Balloon Molly - Help Needed!

[jnw1981]

My tank has been up and running for about 8 weeks but I only added fish 7 days ago.
3 Sailfin Mollies and 3 Balloon Mollies (2 females & 1 male of each). Nitrate, ammonia are all in the correct ranges and water temp is about 25.

All was peaceful until 2 days ago - the female Sailfin popped out approx 15 fry. We then had 12 hours of aggressive behaviour from her and also the male Sailfin.
Ever since my male balloon molly has been hiding in dark camoflaged parts of the tank.
Last night he made no effort to compete for food whatsoever, even when flakes floated right past him.
This morning I found he had trapped himself vertically behind the filter. To my amazement after removing the filter he swam on but just went and hid in the opposite corner.

I'm new to this so suggestions on how I can help the little guy would be appreciated. I'm planning a 25% water change but am reluctant to add salt to the water as I was planning on a few other species further down the line.

This morning I've left him in a breeding chamber at the top to allow him to feed and keep him away from aggressors. Is this a bad move?

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum JNW.
There is no need to add any salt to the water. Mollies do fine without salt as long as the water has a pH that is fairly high, over 7.2, and the water is somewhat hard. I would want to make sure the hardness is at least what people would call a medium hardness. Mollies basically cannot take low mineral content in their water so when folks add salt they are raising the mineral content. You don't say how small your tank is but mollies do need a lot of room compared to some fish. I have found it best to limit the number of adult mollies in a tank to keep the aggression down because dominance of a particular male or a particular female can come out the way you are seeing with your males. The hiding and chasing seems to just go on and I don't know any way in particular to stop it. The best I can suggest is to get lots of things in the tank to break up the line of sight so that the chasing does not cause too much stress as it stops quite quickly. In case you don't already know it, the balloon and normal mollies can easily cross breed so it would have been better to have only one kind in the tank.

 

[jnw1981]

Thanks OM47. That sounds a good idea to break up the eyeline and add a few more carefully placed plants/ornaments. Glad to hear I dont need to be adding salt to the water, although In my naivety I hadnt planned for the Sailfins and Balloons to potentially cross breed!

Fortunately that cant happen just yet as my female balloon molly looks ready to burst she's so heavily pregnant!

 

[jnw1981]

Just got home with some extra decor and the male molly has now developed little white spots all over. In fact so have the 2 females.
is this caused by the stress he's gone through?
I've increased the temperature of the tank from 25 to 28 degrees to kill the parasites. What else will help?!!!!
Do I need a bottle of something and will this affect others in the tank. (i have 3 sailfin mollies who appear fine and well).

thanks

 

[OldMan47]

There is a link in my signature area to a comprehensive writeup dealing with ich, it is called Ich Info. If the spots look like grains of salt, that is the most likely culprit. The easiest to get and use treatment for ich is warm salty water but the article will help you make sure that you have a correct diagnosis and tell you how to use table salt as a cure. I have had to use this approach once on some female bettas and it seemed to work very well. I did not lose any fish doing it and never had the parasites come back.