Not happy tank

[fishyjessie]

over the last month i have had problems with my tanks, mainly one 55 gallon and one 10 gallon. i used to have a troupe of mollies (among other things) in the 55gal. but over the last two months they have gotten slugish and died one by one. they will get skinny, slow down, stay toward the bottom of the tank, and loose thier color. they seem to eat fine while they are sick, and then one day they die. ive lost 2 male mollies, 3 female mollies, one pair of platties, and now it looks like my last 2 mollies are getting sick. everything in the tank has been there for atleast 3 months. there are live plants, but they came from the fry tank where i grow them myself. this is not a mass die-off.....they are dying about a fish every 2 weeks (or more). water levels are fine and everything but the livebeares seem happy.(there are also whiteclouds, a glofish, ghost shrimp, more platies, pleco, otos, and rosybarbs) everything seems perfect except i am loosing fish. anyone have any ideas where i can start looking for the problem?

 

[StevieJack]

Have you checked ammonia or nitrITE levels?

Stevie

 

[fishyjessie]

yes they are fine

 

[fishdudein]

fishyjessie, I have had the same problem before, ended up thinking that mollies were just too touchy for me to keep. Need to realize that mollies are a brackish water fish, and while they do alright in pure freshwater for a while, they are really a tough little fish if you add a little salt to their water and their needs are met. I tried this with a pair of sailfin mollies (male was absolutely gorgeous!) and ended up with more sailfin fry than I had room for. At one point, I slowly acclimated about four of them to regular saltwater and they lived for several months in my saltwater tank. Eventually I re-acclimated them to brackish, I don't know if this would have lasted for a long-term situation, but they were none the worse for the experience.

 

[fishyjessie]

man, i knew that but for some reason didnt think about it. could this be a problem? how would i maake the tank brackish? would the others be affected? lets see, in the tank once aga are mollies, platies, white clouds, rosybarbs, glofish, ghost shrimp, clams, ottos and a pleco. thanks for your help guys

 

[fishdudein]

Mollies, possibly platies would be OK in brackish water, don't know for sure but doubt that the others fare well in brackish (others here might be able to respond to this better). I would just set up a brackish tank , leave the other fish in your FW community (you know you want to!)