My Molly is gasping for Air

Hi everyone, im new to the group and to keeping fish. I set my tank up last week and got some new tropical fish. But ive noticed that one of my mollys is gasping for air at the top of the tank abit and cant work out if this is normal or not?

Ive got a 38 litre tank and im using a heater set at 26 degrees with a marina i110 filter. I did notice the waterfall from the filter was quite low to the water, so ive moved it up more and now its pushing air bubbles to the bottom. So Im not sure if that will help oxygenate the water. Should i also get so amonia and nitrate testing kits?

The tank has the following in it:
2 mollys
1 swordtail
1 sunset variatus
1 zebra

Also whilst I'm here, Im hoping to add a siamese fighter to the tank in 6 weeks, once the waters settled. Will this make my tank over stocked or do i have room for more fish?

Thanks

Overratedrobb said:

Hi everyone, im new to the group and to keeping fish. I set my tank up last week and got some new tropical fish. But ive noticed that one of my mollys is gasping for air at the top of the tank abit and cant work out if this is normal or not?

Ive got a 38 litre tank and im using a heater set at 26 degrees with a marina i110 filter. I did notice the waterfall from the filter was quite low to the water, so ive moved it up more and now its pushing air bubbles to the bottom. So Im not sure if that will help oxygenate the water. Should i also get so amonia and nitrate testing kits?

The tank has the following in it:
2 mollys
1 swordtail
1 sunset variatus
1 zebra

Also whilst I'm here, Im hoping to add a siamese fighter to the tank in 6 weeks, once the waters settled. Will this make my tank over stocked or do i have room for more fish?

Thanks

Click to expand...

it could be the water parameters....
what are the params?
bettas and the livebearers you have don't mix well, they require different water
for stocking the tank is ok now.
the zebra probably wants some friends

Have you tested the water?

Have you done any water changes during the week? Your fish probably has ammonia poisoning if not.

Since you have stated that you only set the aquarium up last week, it is obviously not going to be cycled which in turn is causing your fish breathing difficulties due to poor water chemistry.

Please read this linked page as it will give you easy to follow instructions on your aquarium cycle


Also...DO NOT under any circumstances add a Betta...they are not tolerant of other fish in their territory, even if they appear docile initially they will attack (especially anything with flowy fins/tails and fry)

It looks like you are going to have to carry out a fish-in cycle which is very difficult with such a large number of fish. I would strongly suggest that you return all fish back to the shop and do a fishless cycle.

Hi and welcome to the forum

Do a 75% water change immediately. Increase aeration/ surface turbulence to maximise the oxygen levels in the water.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The fish is probably suffering from ammonia poisoning as mentioned by others. Ammonia is produced by all fish and anything that rots in the water (fish food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plant, etc). In an aquarium that has a developed biological filter, this ammonia is converted into nitrite and then nitrate, which is less toxic to fish. However, because your tank is newly set up, the filter will not have developed the good bacteria that is needed and you will have ammonia and nitrite problems for the next month.

This is easy to deal with and you will simply be doing a fish in cycle, which means fish are in the tank while the filter cycle occurs. It takes around 6 weeks for the filters to develop the good bacteria. During that time you should reduce feeding to 2-3 times a week. Don't worry, the fish won't starve during this time. You should also do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding. This big water change dilutes any ammonia that is produced by the fish food and waste.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

If you get a liquid test kit, you can monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels as the filter cycles. During the first 2-3 weeks the ammonia levels go up. After a couple of weeks the ammonia level will suddenly drop to 0ppm and the nitrite level will go up. After a couple more weeks, the nitrite level will drop to 0ppm and the nitrate level will start to go up. When this happens, the tank will be cycled.

If you buy a test kit, make sure it is not kept in a brightly lit area, or a warm or humid place. Heat, light and humidity destroy the reagents in the test kits and cause them to break down quicker. You should also check the expiry date on test kits because they go off while sitting on the shelf at the shop. I used to keep my test kits in a plastic bucket with a lid, and this sat on the bottom shelf of my fridge.
*NB* Make sure children and animals can't get the test kits because they contain poisonous chemicals.

After the filter has cycled, you can feed the fish every day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate once a week.

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You can buy liquid filter bacteria supplements from most pet shops. These have the good filter bacteria in a plastic bottle and you add some to the tank to help speed up the filter cycling process. I recommend using a double dose every day for a week, then pouring the remaining contents into the tank. Try to add the bacteria supplement near the filter intake so the good bacteria get drawn into the filter where they belong. The filter bacteria supplements can reduce the cycling time by half or even more.

You can also add some floating plants like Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides/ cornuta) and these will use up some of the ammonia and help keep the water cleaning for the fish. Floating plants will also help reduce algae.

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Depending on what the GH of your water is, will determine what fish you should keep.

Angelfish, most tetras, barbs, Bettas, danios, gouramis, rasbora, Corydoras and small species of suckermouth catfish all occur in soft water (GH below 150ppm) and a pH below 7.0.

Livebearers (guppies, platies, swordtails, mollies), rainbowfish and goldfish occur in medium hard water with a GH around 200-250ppm and a pH above 7.0.

If you have very hard water (GH above 300ppm) then look at African Rift Lake cichlids, or use distilled or reverse osmosis water to reduce the GH and keep fishes from softer water.

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I would return the single danio and not get anymore fish at this stage. Danios need to be in groups of at least 6 (preferably 10) or more and can cause problems if there are insufficient numbers and not enough room to move.

Do not add a Betta to the tank because there will probably be problems with territorial fights.

I would also get rid of the swordtail because they will breed with the platy and you get hybrids that aren't wanted.

Depending on the mollies and the GH and pH of your water, you might need to find a bigger home for them. Some species of molly can get to 4-6 inches long and need a 3 foot long (or bigger) tank. If you have the smaller species, they might be ok in the tank but would do better in a bigger tank.