Beginner Needing Help

[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!!

 

[scaeriefaerie666]

Put an airstone in or make sure that your filter is agitating the water and putting oxygen in. Their breathing SHOULD calm down after that, though its no guarentee. If that fails i would try adding a small amount of aquarium salt as that does the almost the same job as most medications and improves gill function. If they're still like it in 24 hours time i would do small water changes regularly and get the medication out, as it sounds like an overdose situation which is easy to do in a small tank / new tank.
Mollies are quite hardy so hopefully they'll pull through. Its just one of those things with new tanks, and mollies are renowned for carrying parasites. I don't keep them any more for that exact reason.
Just FYI - you'll want to leave it much longer before adding any more fish. As a general rule its best to leave the tank with the starter bacteria, live plants and filter for atleast a week before stocking.
xxx

 

[DQ8203]

Thanks, ive repositioned my filter so its putting more oxygen through the tank. I will carry out small water change or two tomorrow if nothing has changed. and will also get one of those things tomorrow when the shops open.

 

[anon02]

Bottled bacteria is unreliable to say the least, your fish are most likely suffering gill damage through ammonia poisoning, you need to do enough water changes to get the ammonia down to 0.25ppm and keep it there. There`s a good post regarding fish in cycling in the beginners resource centre
It`s going to be a nightmare keeping the meds concentration up with all the water changes you`ll need to do to keep the ammonia down but you will need to prioritise the ammonia over the whitespot in this instance

 

[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??

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?

 

[DQ8203]

white molly is dead, and out of the tank.

My black molly is still lying at the bottom of the tank and everynow and then makes a bid for swimming, only to start spinning frantically when it tries. is there anything else i can do except do a water change?

 

[scaeriefaerie666]

you need to get your ammonia down ASAP. Do lots of water changes and forget that its a new set up, make sure that your ammonia is as low as it can possibly go, and keep it there. This is what happens when you don't let your tank establish before you stock it, but as a beginner its something that most of us learn. Get the ammonia out, and if you need to, get a smaller tank / bowl fill it fresh, clean water - some starter bacteria and your heater and move them over into much better water. Then you can do massive water changes and get the ammonia down before moving them back.
I'm genuinely a bit dismayed that you were even sold fish this early on. Where did you go? And at most, they should have given you 2 or 3 fish, not 5. These people are supposed to know what they're doing....It's not your fault, at least you've come to the right place to ask for help.
xxx

you may want to try adding activated carbon or Zeolite if you have it, that will help pull your ammonia down - though to be honest it sounds really quite bad so your best bet is water changes and fast.
xxx