Need Urgent Help

[Cal116]

Recently, my Sunburst Platy started to become lethargic, lose color, thin out (hollow body, especially in center), and breathe more slowly towards the end of his life before he died last Saturday . I started noticing a change in my Dalmation Molly shortly after the Sunburst Platy died. He became lethargic, lost color, lost a significant amount of weight, and I woke up to find up suctioned to the filter and breathing slowly this morning. I don't believe it is ICK because I have seen no visible signs of ICK (i.e. white spots). Do you know what my tank's problem is and what I can do to save the others? Need help A.S.A.P.!

P.S. I'm pretty new to all this

 

[lordofthesea]

did you cycle the tank? that is, leave the filter running in the empty tank, to accumulate beneficial, ammonia-detoxifying bacteria? you should leave it for around three weeks for the bacteria to grow. also, do you know the water stats? the levels of ammonia nitrite and nitrate?

 

[lordofthesea]

if not, do a water change of about half, and also i reccomend a product called 'nutrafin cycle'. it contains the necessary bacteria,and if poured into the filter, should help reduce the levels of ammonia.


the ammonia is toxic you see. if new fish are added to a tank in which there are no filter bacteria, their waste decomposes producing ammonia which is really dangerous to fish. the bacteria change the ammonia to nitrites, which are toxic, but the bacteria then turn it to nitrate. this is much less toxic and is kept in low concentrations when you change the water ( that should be every week - about 1/4 of the water should be replaced.)

if the tank has been set up for a while, then this won't be the problem. mollies tend not to be the hardiest of fish as many are mass bred (often inbred too). also, it may be old age , or any number of other things. it could just be one of those things. they do happen sometimes, epecially in new tanks, its inevitable. its better to just accept it.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

did you cycle the tank? that is, leave the filter running in the empty tank, to accumulate beneficial, ammonia-detoxifying bacteria? you should leave it for around three weeks for the bacteria to grow. also, do you know the water stats? the levels of ammonia nitrite and nitrate?

simply leaving a filter running in an empty tank doesnt help the beneficial bacteria grow..just in case this person doesnt know that. A petshop/fish store will tell you that it does, but they're wrong.

a fishless cycle means to add ammonia on a regular basis until the beneficial bacteria (2 kinds) accumulate. One kind to break down the ammonia into nitrite, and a 2nd kind to break nitrite down into nitrate.

 

[lordofthesea]

fair enough. thanks for the correction

 

[paulbr1]

Hi and welcome, it would really help if you post your water statistics ie Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte and Ph.

Also if could you state how long the tank has been running, the fish's behaviour and a general history of the tank, then we could give you a more educated guess.

there are loads of smart people on here and will give good advice - but before you take any advice we could do with the above

Paul.

 

[drobbyb]

Something else that may help would be to read the cycling section found here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277264

 

[fca1963]

Also don't forget that platys and mollys are brakish water fishes so you must add salt to your tank without it they will die

 

[darklight]

Also don't forget that platys and mollys are brakish water fishes so you must add salt to your tank without it they will die

I've read its Mollys only, not Platys, that require salt.

Either way, I have the two types in my tank and I've never put salt in, and they seem to be fine.

 

[Bobtastic]

Also don't forget that platys and mollys are brakish water fishes so you must add salt to your tank without it they will die

I have Platies in my tank and I haven't had to add any salt into my tank.

On the Fish Species Section the entry for Platies says quote "Platy's have even been reported to live in brackish water (lightly salted water) and experience no negative effects of it."

Not that they prefer or favour brakish water.

I would advise that you first of all have a look throught the Beginners Resource Center and read throught Fish-in Cycling to make sure that you've covered what u need to do to look after your fishies.

I think the usual thing to do is if in doubt do a water change. As we don't know your water stats I would think quite a large one (50-60%) is a good idea. With fish in the tank u need to keep the Ammonia/Nitrite levels below 0.25ppm, anything above that and your exposing your fish to potentially fatal amounts of toxins.

If you don't already have one get your hands on a good liquid base water testing kit that covers the main four (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH), most ppl recommed API's or Nutrafin's Master Test kit.

Once you have you water stats ppl will have a better idea on what to suggest.

 

[OldMan47]

The salt advice is wrong. Both the common mollies and platies need hard water with a pH of over 7.0 and better yet at or a bit above 7.5. Sea salt, not aquarium salt, will raise the pH and increase the mineral content of soft water so it is better than nothing for people with very soft water. That does not make it necessary or even a good thing to do for either mollies or platies. It would be better to bring up the mineral content with appropriate dissolved chemicals, not sea salt or aquarium salt. The common domesticated mollies can tolerate salt as high as the salt you will find in a salt water tank but do not need it. Over 20 fish species are called mollies and salt will kill some of them so it is not safe to just add salt to a tank with mollies in it. If you know that you have P shenops, P. mexicana or P. vellifera, it is safe to add sea salt to the molly tank. If you don't know, don't do it. A side benefit of adding salt to your tank is that it will kill all of your plants.
Sea salt is a complex combination of salts that will buffer the water pH to over 8.0 if used in quantity. Aquarium salt is the stuff on the dining room table but without the traces of iodine that are added for people's thyroid health. It is useful as an ich treatment but otherwise has no place in my tanks. When I need an ich treatment I use table salt and it does a fine job and I always have some in the house.

 

[Jazzzz]

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