Beginner- Need Help Asap!

[DQ8203]

Hey, ok so i got a new tank about 9 days ago, and for about 6 days ive been keeping 5 black mollies in it.

Everything was going smoothly with the cycling of the tank until i noticed one of the fish had white spot about three days ago. I treated the tank and the white spot seemed to disappear. I retreated the tank for white spot yesterday as the back of the tube says.

Anyways, now I have two sick mollies at the bottom of the tank with unusually high gill movement. I suspect that the medication has removed all my friendly bacteria that was keeping the ammonia at bay and now my fish are getting ammonia poisoning. (Nitrite appears to be very low on tests)

So, I've done a %40 water change and am stopping the medication from here on in. and ive re-added some bacteria from the starter kit.

Is there anything you guys can recommend because i cant help think theres more I can do as the two mollies sit at the bottom of my tank and the rest look very sluggish and lazy.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[fishlove75]

Hello, sorry to hear about your problems. First off, your filter is no where near cycled. You are doing what is called a fish in cycle. Fully cycling your filter takes on average 6-8 weeks, in some cases even longer. It is unlikely, after 6 days, you would have had very many friendly bacteria, however, it is possible that the medicine knocked out what little bacteria you had. Eithor way chances are what you are seeing is the result of an uncycled filter due to little to no friendly bacteria, it most likely is not due to the meds (although that is possible). Regardless, the fix is pretty much same. Monitor water stats with a good testing kit (API is a reasonably priced accurate kit) and perform water changes accordingly. Now this may mean doing large water changes on a daily (or even possibly twice a day) basis. You can add "bacteria supplements" but in my experience they really don't work and you would just be wasting your money.

Now it has been a couple of years since I have had to cycle a filter, so the newest information may be different from what I have told you. But it sounds, to me, like you are seeing the results of a tank with increased ammonia and with fish in the tank it is best to do frequent water changes to keep the ammonia at bay.

Good Luck

 

[Holly12]

Hello yes your tank has to cycle for a while befor adding any fish to it my 30 gallon tank took 9 weeks to cycle and the wait was very hard but because I did wait all of my fish are doing great. And all of my setings such as my Ammonia and my Nitrite and Nitrate and PH are at top notch so if I was you I hate to say this but wait untile the fish you do have die and then start over with cycleing your tank. Give it like 6 weeks then test your water if the water is still not stable then give it 8 weeks keep testing your water until you see all of the settings I have said like PH Ammonia and Nitrite and Nitrate are all at 0. Then go and get your fish but start off with only 2 or 3 fish at a time wait like 2 weeks if the fish you still have in here are doing good and they are healthy then get 2 more. This is what I did with my 30 gallon tank and now I have 4 rosy barbs 2 brislenose plecos 2 striped Raphael catfish one redtial shark and all are doing great.

 

[DQ8203]

I forgot to say, I got the tank off a previous owner who had lots of experience, the filter was kept in water from the old tank and was full of the good bacteria it developed. the medication i used was a very strong one apparently =/ i will do more water change(s) tomorrow if things are still the same. thanks for your input much appreciated

 

[fishlove75]

Hello again,

Here is a link to a pinned section on this fourm that talks about cycling (both fish in and fishless cycling):

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/277264-beginners-resource-center/

It has a lot of really good information for new comers to the hobby. Sorry I didn't give it to you in my first post, new to this fourm and didn't see it until now. I checked it out and it really does have a lot of really good information for new fish keepers.

It is possible that some of your mollies may survive the fish-in cycle, however it is more likely that they won't survive the process. Sorry about that but statistically they probably won't make it. I have never kept mollies so not sure how hardy they are, but even the most hardy fish often don't survive the cycling process. A lot of people, me included before I switched to fishless cycling, used Zebra Danio fish to cycle tanks because they are so hardy, but even they sometimes don't make it through the process.

On a positive note you can try to see if your LFS will allow you to return the fish and you can convert to a fishless cycle. Failing that follow the guidelines (noted in the above link) for a FISH IN CYCLE be consistant about checking your water stats and performing the approiate water changes and your mollies just might make it. However, if you choose to keep your mollies and/or your LFS won't allow you to return them prepare yourself for the fact that they probably won't survive the cycling process.

Sorry I don't have better news for you. Best of Luck and keep us posted


Edit: sorry didn't see the post stating that the tank/filter was used and already cycled. In that case it might be that the meds knocked out the cycle. But if that is the situation you still need to re-cycle the filter which still puts you in a Fish-in cycle situation.

 

[DQ8203]

ok guys its got worse. this morning ive woke to find that a different molly is now lying on the bottom, none of the other two are right now however a black molly is swimming weird, like spinning frequently in circles while it tries to swim forward. over and over again. his body also looks to be in bad condition. no fish dead as of yet. there are still some bubbles in the tank from yesterdays big water change, will i do another small change soon??

 

[DQ8203]

just turned the white molly over thats on the bottom, has a big red patch on its side, just down from the gill but doesnt look like its from the gill im not sure, there about a 1mm or 2mm gap between the gill and red patch

will i take the white molly with blood thats not moving at all but still breathing out of the water and let it die?

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum DQ.
You need to do water changes often enough to keep your water pristine and to treat that new water with an ich treatment to prevent ich re-infesting your fish. It sounds like you are undecided what to do since you have conflicting priorities. Both the ich and the ammonia/nitrite must be dealt with. Failing to deal with either one will result in you losing lots of fish. Since each water change removes much of the ich medication, it must be replaced with the new water. That way the ich can run its cycle and be removed from the equation. Once the ich has been gone from your tank for 3 or 4 days, you can spend your effort focusing on only the chemistry aspect of things.
Whenever I have any nitrogen cycle issues on a tank, I default to doing 90% or more water changes each time I detect any ammonia or nitrites. It may only be every other day but the fish always look great right after that huge water change. Fish are not harmed by nice clean water, it is like thinking we could be harmed by clean air after all.