FW molly appears to have the shimmies

[angyles]

that's awesome, Kryryah, that yours are getting so big! I just happen to have a huge carton of aquarium salt that came with a fishtank of CL, so I'm gradually going through that. Afterwards, I'll go back to regular salt.

she's doing it again, but I've now added some salt so lets hope for the best! she's from a batch that I added 1 week ago. The 4 that I've had in for a few months now have been doing GREAT!

 

[angyles]

Aquarium salt is pure sodium chloride (which is where the electolytes claim comes from)...marine salt is a mixture of many other minerals. Huge difference, but both will raise TDS which mollies seem to thrive in.

Whats your tanks KH and GH?

correct. As far as my KH/GH...I'm a bad girl. I don't know! I never cared until I started using CO2, and for months now I try and find a test and no one has one locally to me. BUT...I believe it's relatively hard because my PH is normally 7.0 even, and now with CO2 in the 30-40ppm range (more yellow than green) AND plenty of driftwood, it's 6.4, or maybe that's a big change and indicates it's soft?

I know. I need to order a test online. For now, I jsut monitor the PH to make sure it's relatively stable and doesn't drop through the floor.

 

[KarlTh]

You need to know. Mollies will not do well long term if the water is soft. They simply are not a softwater species.

A standard pH of 7 without CO2 implies very soft water. Most tapwater is alkaline. The hardness of the water doesn't affect how much CO2 changes the pH, just where the change starts from, a frequently misunderstood point.

 

[angyles]

You need to know. Mollies will not do well long term if the water is soft. They simply are not a softwater species.

A standard pH of 7 without CO2 implies very soft water. Most tapwater is alkaline. The hardness of the water doesn't affect how much CO2 changes the pH, just where the change starts from, a frequently misunderstood point.

I'm not an expert on that, but that sounds completely contrary to what I understand on the topic. Can someone elaborate on this? From what I understand, hardness affects your buffering capacity, but again, I'm not 100% on my understanding.

But, if the hardness determines what my starting PH is, and I know that my starting PH is 7.0, why would I need a kh/gh test?

 

[angyles]

okay I jsut did some reading that quite honestly, way over my head. BUT, I did grasp what you're saying KarlTH. I msut indeed have acidic water. Looks like I should start dosing magnesium sulfate of calcium carbonate to get it up a bit.