Shaking Mollies

[Seidge]

One of my balloon mollies has been balancing on its nose att the bottom of the tank all day, looks like it might have swim bladder problem and will probably die.

My other two mollies are acting really eratically though. The are shaking really fast from side to side and to be honest they just look bloody uncomfortable.

Anyone any ideas what might be wrong with them?

As far as i know the tank stats are fine, its a well established tank and there have been no changes.

 

[WILDER]

Are they shaking in position.

http/www.fishtanksandponds.info/care-mai...h/shimmying.htm

 

[Seidge]

Thanks so much for your immediate reply, yes i think this is what it is, i have seen the one that is facing upside down rubbing on stones as well which it mentions.

Do u think it could be the temparature, the tank went to 30 celsius today, i'll go do water change now

 

[WILDER]

Here is a link how to treat it, but iv'e got a feeling you are from the states.
http/www.waterlife.co.uk/waterlife/treat16.htm

Check your water stats first.

 

[Seidge]

i am from the uk, just done water change, since it is now the early hours of the morning i cant get to a pet store for any treatment, i shall post in the morning, hopefully they survive. But to be honset they should be on their last legs anyway, they are old

 

[Seidge]

Well she is no longer balancing on her nose but still looks a bit light a wobbly when shes swimming. The others still have shimmies, no deaths yet

 

[black angel]

Adding a tonic salt will help them out too.

 

[Seidge]

They are looking much better today, no deaths either. Still a bit wobbly but not nearly as much

 

[Annastasia]

Can you possibly seperate them and add in Marine Salt to make the water slightly brackish? Shimmying is pretty common when Mollies aren't kept in Brackish conditions, or very hard, alkaline water.

 

[nmonks]

Annastasia --

Thanks for doing the honours. It seems extraordinary to me that retailers don't tell people mollies really do need brackish water to do well. It needn't be much, 3 grammes per litre will do, and at that dosage all the common livebearers will be fine, as will a variety of salt-tolerant freshwater fish such as rainbowfish, gobies, and many cichlids.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=137887

Tonic salt will do as a stopgap, but marine salt is better over the long term.

Cheers,

Neale

Can you possibly seperate them and add in Marine Salt to make the water slightly brackish? Shimmying is pretty common when Mollies aren't kept in Brackish conditions, or very hard, alkaline water.

 

[Seidge]

No i cant separate them i dont have another tank, they have been in that tank for nearly a year and i havent ever had any problems with them. I live in hard water area.

I cant add salt cos i have corys and danios.

Dont make me feel like an idiot for not knowing they needed salt. I think the LFS should have told me when i bought them last year. I guess they have done well in the circumstances then.

 

[nmonks]

As I said in my post, I'm not blaming you, but the retailers.

That said, there's a lesson here -- however "common" a fish seems, it is always worth reading about it before buying it.

Once you take a fish home, you're obliged to give it the best care you can. Simply to shrug your shoulders and wait for a fish to die because you can't give it what it needs is very bad karma. At the very least, consider returning the species that won't work in your aquarium (likely the mollies).

How hard and alkaline is your water? It's sometime possible to keep mollies indefinitely in very hard water where the pH is 7.5 or more. Danios and Corydoras will just about tolerate that. But over the long term, if you can't or don't want to use salt in the aquarium, then forget about mollies and stick with species that will do well in unsalted water, such as guppies and platies.

Cheers,

Neale

Dont make me feel like an idiot for not knowing they needed salt. I think the LFS should have told me when i bought them last year. I guess they have done well in the circumstances then.