Molly Hiding Away

[RBurkett]

Can anyone tell me why one of my female mollies would keep hiding? As far as I can see she is not pregnant, and whenever I feed them she comes out and eats fine. The only things different in my tank are a piece of bogwood {which I pre-soaked for a week} and 2 tablespoons of aquairum salt. I have a 60L tank.

Water stats are:

Ammonia: 1.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 40 ppm
Ph Balance: 7.6

Hope someone can help...

Rachel

 

[OldMan47]

You have extremely high ammonia levels. Although you do not talk about the other fish in the tank, ammonia levels that high are dangerous to all of your fish. The aquarium salt is a product looking for a purpose. Mollies can tolerate salt but never really need it. Many other fish are harmed by salt over the long term.
In your situation, I would do an immediate 75% water change to drop the ammonia levels down to or below 0.25 ppm. That will make the water safer for all of your fish. There is no reason to replenish the salt because it had no place in a healthy tank to start with.
The pH is fine for a molly although mine thrive at a pH of 7.8. Mollies, when there are no other fish present, can even thrive in a pure salt water tank. The salt is not harming them but is simply not needed and may be harming other fish. Instead of using salt to try to help your mollies feel better, give them nice clean water by doing as many water changes as it takes to keep contaminants low. In the long run, the mollies will be healthier for it.

 

[helterskelter]

Oh ye!

Water changes, water changes and more water changes.
As already stated you ammonia is very high.

• How long have you have the tank setup?
• How many other fish do you have?
• What size is the tank?
• When did you last added more fish?
• What filtration do you have?
• Whats your water hardness?

Again salt is not needed but if your in a soft or slightly hard water area it helps to buff the water so keeping mollies is much easier.
I would also get some anti fungal treatment. As it would not surprise me if the molly get's a fungal problem as a result from being stressed from the ammonia problem very soon.
I like melifix and myxazin personally.

 

[RBurkett]

Thanks for your replies. I did a water change of 50% last night and tested the water again this morning. Although the Ammonia had dropped it still read .50 so I did another water change this lunch time. Will take readings again later tonight.

In answer to your questions:

* How long have you have the tank setup? About 6 weeks
* How many other fish do you have? 6x2inch Mollies 4 Silvertip Tetra and 6 Neon Tetra
* What size is the tank? 24 x 12 x 18
* When did you last added more fish? Added 5 of the mollies and the Neon on the 25th July
* What filtration do you have? Fluval U2 Filter
* Whats your water hardness? PH 7.6

Do you think the ammonia is to blame for my molly hiding?

Should I add some fungal treatment to the tank in case?

Rachel

 

[helterskelter]

Hi Rachel good to see your doing the water changes.

Sorry if anything sounds blunt or rude, I'm honestly trying to help.

Their are a few problems.
The tank is quite new only being 6 weeks old.
Did you cycle the tank before adding fish?

If not then read the following article
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

Basicaly you need the bacteria in your filteration to remove the toxins like ammonia.

You also have over stocked your tank very quickly, this means that the bacteria in the filtration cant keep up with the ammonia produced by the fish, which is why you have the problem.
Ammonia will burn the gills of fish and will result in death if not acted apron quickly.

Personally I would remove some of the fish to allow the bacteria 7-10 days to build up to the amount of fish you have in there.
Other wise your going to need to do water changes every day until your ammonia reading is 0.

Only once it's 0 will your fish be ok. Sadly buy they the gills on most of the fish could be damaged for life.

The shop that sold you should of explained some of this and explained you should not add fish for 3-4 weeks to allow the water to cycle. and to only add 4-6 small fish at any one time to allow the bacteria to build up to the new fish.

Were here to help so check the ammonia and keep doing the water changes and let us know how its going.

 

[RBurkett]

Thanks for that. I can't really remove any of my fish so I will do daily water changes.
But how much should I change {in litres I mean}

I am glad I found a forum like this as you get so many conflicting opinions in the shop, and the help
seems to be useless.

Thanks for help and advice. {and no I didnt think anything sounded rude or blunt}

Rachel

 

[OldMan47]

With your present stocking, I expect you will need to change half, or even more, of the water every day just to control ammonia and nitrites. In your tank that would be about 40 litres. As long as you control those chemicals, the fish should be fine. You judge how much to change by measuring the chemical concentrations. If you need to drop a chemical by half, you will need to change half of the water. When thinking about how much is needed, remember that it takes less water to do one big change than a number of smaller changes.

 

[RBurkett]

Did 50% water change this afternoon. {Tested an hour after} Ammonia is now 0. Will test again later. Thanks for help Oldman47.

Still think the molly that keeps hiding is sick. Im not sure, but her coat looks a little more dull than the other mollies, cannot see any white spot but could it be fungus or velvet? She keeps sinking to the bottom and hiding. {But feeds fine}

I have an isolation tank, where I am at present keeping 20 fry. Could I put her in there and treat her or would I have to take the fry out first?

Thanks Rache

 

[OldMan47]

It sounds suspiciously like columnaris but why not post a question in the tropical emergencies part of the forum. The folks who hang out there are more familiar with diseases and their treatment. If a water change doesn't do the trick, and 90% of the time it does, I am out of information. I do understand how to treat ich and have actually had to do it once but am no disease expert.