Mollies laying on the bottom

[msaeger]

I have a 29 gallon planted aquarium. It has 3 neon tetras and 6 mollies. I test the water with the API kit and and am seeing no ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites. All the fish were pretty active. I have the HOB filter that came with the aqueon kit. The water temp is between 77 and 78 according to the digital thermometer I have installed.

Starting a few days ago one of the mollies kept laying on the bottom but would eat and occasionally swim around. Then I saw a second one start acting the same and the next day it died. Now I am seeing four of them acting like this but the tetras seem fine.

Any suggestions on what I can do? I did change about half of the water.

 

[Delapool]

How's the ph? And I assume plants are keeping the nitrates down? Next check would if you had changed anything or better/worse after water change.

After that if the tank chemistry is all fine (I assuming these are not new mollies), would be looking at bacterial.

 

[msaeger]

Thanks for the reply. I got the mollies 4/1. They were pretty active the first couple of weeks. I stopped at the petco today and they are telling me the ammonia is high but when I test it with the API kit it shows it is low (yellow) I am not sure if my test kit is bad or operator error or the petco is wrong.

One more died today and the other four are just laying on the bottom except when they get fed or disturbed.

I changed part of the water today and tomorrow I will test again and do the ph as well.

Could it be low oxygen? I have a HOB filter and keep the water down enough that there is agitation.

 

[Delapool]

Shouldn't be O2 unless high temp would be my thought. Did they say what the reading was?

 

[BBradbury]

ms...

Mollies must have pure water conditions all the time and require a mostly vegetarian diet. If your Mollies are acting strangely, it's likely the water isn't clean enough for them. A smaller tank needs frequent water changes, so the dissolved fish waste material doesn't build up and make the fish sick. A 29 G tank needs half the water changed a couple of times a week.

This hobby is 100 percent about keeping the tank water waste free. Get some veggie flakes for Mollies and feed a little minced garlic, the products with no phosphate and no preservatives or additives.

B

 

[msaeger]

I tested the water and found ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates were low but the ph was at the top of the scale on both low and high range. This is much higher ph than my tap water so what makes the ph go up in the tank?

I changed part of the water making sure to clean the gravel good. I also put one of those softener pillows that I had in the filter. Today some of the fish are moving around like normal and one is still wanting to lay on the bottom.

How should I be telling when to change the water? I though I should be seeing the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates go up signaling it's time for a change.

I was also feeding twice a day and now have just started a small amount once a day.

 

[Delapool]

Should change between 25% to 40% weekly imo as a rule of thumb. Some will do more.

Ammonia and nitrite should always be 0. Ammonia is more dangerous at higher ph - what readings are you getting? I'll see if I can find a link tomorrow.

When getting tap water ph, let the tap water sit in an open jar for 24hrs to degas, ect. Then test ph for true ph.

Normally ph going up is because there is carbonate in rocks or gravel. Normally tank biological activity will reduce ph/kh over time.

 

[msaeger]

I have been seeing 0 for the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrites so I was thinking I was supposed to wait to change water until I saw something go up. I don't think I went more than a week between changes anyway. I was changing some every day because the tank is about a month old and I was seeing high nitrates. After I saw the nitrates go down to 0 I stopped changing every day.

I changed some yesterday and today and 3 of the 4 mollies that are left look good and the tetras are still good.

I am want to get to where I can be on a schedule like once a week. It's not very hard to change water I got one of those aqueon water changers so it's pretty quick.

 

[Delapool]

Sounds good. I have a planted tank so work off keeping nitrates at around 20 to 40ppm (less is always good but I need some for plants).