Help Needed wiht Molly and Platy

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sinha_punit

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Nov 19, 2004
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29 Gallon Tank - 5 month old set up
water aeration is at max. Ammonia - 0 , Nitrate - 35, Nitrite - 0
Hardness - 150 , Alkalinity - 100 , Ph - 7.0

black molly (1)
golden cresent platty (1)
red wag tail platty (2)

All the fish seem lethargic, especially Molly. heavy gill function
One of the Platty seems to be swimming erratically.

A silver Lyertail Molly recently died of swim bladder problems

any help will be greatly appreciated.
 

Lakota

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Jan 5, 2004
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Mollies like really high ph, in the field of around 7.5-7.8. They also really like aquarium salt. They live very well in brackish water.

Also, just for a boost, use Stress Eaze in your tank and a conditioner of sorts called Prime. These seem to work for me really well.

But remember, you have to have the higher ph and mollies much prefer the salty water. And, the platies do well in these conditions also. So, try it see if they get better, and if anything happens good or bad, let me know. :) Hope it helped if just alittle.

Lakota
 

sinha_punit

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Nov 19, 2004
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I also noticed two baby snails which I removed after I saw one of the platy having convulsions.

The platy and the molly are not eating as well.

I am also having brown algae in the tank........
 

Harlock

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Dec 15, 2004
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Please don't put salt in your water. Mollies do not need it. For information on this please fllow this link, and this one, and this one. If you read all of those article thoroughly you will understand the lack of science behind the addition of salt and just scratch the surface of the dangerous myths in aquaria. Now then, on to the illness.

Have you noticed any white to clear, segmented or mucous-like poop from any of these inhabitants? Also, what's the tank temp set at, and what is it reading?
 

tricksterpup

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Apr 16, 2001
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I would do more water changes, and also try upping the heat alittle this may help. For possible internal parasites, you can feed them crushed garlic. This will help remove any internal parasite problems. ALso, did this happen all of a sudden? Are these the only fish in this tank? If they are other fish, how are they acting?

Aslo, I second Harlock, no salt, livebearers need water hardness not salt for living. Plus they need constant water changes to be healthy.
 

sinha_punit

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Nov 19, 2004
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Yes the Poop is Stringy.

To answer another question, yes this seems to have happened all of a sudden, I have noticed this for the last 3 days now which is a couple days after the last 20% water change.

Would also like to mention that water added to tank was treated and was also of the same temp as the water int the tank.
 
Last edited:

Harlock

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Dec 15, 2004
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Probably internal parasites and maybe some other things. There is a med called Metonidazole that works well for internal parasites. You soak the food in metro and feed it to the fish and it clears out the bugs. The only problem is if the fish come off of food, it can be hard to get them interested. Usually the metro causes a fast turnaround, however, so even if they get a little, it will likely help. Good luck.
 

Lakota

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Jan 5, 2004
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Don't know what's wrong with some of you people, but my mollies do fine and THRIVE in water with salt in it. In all the cases(and I have been keeping mollies for 18 yrs), they did MUCH better in the salted water then in the non salted water.

But, whatever works for you hobbiests.
 
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