I've been noticing several non-happy-making things in our new 35g recently. We have three mollies (one black, two dalmation), six danios, two dwarf gouramis, two very small loaches, and one rainbow shark.
Three days ago, one of our dalmation mollies started shimmying intensely in the tank. After reading about a number of the things that could cause this, I tested the water, which looked nominal, and did an immediate 15 gallon water change.
The next day, he hadn't improved any, so we went out and bought a 10g tank to use as a hospital. I added 2T of aquarium salt to it, and we put the ailing molly in. He improved quickly, and, by last night, was looking much better.
This morning, my wife pointed out that our other dalmation was acting strangely. It was repeatedly rotating in the water until it was floating practically nose-up, then righting itself, only to repeat the process. It also looked generally lethargic. Since the other molly was looking better, I put him back into the tank to see what would happen, and took the second dalmation out.
Almost immediately, the first fish started shimmying again.
Concerned now, I started investigating the tank a little more closely. On several of the fish, I noticed what, to my inexperienced eye, might be the "salt" spots of ich -- very fine white flecks, mostly on fins. I netted a few of the fish I thought I saw spots on, but, when out of the water, examining them under a raking light, I couldn't see anything but smooth skin. The water was a little stirred up from netting out the second molly... perhaps they had odd bits of debris on them? ...
Also of note is that the second dalmation, who is of a mostly-white tone, has some odd blue marks behind his gills. Additionally, our plain black molly, who was one of the first fish in the tank, seems to be behaving normally, as do all the other fish.
I'm at a loss. I can keep the two seemingly ailing mollies quarantined for a bit. The way the first one immediately went back to shimmying when I put him in the main tank indicates that it might be something to do with water quality. But everything tests OK... 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10ppm nitrate, PH 7.4ish, 76 degrees.
And then there's the matter of the maybe-ich. Any thoughts? What should I do? Begin treating for ich? Keep the mollies out a while and treat them (for what?) seperately? Swing a rubber chicken over my head?
I feel like something's definitely not right, but I'm not sure what. Help?
Three days ago, one of our dalmation mollies started shimmying intensely in the tank. After reading about a number of the things that could cause this, I tested the water, which looked nominal, and did an immediate 15 gallon water change.
The next day, he hadn't improved any, so we went out and bought a 10g tank to use as a hospital. I added 2T of aquarium salt to it, and we put the ailing molly in. He improved quickly, and, by last night, was looking much better.
This morning, my wife pointed out that our other dalmation was acting strangely. It was repeatedly rotating in the water until it was floating practically nose-up, then righting itself, only to repeat the process. It also looked generally lethargic. Since the other molly was looking better, I put him back into the tank to see what would happen, and took the second dalmation out.
Almost immediately, the first fish started shimmying again.
Concerned now, I started investigating the tank a little more closely. On several of the fish, I noticed what, to my inexperienced eye, might be the "salt" spots of ich -- very fine white flecks, mostly on fins. I netted a few of the fish I thought I saw spots on, but, when out of the water, examining them under a raking light, I couldn't see anything but smooth skin. The water was a little stirred up from netting out the second molly... perhaps they had odd bits of debris on them? ...
Also of note is that the second dalmation, who is of a mostly-white tone, has some odd blue marks behind his gills. Additionally, our plain black molly, who was one of the first fish in the tank, seems to be behaving normally, as do all the other fish.
I'm at a loss. I can keep the two seemingly ailing mollies quarantined for a bit. The way the first one immediately went back to shimmying when I put him in the main tank indicates that it might be something to do with water quality. But everything tests OK... 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10ppm nitrate, PH 7.4ish, 76 degrees.
And then there's the matter of the maybe-ich. Any thoughts? What should I do? Begin treating for ich? Keep the mollies out a while and treat them (for what?) seperately? Swing a rubber chicken over my head?
I feel like something's definitely not right, but I'm not sure what. Help?
