Keeping Fish...

[smudge_]

Keeping fish can be very disheartening. I got my first ever tank recently and loved my fish but now I'm very depressed about it all, Ive had my fish for weeks, no issues at all. All the water levels are fine, no ammonia etc. But this week ive had four mollys die. All I have left is two platys and a frog and one of the platys isnt exactly looking very healthy either she is just sitting at the bottom. Not one of the fish had any signs of sickness or even stress. This whole keeping fish hobby suddenly doesn't seem quite as fun, really depressed by all this, I feel like im doing something wrong but everything about the tank seems absolutely fine and I haven't a notion what could be wrong

 

[Fishy friend2]

im sorry that this is happening to you. we have all been through it, and this phase passes but all good wishes that your fish will get better soon. and i have a theory as to why the molly could have died. do you have soft water? is so then that could be why the molly passed, as they usually dont have a particularly long lifespan in soft waters

 

[pablothebetta]

Have you used water conditioner to make the water safe and remove toxins from tap water? Your LFS may or may not have said anything about this. It is, however, essential to ensure the health of your fish.

Not sure how important it is in terms of keeping the fish healthy and happy, but I have been lead to think that mollies prefer a brackish (between saltwater and freshwater) setup, have you got this?

 

[smudge_]

Have you used water conditioner to make the water safe and remove toxins from tap water? Your LFS may or may not have said anything about this. You have come to the right place now though

I have been lead to think that mollies prefer a brackish (between saltwater and freshwater) setup, have you got this?

Do you mean tap safe? I use that if that's what your talking about.

To be honest I just have what I would call "normal" water? I had two normal mollys in it for about a month and they they were always fine, I then bought two balloon mollys last weekend, one of which was dead within 12 hours, the others all followed soon after, I did wonder if they were sick when I bought them or something? And in-case you think the tank was overstocked its a 70l tank id like to think it could hold 4 small fish!

 

[doresy]

People can get pretty disheartened when doing a FISHLESS cycle as it means many weeks or sometimes even months of just keeping water with no fish! The end result is well worth the hard work and discipline.

HOWEVER this is a much better route than rushing out and getting fish from the start and have them slowly suffer and eventually die......that's REALLY disheartening!

The main problem I am willing to bet on is that your tank water is obviously not fine and that your levels of ammonia and possibly nitrites are up. What testing kit are you using and are you doing daily water changes while you are doing your FISH IN CYCLE (which you ARE doing if your tank is been going for only a couple of weeks with fish)

 

[pablothebetta]

As I said, not sure how important salinity is for them, but by the sounds of it, it doesn't sound like that's the main issue. And yes, tap safe is fine

It sounds like the addition of the balloon mollies could have brought the problem, though I'm not sure exactly what that might be. The only thing that springs to mind is that they had a disease when you bought them, though they seemed to die pretty quickly

Have you tested your nitrIte and nirtAte levels and did you fishless cycle the tank before adding fish? As dorsey said, that can be pretty lethal.

 

[smudge_]

People can get pretty disheartened when doing a FISHLESS cycle as it means many weeks or sometimes even months of just keeping water with no fish! The end result is well worth the hard work and discipline.

HOWEVER this is a much better route than rushing out and getting fish from the start and have them slowly suffer and eventually die......that's REALLY disheartening!

The main problem I am willing to bet on is that your tank water is obviously not fine and that your levels of ammonia and possibly nitrites are up. What testing kit are you using and are you doing daily water changes while you are doing your FISH IN CYCLE (which you ARE doing if your tank is been going for only a couple of weeks with fish)

No I don't do daily water changes, I did before but stopped after the levels settled. I have tested the water every single day this week whilst the fish have been struggling and not once has there been a spike in anything, if there was I wouldn't be so disheartened about the whole scenario as I would know what was wrong.

As I said, not sure how important salinity is for them, but by the sounds of it, it doesn't sound like that's the main issue. And yes, tap safe is fine

It sounds like the addition of the balloon mollies could have brought the problem, though I'm not sure exactly what that might be. The only thing that springs to mind is that they had a disease when you bought them, though they seemed to die pretty quickly

Have you tested your nitrIte and nirtAte levels and did you fishless cycle the tank before adding fish? As dorsey said, that can be pretty lethal.

put in it that night, the next morning it was half dead

 

[doresy]

Confused, a spike is when level go well up.

Even a .25ppm of ammonia or nitrite is bad for your fish.

If you are using API liquid test kit then you are getting constant yellow for ammonia and sky blue for nitrite then?

 

[smudge_]

Confused, a spike is when level go well up.

Even a .25ppm of ammonia or nitrite is bad for your fish.

If you are using API liquid test kit then you are getting constant yellow for ammonia and sky blue for nitrite then?

yea those are the colours, they haven't changed at all which is what confuses me as with the fish struggling I would have expected them to.