Hi I have had my tank set up about 6 months maybe longer and after a few teething troubles it has been running quite smoothly and the fish have seemed quite healthy, I have a 30gallon tank, the nitrate are a little high but otherwise the levels are as they should be. I keep the tank clean but not excessivly so and do regular water changes, generally around a quarter of the tank. I have four golden mollies, 1silver molly, two red spotted platies and two plecos and four honey gouramis all of which are quite small fish at the minute. I also have at least four healthy looking babies and possible one of the mollies had babies aswell. Over the last week I have found the the mollies are sitting on the botton alot and yesterday it was a gourami and it was tilting in the water, now today the gourami seems fine again and one of my mollies has been doing that all day and has now died. The only signs of problems with the rest of the fish are the gills on the mollies are quite red looking. I presumed that it was ammonia but it seems OK when tested, anyone any ideas please, is it possible my tank is over loaded with all the babies.
Fish dying
- Thread starter Amolly83
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It willhelp us to help you if you could post the actual test results for whichever of these you can...ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH (of your source tap water is fine for this one). Temperature. What water conditioner? Any other additives? "Regular" water changes...is this once every week, or less often?
OK thank you for replying, using a api fresh water testing kit on water from my tank I get these results
amonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Ph 7.5
Nitrate 5.0
My tap water comes up pretty similar an i have never been able to get the nitrates and amonia much lower.
Kh and gh haven't been tested lately but if I remember rightly Kh was 80-120ish and gh was around 60-80 but has been since set up (again tap water has high pH Kh and nitrates)
The water changes I tend to do every Friday mainly because I know about the nitrates in my tap water.
I use fluval aqua +plus water conditioner and my temperature is generally around 25/26
Part of the reason I am confused is I wouldn't of thought the babies would survive if the water was bad and I have four new platys in there which are doing amazingly and are now over a cm long and swim around happily with the other fish.
amonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Ph 7.5
Nitrate 5.0
My tap water comes up pretty similar an i have never been able to get the nitrates and amonia much lower.
Kh and gh haven't been tested lately but if I remember rightly Kh was 80-120ish and gh was around 60-80 but has been since set up (again tap water has high pH Kh and nitrates)
The water changes I tend to do every Friday mainly because I know about the nitrates in my tap water.
I use fluval aqua +plus water conditioner and my temperature is generally around 25/26
Part of the reason I am confused is I wouldn't of thought the babies would survive if the water was bad and I have four new platys in there which are doing amazingly and are now over a cm long and swim around happily with the other fish.
I think I can explain the molly problem, at least a major factor. This fish, like all livebearers, must have moderately hard or harder water. This is a subjective term, but GH at 80 (presumably this is in ppm) is much too soft and livebearers will slowly weaken and die because their physiology cannot function without the minerals (calcium and magnesium primarily) in harder water. Fish continually take in water via osmosis through every cell and at the gills, and the substances in the water are filtered out or used, so it is very important what is in the water. That's why I asked about additives, but it also explains why the soft water is slowly killing the livebearers.
Many livebearers will tolerate or manage in softer water at least for a time, but all along they are weakening more and more which leaves them susceptible to other things as well. Platies are a bit less needful compared to mollies, so it is not surprising that the mollies are the first to begin dying.
The gourami is not the same as this is a soft water fish. But fish disease is a very complex subject and I am certainly no expert so I can only note the obvious problems and hopefully other members with more experience with disease can help further.
Ammonia at 0.25 turns up in several threads. Mollies are highly susceptible to ammonia poisoning, not that other fish are not the same but mollies really cannot tolerate ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. Nitrate at 5 ppm is not bad, so don't worry about that. Do you have live plants? Fast growers like floating plants would easily handle the ammonia, and perhaps help with the nitrates.
The Fluval Aqua+ Water Conditioner could be a factor. The website says it contains "Herbal extracts reduce fish stress caused from transportation, handling and acclimatization," without saying what these extracts are; some other similar products contain aloe vera and this is believed to deteriorate fish gills over time, which could be another issue here. The "Coats delicate scales and fins to protect against minor abrasions" is risky too, depending what the additives are. For the future, you might want to consider changing conditioners. I use API's Tap Water Conditioner which does the basics (detoxifies chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals) but nothing else, and so far as I know it contains no questionable additives. It is more expensive per volume, but it is so highly concentrated that you use half as much (or even less) as any other product on the market and that has another benefit of not clogging up fish with chemicals.
Many livebearers will tolerate or manage in softer water at least for a time, but all along they are weakening more and more which leaves them susceptible to other things as well. Platies are a bit less needful compared to mollies, so it is not surprising that the mollies are the first to begin dying.
The gourami is not the same as this is a soft water fish. But fish disease is a very complex subject and I am certainly no expert so I can only note the obvious problems and hopefully other members with more experience with disease can help further.
Ammonia at 0.25 turns up in several threads. Mollies are highly susceptible to ammonia poisoning, not that other fish are not the same but mollies really cannot tolerate ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. Nitrate at 5 ppm is not bad, so don't worry about that. Do you have live plants? Fast growers like floating plants would easily handle the ammonia, and perhaps help with the nitrates.
The Fluval Aqua+ Water Conditioner could be a factor. The website says it contains "Herbal extracts reduce fish stress caused from transportation, handling and acclimatization," without saying what these extracts are; some other similar products contain aloe vera and this is believed to deteriorate fish gills over time, which could be another issue here. The "Coats delicate scales and fins to protect against minor abrasions" is risky too, depending what the additives are. For the future, you might want to consider changing conditioners. I use API's Tap Water Conditioner which does the basics (detoxifies chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals) but nothing else, and so far as I know it contains no questionable additives. It is more expensive per volume, but it is so highly concentrated that you use half as much (or even less) as any other product on the market and that has another benefit of not clogging up fish with chemicals.
Wow lots of info, thank you. I do have live plants.
So don't put mollies in there in the future an
Use api water conditioner. Thank you, I will start by changing my water conditioner and keep doing water changes and hope for the best
So don't put mollies in there in the future an
Use api water conditioner. Thank you, I will start by changing my water conditioner and keep doing water changes and hope for the best
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