Cloudy Water, Weird Behavior, ETC

D

dreamlanding

Registered Member
Jul 26, 2004
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New York
Hi all !! I have a 10 gallon tank. I have had it for about one year. I used to have 1 platy, 2 tetras, 3 swordtails and 1 silver dollar. Then my husband bought me an Oranda goldfish as a present. The other fish started nipping on it and I noticed that some scales were missing. So I removed the 3 swordtails because I thought they might have been the culprits. The next day I noticed it looked worse so I removed the 2 tetras. Well, the next day, the goldfish died :( My husband felt bad and bought me 2 more goldfish; a comet and a moor which was nice of him but he didn't realize that they need a lot more space than a 10 gallon so I decided that I was going to bring them back. But before I had the chance to bring them back a couple of days later, I noticed that a similar thing was happening to them (scales missing, ragged fins). SO, I got rid of all remaining fish EXCEPT my silver dollar. I went to the pet store and they said to treat them with Melafix. SO I took out the filter and treated them for 6 days and they got a lot better but the water got really cloudy. I thought it was just because the filter cartridge wasn't in. So I put it back and did a 25% water change. I brought the goldfish back and got to balloon mollies. I told the guy at the pet store about the cloudy water and he tested it and said that everything was fine but my nitrate count was high so he gave my some drops for it. He told me to put 10 drops in and it should change that day but if it doesnt to put 10 drops in again the next day. Well, it didn't change the first day or the second day. The water is STILL cloudy and I noticed yesterday that the two balloon mollies are scraping themselves on the gravel and fish tank walls. What does that mean? I know fish do that when they have ich but I don't think they have ich because they have no white spots on them. What should I do? Should I keep doing partial water changes until it clears? Should I use more of those drops? I havn't been feeding them too much because I know that contributes to the cloudy water. I don't think the nitrate is because of fish waste because about a month ago I took my fish out of the tank to replace the gravel and I cleaned up ALL traces of fish waste on the bottom. I have been reading about this "Cycle" thing that I had no idea about. Could my tank be "cycling" from when I removed and replaced the gravel ??? Please help !!! I can't stand to see fish uncomfortable or in pain and I certainly don't want them to die because my new balloon mollies are so cute. Which brings me to another question. The male balloon mollie I bought was in a tank with sunrise gouramis and white balloon mollies at the pet store. But he's not white, he has the same color as the sunset guaramis !! He's orange with kind of blue specks. Could be be a mix? Is that possible?? ALSO, my LAST question, I noticed the the male balloon mollie, is, um, trying to mate with my silver dollar !!!! And the silver dollar is letting him,um do his thing. Is that normal?? Can she get pregnant from this?? Is that possible??
 
ok first off when you removed the "filter cartridge" was it just the sponge that catches debris or was it the "boi" part of the filter? If it was the bio part then all of your good bacteria are gone and you're going to "cycle" again (im assuming youre allready cycled). You need to do many water changes I would change out 3 gallons a day if not more...the fish are scratching on the rocks because amonia burns the gills and nitrite hurts the function of the gills, so yes they probbably dont like it at all. Just keep up with the water changes and that should help with the cloudyness (bacteria bloom, its a good thing).
 
Stop using the drops and just do the water changes. It may take a couple of weeks for the cloudiness to go away but if it is just a white cloudiness, it is probably just a bacteria bloom that will right itself in time.

The molly is not a mix with the gourami and nothing will happen with the silver dollar. Mollies are livebearers and the others are egg-layers. I might add that, IMO, a 10g is too small for a silver dollar.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if the silver dollar is the one causing the nipped fins. They're related to tetras and pirhanas and and the larger tetras can be nippy, especially if kept alone.

As far as the cloudy water and nitrate level, I'll bet that its because of the waste from the goldfishes. Goldfishes are swimming trashcans and produce ALOT of waste, and you'll pretty much have to do daily water changes to keep the nitrate levels down.

Fish rubbing against wall and stuff can be signs of ich or bacteria infection. try raising the water temp to 80 for a day and adding a small amount of salt (5mg per gallon) may help.

I think mollies comes in a couple of color morphs and that they may crossbreed with a few other livebearers, but they cannot crossbreed with a silver dollar or fishes from a different species.
 
Wow thanks everyone! Good advice. Hans, I bought fish because I had to give my cat away :( (My husband is allergic.)

Seamanm, when I was putting in the Melafix last week, I just took out the cartridge. (That things that catches the debris.) I don't know what a "boi" is. I did a 25% water change yesterday. So I should keep doing one every day right? For about how long should I do this? Until it's clear?

I gave the goldfish back and I siphoned the bottom and removed the waste. I added an air stone also. The temp in the tank varies from 78 to 88 in one day. The heater isn't even on. During the day it gets really hot in my apt and at night it cools down A LOT. I don't know how I can control that.

I don't know what I can do in the meantime about the amonia and nitrates hurting them besides keep changing the water. I hope they make it. :sad

Thanks for your help everyone!
 
You can control the temperature with your heater. Set the heater to around 85F (Normally I'd say much lower, but you said the room goes up to 88).
What will happen is that when the room is above that temperature, the heater will just sit there and do nothing. As soon as the room cools down, the heater will turn on and keep the temperature steady at 85F.
A temperature swing as large as you describe is very stressful for your fish, so either setting the heater to kick on before the tank cools too much, and / or keeping the room at a more steady temperature is important for their health.
 
1) find a new pet store.
Notice how every time you go into that fish store they sell you some kind of drop or medication? They will be happy to sell you fish & medication until you die a poor old woman. Find another pet store.

2) Get rid of the Silver Dollar & large fish.
Stick with tetras, platties, endlers, & other small fish. Get some nice cardinal or neon tetras and stop trying to house large fish in small tanks. The more "different" types of fish you keep the more you're going to run into conflicting personalities.

3) I started to sweat after reading about half your post. It's so poorly written it's difficult to read. Don't write the words as they come out of your brain... we don't understand your brain. ;) Paragraphs are your friend! :p

<edit> And another thing... a carbon based filter will neutralize the medications you are using.
 
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