Possible Sick Molly, Don'T Want It To Die :-(

[Shantih]

Hi all,

Ok so i finally took the plunge and bought some more fish after not having a very good start and i am worried one of the mollies is sick. She keeps swimming upright with her head facing up towards the light. She can swim normally but when resting seems to end up upright, also my male guppy keeps biting her fins on the side and then trying to mate with her??? I am well confused, i love fish but i don't appear to be very good at keeping them

Thankyou for any help in advance
Nicola

 

[blue130]

hi there< first of all you need to make sure that your filter is mature, by checking the amonia and nitrite readings etc. a liquid master test kit is a good investment. if your tank isnt mature then regular qwater changes are essential! as regulaer as 30% a day! if your tank is mature then it is most likely a bacterial infection as livebearers are prone to this. adding or increasing the salt level in the water is a good idea depending on the fish you keep and wether you have any live plants, as this is good for controlling bacteria in livebearers, also there are many meds you can buy that will get rid of bacteria infections, for piece of mind you can take the molly to a local aquatics to get a scrape test to confirm but it sounds like the stress would kill your molly. be careful though as i dont know what fish you keep as sum are sensitive to salt as are plants, however i still add salt to my aquarium even though i own such fish and live plants although be it in a low amount of 1 tablespoon per 30 litres, with no problems! only add the salt to fresh water dissolved before adding to the tank, and if you use meds make sure that you remove any carbon before,both of these things can also damage good bacteria in your filters so keep an eye on your amonia and nitrite levels! sorry if its a bit long just making sure i give you all the info i can, good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shantih]

Thankyou for your reply,
I have 10 guppies, 6 mollies, 5 neons and a common plec. The molly in question was only added today to my tank and seemed happy in the store, i actually went to a different store as the mollies in the first store didnt look too healthy. I have no live plants, i did get some before but they kept going brown and gooish and dying so i have 2 fake plants now.
What is the carbon you speak of? Sorry i didn't understand that bit

Nicola x

 

[blue130]

some filters contain carbon either a black sponge in internal filters or as pieces of carbon in external filters they are used to remove any impurities in the water by absorbing them, thats why it is important to remove them before adding meds as the carbon will absorb them straight back out. all of the fish you described should be okay with salt apart from the neons, although i keep mine with a small amount of salt in the water with no probs! so be careful, you can still add salt but do it very gradually so the fish can adjust and at a very low rate, maybe meds would be your best option. hope this helps you! im no expert but i have had similar probs in the past. good luck! hope your molly pulls through!

ps i dont think your pleck is tolerant to salt either! sorry i missed that one!