A month ago, I adopted a male dalmatian molly from an acquaintance who was moving, and she gave me her 5 gallon acrylic tank, filter, water heater, and UV lamp, as well as the flake food, aquarium salt, and water conditioner. When I fed him today, I noticed him dead on the side of the tank.
The molly was given to me in a small plastic container with his tank emptied. A few weeks before I adopted him, he had a female partner who died and I believe she gave birth at some point, though I do not know exactly when. The fish I adopted was bought a few months ago.
I had to move him a few days ago to my new place, so I put him in the same small plastic container (about 8 oz) filled with his aquarium water and emptied the tank, and refilled it again about two hours later. I'm afraid I may have left him in the container for too long, but he seemed fine when I acclimated him to the refilled tank and he seemed happy until today, when he was obviously dead when I got home.
I feed him 2-3 times a day with flake food. I was considering buying some brine shrimp, but I never ended up doing so. I performed a few 25% water changed about once a week, and with the move I did a 100% water change. I put the appropriate amount of salt and water conditioner in when I did these 25% changes. I put 1 tbsp of aquarium salt in his tank, along with the water conditioner when I moved him a few days ago. I also changed the filter, as the previous owner suggested that I change the filter once a month.
I don't know exactly what went wrong that led to his death and I'm trying to figure it out. It may have just been the combined stress of two moves in a month, but I want to make sure that whatever mistake I made doesn't happen again. I'm considering buying a new fish and want to make sure that it will live a long and happy life. This new fish may or may not be a molly. I can't afford to buy a new tank nor do I have the space, so the fish will need to be able to live in a 5-gallon tank. Does anyone have a diagnosis for how my molly died and what and advice for what I can do in the future if I decide to buy a new fish?
The molly was given to me in a small plastic container with his tank emptied. A few weeks before I adopted him, he had a female partner who died and I believe she gave birth at some point, though I do not know exactly when. The fish I adopted was bought a few months ago.
I had to move him a few days ago to my new place, so I put him in the same small plastic container (about 8 oz) filled with his aquarium water and emptied the tank, and refilled it again about two hours later. I'm afraid I may have left him in the container for too long, but he seemed fine when I acclimated him to the refilled tank and he seemed happy until today, when he was obviously dead when I got home.
I feed him 2-3 times a day with flake food. I was considering buying some brine shrimp, but I never ended up doing so. I performed a few 25% water changed about once a week, and with the move I did a 100% water change. I put the appropriate amount of salt and water conditioner in when I did these 25% changes. I put 1 tbsp of aquarium salt in his tank, along with the water conditioner when I moved him a few days ago. I also changed the filter, as the previous owner suggested that I change the filter once a month.
I don't know exactly what went wrong that led to his death and I'm trying to figure it out. It may have just been the combined stress of two moves in a month, but I want to make sure that whatever mistake I made doesn't happen again. I'm considering buying a new fish and want to make sure that it will live a long and happy life. This new fish may or may not be a molly. I can't afford to buy a new tank nor do I have the space, so the fish will need to be able to live in a 5-gallon tank. Does anyone have a diagnosis for how my molly died and what and advice for what I can do in the future if I decide to buy a new fish?
