Help Please

[guppydad]

Hi again. Could I ask for a little help please? I might add theat there is much help available here for nubies and all should be commended for allowing themselves to be resources here.

Find the following

Tank Parameters:

What size is your aquarium? 10 gal glass, no gravel
How long has it been running? 6 weeks
How many (and which) fish are in the aquarium? 1 pr guppies and 10 asst fry, 1 molly male, 1 pleco and 1 cory.

What are your ammonia levels? .5 ppm
What are your nitrite levels? 2.0 ppm
What are your nitrate level? 5.0 ppm
What temperature do you keep the water at? 76-78 f
What filters are used on the aquarium? Hanging os with charcol and floss packet
What is the pH? 7.3

Maintenance:

How often do you change your water? Weekly - water is not crystal clear at this time
How much water do you change at one time? 20%
What dechlorinator (if any) do you use? Aquasafe
What other chemicals do you use regularly? none
What is your filter maintenance? Change element
How often do you maintain your filter? monthly

Symptoms:

Do your fish have any lesions? NO
If yes, what is their location, color (including 'cloudiness'), approximate size, and morphology (fuzzy, smooth, slimey, stringy, just dots, etc.)? NA
Are there any behavior differences (swimming differently, not as active, breathing heavily, etc.)? SWIMMING close to the bottom (Black Molly only)
Is there any physical damage (scales missing, fin damage)? NO

Treatment:

Describe any medicines or chemicals you have added in an attempt to treat the illness. If you have not added any treatments yet, please point this out as well. No medicines added, no chemicals added. Only water changes done

Two tanks one 5 gal and one 10 gal. 5 gal is fine and clear. 10 is as mentioned above. Any help you can give will be appreciated. I have not added seasalt what do you recommend??

Chuck

 

[Assuluto]

Is it only your Black molly that is acting weird?

 

[Lateral Line]

Ammonia and Nitrite should be zero. When you maintain your filter, are you throwing out you good bacteria?

 

[guppydad]

Thanks for the response. Bought a pair of mollies the female died in less than an hour. The male is the only fish acting strange. No I don't discard the filter just wash off (rinse not scrub) the media and replace. I'm at a loss on this one.

Chuck

 

[guppydad]

Did another 20% water change and my Molly is now acting much better. Thanks to all

Chuck

 

[daza]

Hi guppydad,

and welcome to TFF. If you had posted this thread in the beginners section then you would get a lot more replies. A mod may move it for you soon.

Excellent set of questions and answers makes helping a lot easier!

When you say that you "just wash off (rinse not scrub)", do you rinse it off under tap water, or old tank water? If under tap water then the chlorine can kill the bacteria you need.

Have you read about cycling and new tank syndrome? This thread explains all about it.

As LL said - ammonia and nitrite need to be at zero (a cycled tank), and those being present will cause your fish to be ill. Doing the water change reduced the ammount of them in the water and that's why your fish look better after the water change.

You should keep on doing water changes every day until the tank cycles and then you should only need to do them about once a week (enough to keep nitrates to a suitable level).

Another reason why those levels might be present it if there is too much waste being produced (i.e. too many fish). Can I ask what type of pleco you have? Others can offer more advice than me on this issue though.

 

[guppydad]

Thanks Daza

My first foray with fish was about 45 years ago. My neighbor had a five gal tank full of guppies and I do mean full. Musta been a gadzillion of them now talk about inch of fish per gal of water. They were the plain ones looked like minnows (fish bait) nothing fancy on these rascals. Lots of vegitation in the tank and murky water so dark you couldn't see the fish with out a light which was a lamp on the table holding the tank. About 30 years ago I got in to fish big time had Neons, Mollys, guppys and swords. The Guppys had started to get fancy by then. My wife got cancer about 18 years ago so I gave up my fish for medicine. I have remarried and got the bug the other day to start again. I have forgotten some but it is beginning to come back even though I have sometimerzs disease, just means I can't remember sometimes lol . Washing filters under the tap is not good so I don't go there. When changing filter elements I find that putting the old element in one of the wife's old knee highs and hanging in the tank gives the new element time to produce bacteria before discarding the old.

My tanks seem to have more suspended sediment than I like but the hanging filter and the water changes are getting it, just takes time. Thanks to all for the help hope you know how much the newbies depend on the expertise.

Love them Gup's

Chuck

 

[guppydad]

Evidently my tank just won't support Mollys. Bought a pair. Female died. Replaced her then the male died then the second female died. All other fish are OK. I'm just going to wait about 3-4 months then get another pair.

Oh Well

 

[gaya]

I would guess that they are dieing because you are introducing them to an uncycled tank. The other fish have had a chance to adapt to the high ammonia and nitrite levels. Don't add any more fish until the tank is cycled. good luck!