Sick molly? Need help!

My husband and I are new to a
Molly tank! We have had betas the past 10 years and they are easy fish! All our betas lived 3+ years and were very happy fish! We have had this tank 2 months and have recently added Molly's and a platy to the mix! We lost a platy and 1 Molly shortly after adding them to the tank, I don't think they were the healthiest when we got them! And since then our tank was great however this morning I got up and our 1 gold panda molly is just sitting in the bottom! We did a water change on Saturday of about 25%. He is now swimming erratically will swim all over but kinda rolls and has some stability issues it seems! There are no white spots or flaking scales he is not bloated or sunken! We had just added 4 more mollies a sail tail black molly l, a black molly and 2 Dalmatian and a Corey catfish to help clean the tank. All the other fish are picking on it when it goes to the bottom. I am wondering if the other fish are picking on it and/or maybe I have too many males in the tank.
It is the following:
29 gallon tank
5 live plants
2 pieces of driftwood
Tank tested this morning was the following
Ammonium.25 ppm
Nitrite .5ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm
Ph 7.2!
I added some prime to help reduce the levels!

I am starting to think it is getting beat up! One of the Dalmatian molly is snapping at it!

Ammonium.25 ppm
Nitrite .5ppm
I added some prime to help reduce the levels!

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Water change time, about 50%, Prime only locks up ammonia for about 24 hours and then releases it back into the water, Its one redeeming feature is that its cheap. Personally I don't use or recommend the stuff.

Theres alot of already sick mollies if you bought from petshop. Did you cycle the tank before adding the fish? They will need more filtration than your bettas, they are heavy waste producers so adding all of them at once can be a strain on your cycle.
On top of that healthy mollies are rather unforgiving of sick ones and will chase and deny them food.

Yes we cycled it for 1 month then added fresh live plants cycled that for 2 weeks and have been adding fish slowly over the last several weeks! We have smaller mollies than some adults and I am pretty sure we have more males than females even though I asked them aka the pet store for
Females. I check the levels daily and they have been going through a new cycle with the addition of fish! It is a prim made by sea Chem! I have added flourish to help the plants! I honestly think the couple fish we lost were sick from the get go! The other seem happy and are eager to eat and swim about the tank! The 2 we lost showed. O outward signs of sickness bloated bellies, loss of scales discoloration nothing obvious!

You want nitrites and ammonia at zero, so I'd do a big water change. How often do you do water changes? Any fish showing signs of illness will be picked on by the others, that's just how fish are. It's honestly doesn't look that good for the sick guy, but I'd try quarantining him for now.
As a side note, corydoras don't clean tanks, they just eat left over food. They also like to be in groups of 6+ or they become skittish and stressed. How many fish do you have all together?

Male mollies are very aggressive with each other so expect fighting and any sick fish will need to be separated or they will likely be bullied.
Sound like it all should be fine. Since your water parameters are a bit out you might be overfeeding or your filtration isn't enough. You should do a big water change now and I wouldn't use prime in your tank to lower ammonia its a temporary fix, water change not prime.

In post #1 the pH is said to be 7.2 which is pretty low for mollies. I am wondering what the GH of your source water is? Mollies cannot last in soft or acidic water, so this could be a part of the problem; if they are having issues due to a lack of minerals, it weakens them and weakened fish can react in various ways. At the very least, you should confirm these numbers before continuing with mollies. The GH you should be able to ascertain from your water authority if you are on municipal water, check their website.

I concur with previous advice to get ammonia and nitrite to zero quickly. Ammonia is another thing mollies do not tolerate at all well, even worse than many other fish.

Ok! We have 6 mollies, 1 platy, 1 Corey catfish in a 29 gallon tank! We do water changes about every 10'days or so! I will do a big water change tomorrow for sure! The little guy did not make it! I quarantine him and he peeked up a bit and then went belly up when I went to put my daughter down for a nap! The other fish seem happy and are swimming around well! There is no food left over after feeding and whatever is left over the catfish cleans up! I know they do not clean but I meant clean up leftover food! We are only feeding daily, is that to much?

We have an Aqueon tank and the filter that came with it! Is there another you suggest?

Cories should be kept with at least 3 others and they will probably need some sinking food not just scraps that fall. 6 mollies will make your 1 cory extremely nervous by himself so I doubt he will be going up for food often.

With feeding remember that fish will eat more than they need and regardless of if theres any leftovers overfeeding = more poop = more amonnia etc. Try feeding them less for couple weeks while bacteria adjusts to the heavy bio load


6 mollies can ruin water very quick I would suggest adding some pothos to the top of tank or your filter and maybe adding a simple filter to your air pump.
e.g

and the pothos

Hope this helps, goodluck!

jafred said:

Cories should be kept with at least 3 others and they will probably need some sinking food not just scraps that fall. 6 mollies will make your 1 cory extremely nervous by himself so I doubt he will be going up for food often.

With feeding remember that fish will eat more than they need and regardless of if theres any leftovers overfeeding = more poop = more amonnia etc. Try feeding them less for couple weeks while bacteria adjusts to the heavy bio load


6 mollies can ruin water very quick I would suggest adding some pothos to the top of tank or your filter and maybe adding a simple filter to your air pump.
e.g

and the pothos

Hope this helps, goodluck!

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Thank you everyone I will take this advice and let you know in a week or so how we are doing ! Thank you!!

So we have lost 2 more Mollies! 1 overnight and 1 about an hour ago! I tested the water and all levels were 0 ph was a little low at 7.4 so I did a water change and got the ph adjusted at 8.0. I do not know what is going on or why we are still losing fish!! I have a 29 gallon tank and after each water change they fly around the tank happy as clams! I have 3 Corey catfish to help eliminate any extra food! 2 Dalmatian mollies 1 male 1 female, 1 black molly male! 1 platy I believe is male and a black and gold panda molly female! They are being feed shrimp pellets and flake food! There water temp is set 80! They were all doing fine and showing no signs just 2
Belly up last night!! What is going on what am I doing wrong! I don't wanna keep losing fish! I feel extremely bad they are dying off it is not right!! I do have 5 live plants in a 29 gal tank and 2 pieces of driftwood! Is that too much? I check levels everyday!! They have been awesome up until today!!