Mollies

[frube]

Hello, i recently bought 5 balloon mollies and 5 gold tuxedo mollies, both of the two sets have 3 females and 2 males. Well my tank was previously used to keep platies and i didn't know that mollies needed brackish water, i have only had the fish for 2 days but already a couple of the fish are becoming inactive, hovering in one place.
I feed the fish 3 times a day and have been turning the light off for around 10 hours a night, my question is what type of salt will i need to add to my tank in order for my mollies to be happy and how long do i have until they die due to bad water conditions?
thank you

 

[JenCliBee]

hi and welcome 2 TFF 2 start with

rite... i think ur feeding ur fish way 2 much once a day is suffiecient

marine salt is the best 2 use as in wot they use for marine fish i recently found this out

also... wot are ur water stats eg. ammonia,nitrite,nitrate & was the tank cycled first


jen

 

[frube]

hi and welcome 2 TFF 2 start with

rite... i think ur feeding ur fish way 2 much once a day is suffiecient

marine salt is the best 2 use as in wot they use for marine fish i recently found this out

also... wot are ur water stats eg. ammonia,nitrite,nitrate & was the tank cycled first


jen

great, thanks, the tank was cycled first yes, but what should my optimal stats for mollies be? I can't check them right now and they haven't been checked since i put them in.

 

[JenCliBee]

stats for all fish should be

0ppm ammonia
0ppm nitrite
anythink between say 5-40ppm for nitrates but thatd epends on how planted ur tank is
not entirely sure with the marine salt never used it sorry

jen

 

[frube]

alright thanks for all your help

 

[kribensis12]

Mollies dont need to be in Brackish water, that is a misconception. Mine are in 100 percent pure feshwater, and they are healthy, vibrant, horny, and hungry. Thats the way mollies should be! You can add salt to the tank, and if you do, use Aquarium Salt. How long was the tank set up before adding the fish? What else is in the tank? How big is the tank? Marine Salt is if youa re keeping mollies in a 100 percent Marine enviroment.

 

[frube]

Mollies dont need to be in Brackish water, that is a misconception. Mine are in 100 percent pure feshwater, and they are healthy, vibrant, horny, and hungry. Thats the way mollies should be! You can add salt to the tank, and if you do, use Aquarium Salt. How long was the tank set up before adding the fish? What else is in the tank? How big is the tank? Marine Salt is if youa re keeping mollies in a 100 percent Marine enviroment.

The tank was set up for a few months before i put the mollies in.. the tank is 15 gallons, is that too small? The fish are still quite small themselves at the moment,only around an inch and a half long, and i didn't know how big they got but i can always give some away, i already know people who would like to have them.

the mollies are the only things in the tank.. thanks for the info about the brackish water, i was really worried for my fish but since they're the only fish in there i might as well put in marine salt (or am i missing the point).

Thanks for all this amazing information.

also: i'm worried one of my fishes has the shimmies.. is it usual for it to be onset so soon? It will move around but occasionally stop and jitter back and fourth on the stop.. is there a cure for shimmies?

 

[kribensis12]

Aquarium Salt is a good cure for shimmies. Just follow the intsructions on the back. I mean, if you turn the tank Marine, all the freshwater bacteria will die off, and you will have to re-cycle. Your welcome! Do you ahve a pciture of them? Usually i can tell if they have shimmies by the picture. Also, your tank is a good size for them.

 

[JenCliBee]

Marine Salt is if youa re keeping mollies in a 100 percent Marine enviroment.

this isnt wot i was told when i asked about tonic salt on this forum lol oh well opinions differ i guess

EDIT: by the way just 2 show u this was the post i was on about HERE

 

[OldMan47]

Afraid that JenCliBee is right on this one. Although not many mollies in the hobby today have ever seen brackish water, brackish water is that way because ocean water is mixing with fresh water at places like the mouth of a river. The only kind of salt they would see in the wild is ocean salt that has mixed with that river water. For that reason, if you decide you really want to convert your mollies to brackish conditions, its best to use the same salt that you would to make a salt water aquarium. So called tonic salt is the same stuff that's on the dining room table except that it has no added iodine. It is a fast way for a company to turn 50 cents of table salt into $5 of tonic salt. All you need is a box to put it in.
I keep lots of mollies in straight freshwater and they have no trouble at all. They do prefer their water on the hard side and the pH above 7.0 maybe even closer to 8.0. For most of us that means not stressing about the hard water and high pH that comes out of the tap. If you have unusually soft water, it might be a good idea to raise the hardess and pH if all you have is mollies. An easy way to do both is to put some crushed coral or crushed sea shells into the tank's filter. Both are basically calcium carbonate and will raise hardness along with pH. Only do this if your water is quite soft and is below 7.0 pH. Otherwise you may put your fish into a too high pH and too hard water which would not be good for them.

 

[frube]

Thanks loads everyone
I'll try and get a picture of the suspected fish today
and thanks for all the info oldman47, i didn't know crushed coral and sea shells were used to raise pH

 

[kpintheshed]

i had mine in freshwater they were fine and happy, but you do have to keep your water conditions high. mine was 45 per cent change a week, also depends on your filter and size of tank