Mollie Help

[NOT-XzNICEzX]

Hi im new here had a tank for 2 years now but upgraded to bigger ones alone the way had the 180 liter fluvel that ive got now set up for about 1 and hour years but am having abit of trouble with 1 mollie ok i give you tank details on levels etc then infor about mollie and maybe someone can help me

Tank : 180 fluvel Venezia
Filter : Fluvel 205 with ( 2x 100g carbon bags , 2x 100g clearmax bags , 2x 180g ammonia remover bags
biomax bio rings , 2x standard foam filter blocks
Air : Air pump interpet thing lol with air pipes
Fish : 25x neon tetras
6x glow tetras (know i should have more but fasing the outta my tank to replace with 5x neons once all die off)
1x Unknown (was sold to me as a blue tetra but im not sure)
4x mollie
1x clown pleco


Plants : None real as they made my NO3 to high i had to remove them and will aim to place some nice new plants in tank soon (any in proticular neons and mollies like

Feeding : i feed them blood worm from frozen 1 cube every 3 days ish, aquarian advanced nutrition daily (2-3pinchs), mollie was feed on also cat fish food which was in tank daily for the Snyos i had but they got to big and agressive (was miss infored when buying them about compatablity so now i do my research and not trust the local fish stores as there useless with info)

Water : Tested with 6in1 test kit made by tetra
NO3 = 10 mg/l (maybe little higher but hard to tell with how close colours are)
NO2 = 0 mg/l
GH = 4-8 od
KH = 6-10 od
PH = 6.8-7.2
CL2 = 0 mg/l

Water changes weekly i do 20% and i use Tetra Aquasafe to make tap water safe and do half that and half a mineral water from shop as my water here is hard if not mixed 50/50 and i add a table spoon of Aqaurium Salt Made by API

mineral water i use is :
Calcium 10.0 mg/l
Magnesium 2.5 mg/l
Sodium 9.0 mg/l
Potassium 2.0 mg/l
Bicarbonate 25.0 mg/l
Choride 12.0 mg/l
Sulphate 10.0 mg/l
Nitrate 11.0 mg/l
PH 6.2

ok now to problem in hand one of my 4 mollies has become very larfargic and most time jsut lays on bottom of tank when she does move its like shes dragging her backside and often she will swim verticaly i have tried swimbladder and a widerange anti biotic but its had no effect shes been like this 2 months now and i first thought she was on her way out but she keeps fighting and its not nice to see her like this if anyone might know whats wrong with her please let me know.

if anyone has any other advice on my tank etc please feel free to say = open to advice

 

[the biffster]

were do i start why are you useing minarel water again
thats just for starters as it as nitrate in it
what is you ph out of the tap mollies platys and guppys
like hard water

 

[NOT-XzNICEzX]

were do i start why are you useing minarel water again
thats just for starters as it as nitrate in it
what is you ph out of the tap mollies platys and guppys
like hard water

my tap water way to hard its GH is over 16od
KH is about 20od
PH is 8.4 ish

and neons dont like hard water so i tried to balance it out

 

[the biffster]

were do i start why are you useing minarel water again
thats just for starters as it as nitrate in it
what is you ph out of the tap mollies platys and guppys
like hard water

my tap water way to hard its GH is over 16od
KH is about 20od
PH is 8.4 ish

and neons dont like hard water so i tried to balance it out

its the biffster i have sent him a p/m see if he gets back to you
good luck

 

[NOT-XzNICEzX]

ok ty

 

[OldMan47]

You are in a bit of a fix with your water. You are maintaining your water way too soft by molly standards but just fine by tetra standards. I am on the soft side of a molly's healthy range with a GH and KH of between 10 and 12 degrees each using a liquid type test kit. My pH is about 7.8 from the tap and I do nothing to reduce it for my mollies. In my water, mollies thrive and reproduce freely. They do not become sick or develop a "shimmy" like yours has. I would stop adding so much of the bottled water and try to get your GH and KH to at least 6 degrees in the tank with a residual pH in the tank of something definitely above 7.2. That will give the mollies a fighting chance with minerals in their water while being soft enough to not bother the tetras.

The aquarium salt is a very bad idea in any tank unless it is being used to treat a specific disease. Some people use sea salt, not aquarium salt, to raise the pH and KH of their tanks for mollies but you don't need any additives to do that with your tap water.

If I had your tap water and bottled water and wanted a decent compromise for all the fish, I would use 2 or 3 parts tap water for each part bottled. I would also burn the paper test strips and go out and find a decent test kit for measuring my tank's water. Since most tests do not include any hardness measurement, I would get the API GH/KH kit. It can be had on line relatively cheaply, I think I gave about $6 for it.

Your ratio in your mix and the reported values for tap water and bottled water make no sense at all. If we believed your paper tests, by mixing tap and bottled water, you somehow removed over half of the combined mineral content from the water. Where did it go? One or another of your test results is wrong, perhaps all of them.

 

[the biffster]

hope this helps NOT-XzNICEzX listen to this man
he knows what he is on about

 

[NOT-XzNICEzX]

sorry i wasnt clear on mix and that does help me alot. reason i did a 50/50 mix was because my tank was full of tap water and i didnt have tetras so i was doing 20% water changes daily (removing 20% tank water adding the 50/50 mix)to get it at the levels i told you the water is at now. i was trying to salt per water change as i was adivised by shop ( like i said thay give bad advice i will stop that immidiatly).

Ok from here i will :
1. go to show get better testing kit like u surgested
2. try balance water for mollies to 7.2 ph 10-12 gh,kh using better test kit

is there anything else i can get to ad mollie ? or is it just change water till right and waiting game

thanks so much for all advice its appreciated

 

[NOT-XzNICEzX]

Ok after going to the shop and buying api tester kit and moving mollie to a smaller tank which i have with hard water and few guppies 14 gallon just for now see if she gets better i noticed whitespot on a few of my new tetras so have had to start white spot treatment and will have to get the lvls right after the treatment is finished will get back to you on her progress

 

[NOT-XzNICEzX]

Mollie sadly past away today she didnt improve in other tank guess there was more going on there as the other 3 mollies i have are fine thanks for any help you all gave tho and them test kits are awsome advice

 

[OldMan47]

Sorry to hear about you trouble with white spot Not Nice.
The best treatment information for white spot that I have found is laid out in detail in the article you can access from my link called Ich Info. In the US, where I am located, there is no such thing as white spot, it is called ich here. One of the most important facts to understand about white spot is that it cannot be cured for an individual fish by removing the fish. The tank where it is first discovered must be treated and all of the fish in it must become free of the parasite to have a tank truly free of the parasite. Since you indicate that you have an active infestation, please follow that link for treatment options and a good understanding of the parasite's life cycle.

 

[AvalonNider]

Are you treating the whole tank or separating the sick fish into a hospital tank. They get peace then. As for the water changes you might try up to 40 or 50% every 3 or 4 weeks. I do that about once a month with top ups in between. My fish (Marine) live un-naturally (or maybe naturally)long lives. My fatalities have come from the electricity blackout and once from a ridiculously long summer heat stretch but never from illness. I am of the opinion 20% is not enough, regardless of frequency. Water that has been left to sit removes itself of the chlorines etc., especially when then container is filled by strong water pressure. I airate my water the 72 hours and use no additives. (Probably gonna get bombarded by hate mail) but my fish have never lived longer than when i stopped messing with the water and putting crap in it. I buy store bought marine water and do that for the plain water - used distilled for long time but saw no diff in the airated water of mine.

 

[OldMan47]

Sorry to contradict you and say this Avalon Nider. Ich is one of the diseases that cannot be adequately treated by separating the infected fish. Since it is a parasite that spends a significant part of its life cycle in the substrate, any removal of the infested fish does not remove the disease organism from the infected tank. Unlike so many other things, the tank itself must be treated to prevent a new infestation of the fish. Please read through and digest the thread that I have linked to. It explains things in far more detail than I do. You could even become our next resident expert on ich if you can absorb everything in that link.