So I've had a stable 10G tank for several years, with no major issues lately. We have three corys and three mollys (not great numbers, but we were trying to switch from one to the other... anyhow) The past few months everything had looked absolutely great, doing weekly water changes, clear water, healthy fish. A few weeks ago I noticed that one of the 3 mollys was looking a little raggid on his fins. I put in some stress-zyme in the tank for two weeks and nothing got better. I thought maybe he was getting picked on by the other two more dominant fish and the tank was getting too crowded as the fish were getting bigger and I was going to have to find somewhere to take the mollys. I worried that maybe my water conditionditioner / dechlorinator was getting a bit old (it didn't expire for 9 more months, but I've had it a while) so I bought another bottle of that. The one molly still wasn't looking great, did some research and saw that their lifespan was listed as 2-5 years. We have had this one for over three, and it was full size when we got it, so I kinda settled with he must just be nearing the end of his days. I bought an extra silk plant to make sure he had quiet places to hide and rest, and even a floating betta logs that I would sometimes see him in. He still wasn't acting normal, and I would see him resting on plant leaves or on the bottom, but kept regular tank care and just observed and watched the other fish closely (they all looked just fine), but I thought he was just dying of old age.
About a week ago I noticed that some of his scales started to do the pinecone thing. I looked it up and found that can be a sign of a bacterial infection, but again just thought older dying fish are probably more susceptible to normal bacteria that is always around. (I feel like this is where I should have seen more flags). I anxiously watched and everyone else looked and acted fine, no strange behavior from anyone, everyone was eating (even the sick one), everyone elses scales, gills, fins, all looked fine.
The day before he passed away and was really struggling, I noticed that one of the other mollys, who normally has her fins like out and proud looking, was holding them against her sides and drooping a bit. Now my alarms started going off, and I ordered some pimafix and melafix to add in just so if it was something it didn't spread.
The next day (call this Day 1) the first molly died and I scooped him out of the tank within a few hours. I did a 25% water change, ammonia was zero, but the second molly still didn't look great, and had started resting on the bottom. Despite rush shipping, the med solutions weren't here yet, and I can't run to the store because we are still on covid lockdown. The anti fungal treatment came late in the evening and I put that in right before I went to bed. I read the instructions and it talked about taking the charcoal filter out (my filter has charcoal inside two layers of the filtery material, so I just took the whole cartridge out, but left the filter running for aeration.
Day 2 - the anti-bacterial solution (can't remember which one is pima and which one is mela) came in the morning, and I put it in the tank. I added the second dose of the anti-fungal solution later that afternoon. The water was looking really gross and cloudy, but I figured I stirred up some stuff when I had to get the other fish out. He of course died and like fell deep into the middle of one of the plants, so I had to uproot it shake it upside down - and I have sand for the corys, not gravel, so it stirred things up a bit, the filter would normally c;lear that kind of stuff out, but since I had taken the cartridge out, I just figured it would take a while to all settle back down.
Day 3 - the second molly is dead in the morning. I scoop her out right away, and put in the third doses of each the pima and melafix's. I didn't do a water change because the directions on the bottle say dose for seven days then do a 25% water change, so I was going to wait. The water just looks downright gross and cloudy, there is a light fuzzy film showing up all over everything, its gross. I took the filter cartridge apart and dumped out the charcoal bits, but put the fuzzy filter part back in, hoping to get some of it out. It's been going like that for a few hours, but that's where we are now.
I know the bottle says some clouding of the water in saltwater tanks is normal, but it doesn't say anything about that in freshwater tanks, is that normal? Just now I was checking on all the other fish. Which we have now 1 molly (who was born in our tank about a year ago, so much younger than the other two, I don't want to leave him alone in the tank, so I will have to figure out what to do with him, but that's for another thread) and 3 cory cats. The mini molly looks great, fins out and proud looking, full and healthy, but I just noticed one of the catfish like flipping around rubbing his side down against the sand. Close inspection everything on him looks ok right now, but I know this is NOT a good sign.
One concern I do have is back when I set the tank up with sand, I noticed that there were some darker blackish or greenish spots that formed in the lower layers, and I would only notice them when I stirred things up like aqua scaping. I believe I was told in here that it was just a harmless anerobic bacteria and not to worry about it unless it was too unslightly for me. (doesn't bother me, looks natural as far as I'm concerned) but I don't ever like stir up the sand real deep to the bottom like I did in the beginning. I vacuum the top layer as necessary, but honestly I feed them appropriately, and there isn't much of anything that ever really collects on the bottom at all. I only vacuum that maybe one a year more for the parts of plants and decorations that have flaked odd. Just water changes keeps everything looking fresh, so I never thought to worry about it. So is it possible that I have some nasty bacteria thing going on under all the sand?
Help please, I have no idea what to do next, I really don't want to lose my whole tank to whatever the heck is going on.
Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this all, I am really quite attached to my cory's :'-(
About a week ago I noticed that some of his scales started to do the pinecone thing. I looked it up and found that can be a sign of a bacterial infection, but again just thought older dying fish are probably more susceptible to normal bacteria that is always around. (I feel like this is where I should have seen more flags). I anxiously watched and everyone else looked and acted fine, no strange behavior from anyone, everyone was eating (even the sick one), everyone elses scales, gills, fins, all looked fine.
The day before he passed away and was really struggling, I noticed that one of the other mollys, who normally has her fins like out and proud looking, was holding them against her sides and drooping a bit. Now my alarms started going off, and I ordered some pimafix and melafix to add in just so if it was something it didn't spread.
The next day (call this Day 1) the first molly died and I scooped him out of the tank within a few hours. I did a 25% water change, ammonia was zero, but the second molly still didn't look great, and had started resting on the bottom. Despite rush shipping, the med solutions weren't here yet, and I can't run to the store because we are still on covid lockdown. The anti fungal treatment came late in the evening and I put that in right before I went to bed. I read the instructions and it talked about taking the charcoal filter out (my filter has charcoal inside two layers of the filtery material, so I just took the whole cartridge out, but left the filter running for aeration.
Day 2 - the anti-bacterial solution (can't remember which one is pima and which one is mela) came in the morning, and I put it in the tank. I added the second dose of the anti-fungal solution later that afternoon. The water was looking really gross and cloudy, but I figured I stirred up some stuff when I had to get the other fish out. He of course died and like fell deep into the middle of one of the plants, so I had to uproot it shake it upside down - and I have sand for the corys, not gravel, so it stirred things up a bit, the filter would normally c;lear that kind of stuff out, but since I had taken the cartridge out, I just figured it would take a while to all settle back down.
Day 3 - the second molly is dead in the morning. I scoop her out right away, and put in the third doses of each the pima and melafix's. I didn't do a water change because the directions on the bottle say dose for seven days then do a 25% water change, so I was going to wait. The water just looks downright gross and cloudy, there is a light fuzzy film showing up all over everything, its gross. I took the filter cartridge apart and dumped out the charcoal bits, but put the fuzzy filter part back in, hoping to get some of it out. It's been going like that for a few hours, but that's where we are now.
I know the bottle says some clouding of the water in saltwater tanks is normal, but it doesn't say anything about that in freshwater tanks, is that normal? Just now I was checking on all the other fish. Which we have now 1 molly (who was born in our tank about a year ago, so much younger than the other two, I don't want to leave him alone in the tank, so I will have to figure out what to do with him, but that's for another thread) and 3 cory cats. The mini molly looks great, fins out and proud looking, full and healthy, but I just noticed one of the catfish like flipping around rubbing his side down against the sand. Close inspection everything on him looks ok right now, but I know this is NOT a good sign.
One concern I do have is back when I set the tank up with sand, I noticed that there were some darker blackish or greenish spots that formed in the lower layers, and I would only notice them when I stirred things up like aqua scaping. I believe I was told in here that it was just a harmless anerobic bacteria and not to worry about it unless it was too unslightly for me. (doesn't bother me, looks natural as far as I'm concerned) but I don't ever like stir up the sand real deep to the bottom like I did in the beginning. I vacuum the top layer as necessary, but honestly I feed them appropriately, and there isn't much of anything that ever really collects on the bottom at all. I only vacuum that maybe one a year more for the parts of plants and decorations that have flaked odd. Just water changes keeps everything looking fresh, so I never thought to worry about it. So is it possible that I have some nasty bacteria thing going on under all the sand?
Help please, I have no idea what to do next, I really don't want to lose my whole tank to whatever the heck is going on.
Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this all, I am really quite attached to my cory's :'-(
