Sick Fish

[angelfire28]

I got an a new aquarium a few weeks ago, i did a fishless cycle for a few days. My aquarium is 5.5 gallons and i added 1 fancy guppy male, 1 silver molly female, and 1 Gold twin-barred Platy male three days ago. They were fine until today. I found my guppy floating vertically and then spazzing to the corner at the top and then floating vertically again and then spazzing to a corner, it later died

. So, i went to the pet store and tested the water and they said it was good and that guppies are just really sensitive to new aquariums. I came home and my molly is shaking its head back and forth and staying at the bottom while before she was pretty active (she also eats alot always nibbling at the bottom for food). I don't know what the issue is. Did I not allow it to cycle enough? Or is the tank to small for the fish, it seems pretty spacious to me, I did not add a lot of decoration and there is plenty of room to move around. What can I do to help? I read a lot of forums but none seem to help. I read about changing the water 20% every day, or giving the fish peas, or adding bacterial supplement every-other day. If my molly ate too much, is it okay if i skip one of the feedings tomorrow, or will it die from hunger.
I never knew having fish can be so hard!!

 

[Besty42]

did your lfs tell you the levels of ammonia nitate nitrite etc?

that might help us know what's wrong. When my platies struggled in our first ever tank, we were new to fishkeeping changing 25% water helped. It may be different for you.

No, if you feed your fish too much one day, then giving them a break is fine, they will not starve of hunger in one day!

hows your platy male doing? we added these to our tank first and all of them survived, they are very hardy fish

I hope your fish are better soon,

Besty42

 

[phoenixgsd]

your tank isnt cycled, have a read of the link in my signature then ask any questions you might have, the majority of fish health issues are cause by poor water quality, your now doing a fish in cycle so need to change the water daily to keep the ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm, i would invest in a liquid based test kit, as your tank is so tiny the ammonia will build up alot quicker so you need to be on top of it at all times

 

[the_lock_man]

Having fish is easy, once you know what you're doing.

When we talk about cycling a tank, we mean that we grow two colonies of bacteria in our filters, which convert the ammonia produced by the fish first into nitrite, then into nitrate. There are two things that makes those bacteria colonies grow. (1) A flow of oxygenated water and (2) ammonia.

In your instance, you had the (1) but not the (2).

To fishless cycle, you need to add bottled ammonia, and wait for the colonies to grow - I won't bore you with the precise method now, as you do have fish.

You are now fish-in cycling, you will be using the ammonia that the fish produce to grow those bacteria. Until they have grown, you will need to do the bacteria's job. That means you will need to do large water changes daily, in order to keep the levels of both ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm at all times. The chances are that 20% will not nearly be sufficient.

You will need to invest in liquid-based test kits for ammonia and nitrite (not the paper strips, they're pants), and monitor the levels at least daily. Have a read of the article which I link to in my signature area, which is specifically about fish-in cycling. If you see an ammo or nitrite reading of, say, 1ppm, you will know that you would need to change 75% of the water, just to get back to the 0.25ppm max, so in practice you need to change 90% of the water, in order to allow the poisons to build back up before you can do another change. The good news is that large water changes on small tanks like yours don't take that long. The bad news is that in small tanks like yours, the ammonia and nitrite levels will build quickly.

Going forward, once you can test daily for a week, and not see any levels on ammo or nitrite, you are officially CYCLED. Woohoo!

Just to answer the food question - fish can easily survive a week without feeding, so in your situation, I would only feed your fish twice a week, whilst the cycle establishes itself, then increase slowly to daily.

 

[angelfire28]

They used test strips to test the water, so they didn't tell me what the levels are. I will get a liquid test kit today. I also read that mollies need brackish water, and that platy don't do well in brackish water. Are molly and platy compatible with each other?

 

[Besty42]

Test strips are not very reliable so definitely check the levels with your new liquid test kit. You are doing a fish in cycle at the mo which is very hard on the fish, so you may want to see if your LFS will take the fish back for their well being, till your tank is ready. You can keep them in but be prepared for some deaths (I took this route and all my platys survived, they are very hardy but don't know about mollies)

Theoretically mollies and platys can be kept together, even though they do prefer different waters. However these two could breed if one male and one female. This may be a nice thought but the offspring will be prone to sickness as genetically mutated which isn't very fair on the fish!

Hope this helps

 

[Paradise3]

Theoretically mollies and platys can be kept together, even though they do prefer different waters. However these two could breed if one male and one female. This may be a nice thought but the offspring will be prone to sickness as genetically mutated which isn't very fair on the fish!

Mollies and Platies cannot successfully breed

 

[Besty42]

I have no experience of it happening to me as I have no platies or mollies together, but many say it has happened to them, keeping only a platy and a Molly together for 3+ years and then getting babies with features from both. I may be wrong but it's what I have read, soz if I am wrong!!!

 

[Paradise3]

I have no experience of it happening to me as I have no platies or mollies together, but many say it has happened to them, keeping only a platy and a Molly together for 3+ years and then getting babies with features from both. I may be wrong but it's what I have read, soz if I am wrong!!!

You're probably thinking of Guppies and Mollies or Swordtails and Platies

There's a pinned thread here in the livebearers section I think

 

[Besty42]

Oops! Sorry, my bad!

 

[Paradise3]

Oops! Sorry, my bad!

I did the same at first.

 

[cpwebsite]

Find out your levels, it doesn't seem like your tank is properly cycled. The best way to do this now would be to add live plants.

 

[angelfire28]

How do I keep ammonia levels down? I bought the API master kit, Ph=7.4, Ammonia=4, Nitrite=0 and Nitrate=0. So clearly it is not cycled, I do a 20% water change everyday. My molly is still alive and still sick (she swims funny). I added bacteria supplement every time I do a water change, its not working.

 

[fluttermoth]

You need to do bigger water changes.

Drain the tank right down, leaving just enough water for the fish to swim upright (don't forget to switch your heater/filter off first!) before refilling with temperature matched, dechlorinated water.

Leave the fish to settle for half an hour and test again. If the ammonia isn't zero, then do another water change. Large or multiple water changes might upset your fish a little bit, but not nearly as much as swimming round in toxic water.

If possible you should not let the ammonia get over 0.25ppm.

 

[angelfire28]

Is stirring the gravel a good idea? There are food flakes in the gravel, if I stir the gravel the flakes and stuff come up and then do a water change by collecting the dirty water.