson]

Yay! This is exciting. And I will twice a week 50%

You don't need to stay strictly to that, but I just thought it would be a good idea until you get a bigger tank. But yeah, it is exciting isn't it!

The rule is to do a water change whenever ammonia or nitrite is over .25 ppm, or nitrate is over 40 ppm, or the ph swings suddenly. (Those are for most fish, some, like discus, need much better parameters) *Less then 40 ppm of nitrate, more like 20 ppm, is certainly prefered.*