problem with my mollies

[uday]

i am from india and i recently bought a 30 gallon tank. the aquarium keeper gave my 9 pairs of fishes, 5 smaller ones and 4 bigger ones. i had no idea what they were and only later discovered that all 4 bigger ones were mollies, a black pair, a silver pair, an orange pair and the last one was a mix of black, silver and red. the 5 smaller ones are, a fiery red molly with black tail, a yellow molly, a silver molly and a tiger fish (as told by the aquarium keeper, as it has brown vertical stripes on a yellow body) and the final one i dunno what it is, it is kinda yellow and has brown horizontal stripes.

my tank has an in built filter. it has a small black box hanging on the side of the aquarium and a vertical tube extends down till the gravel bed. a sponge filter is place on the lid and the pipe, collecting the filtered water drains on the other side of the aquarium through a hole. and a small hole creates air bubbles inside the aquarium, drawing air through a transparent tube hanging outside. i hope you can get it because i couldnt exactly find out what kind of a filter it is, like HOB or HOT. it didnt match any description.

my problem is, today i noticed three small fishes missin and found out that they got stuck in the hole of the tube that draws water for filtering. it was horrible. then i cut a fishing net and just wound up the bottom of the tube so that no more fishes get sucked up and die and i noticed a whitish cauliflower like growth on the fin of one of the silver mollies and immediately caught it and isolated it in another bowl. i went to the aquarist and he told me its probably because of temperature and gave me a temperature regulator and an antifungal medicine. i enquired about ammonia indicators and these people have not even heard of them. am at my wits end. a few of the fishes are now constantly on the surface and it adds up to the trouble. what shall i do now?? i've added medicine in the tank. the tank is just 5 days old. shall i change the water?? i cant check ammonia levels as you may understand.

 

[uday]

sorry my tank is 8.5 gallons. i just measured it, its 18 inches length, 8 inches width and 16 inches height. it comes to 8.5 approx. am not sure of my calculation though

 

[tolawdjk]

18 mollies in an 8.5? Four of which are dead or diseased?

Is there any other kind of media in your "black box" other than what you discribed as the sponge? Not that it is imperative to know, but it will help with the ultimate idea on how many fish you can keep in there safely.

First, you are massively overstocked for an 8.5 and you are not cycled. Second, due to the small size of that tank, it won't take much for water quality to deteriorate rapidly.

First, do a 50% water change. Without indicators, you are going to have to do daily water changes for the next few weeks until you are cycled. Someone here might correct me, but I would probably do 50% daily for the next week, and then back off to 25% daily after that. Your cycle is going to take longer, but without indicators and live fish in tank, you are going to have to go about this slowly.

Second, can you take fish back? If yes, take them all back and say you need to wait till your tank is cycled. If they will not take all of them, pick your favorite 4-5 fish. If you don't want to deal with fry in the future, make sure they are all males. Your tank is going to hold about 4-5 mollies max.

Longterm, I would seriously think about live plants. It will help on nitrate load. Something that has a solid root development system, or a floater.

 

[cicrush13]

When you say pairs you mean 2 fish correct? If that's the case this tank is way overstocked. Is there a heater in the tank? If not I would recommend having one since mollies are tropical.

A few pics would help too.

The medication will work over the course of a few days. Make sure you do water changes in between doses of medication.

Hope this helps.

 

[cicrush13]

18 mollies in an 8.5? Four of which are dead or diseased?

Is there any other kind of media in your "black box" other than what you discribed as the sponge? Not that it is imperative to know, but it will help with the ultimate idea on how many fish you can keep in there safely.

First, you are massively overstocked for an 8.5 and you are not cycled. Second, due to the small size of that tank, it won't take much for water quality to deteriorate rapidly.

First, do a 50% water change. Without indicators, you are going to have to do daily water changes for the next few weeks until you are cycled. Someone here might correct me, but I would probably do 50% daily for the next week, and then back off to 25% daily after that. Your cycle is going to take longer, but without indicators and live fish in tank, you are going to have to go about this slowly.

Second, can you take fish back? If yes, take them all back and say you need to wait till your tank is cycled. If they will not take all of them, pick your favorite 4-5 fish. If you don't want to deal with fry in the future, make sure they are all males. Your tank is going to hold about 4-5 mollies max.

Longterm, I would seriously think about live plants. It will help on nitrate load. Something that has a solid root development system, or a floater.

I think 4-5 is still much for an 8.5 gallon. Depends if they are balloons are regular mollies. I would say 3 regular mollie and 4-5 balloon mollies.

 

[XanAvaloni]

I suspect the "fiery red molly with black tail" is not a molly at all but a platy. A red wag platy to be precise. Is the top fin also black, or at least black on the outer edge? Also, you use the term "pairs" but then seem to describe individual fish. Were there 9 fish to begin with or 18? And how many individual fish are still living, including the one with the white spot in the isolation bowl?

The "aquarium keeper" who sold you these items and fish appears to be either dishonest or massively ignorant himself. If the total number of fish is (was) 18 I am amazed that they managed to grow up and survive in such a tiny tank with limited filtration and plants. However the fact that they DID survive means they have adapted to these conditions to some extent. Go slowly on changing them over to fresh clean water. The change would be a shock to their systems even though it is an "improvement" for the long run.

And welcome to AC!

 

[rufioman]

Wow...behold the power of people not understanding what they're doing and dumping it on someone else. Good thing you came here, my friend!

The AK, as stated by XA, must have been trying to get them out of there. What a loooooooser mg: I think you'd be ok with frequent water changes to get their health back up, but they'll probably need a larger tank. I'm sorry this happened to you...people are ignorant sometimes when it comes to everything aquatic.

 

[uday]

18 mollies in an 8.5? Four of which are dead or diseased?

Is there any other kind of media in your "black box" other than what you discribed as the sponge? Not that it is imperative to know, but it will help with the ultimate idea on how many fish you can keep in there safely.

First, you are massively overstocked for an 8.5 and you are not cycled. Second, due to the small size of that tank, it won't take much for water quality to deteriorate rapidly.

First, do a 50% water change. Without indicators, you are going to have to do daily water changes for the next few weeks until you are cycled. Someone here might correct me, but I would probably do 50% daily for the next week, and then back off to 25% daily after that. Your cycle is going to take longer, but without indicators and live fish in tank, you are going to have to go about this slowly.

Second, can you take fish back? If yes, take them all back and say you need to wait till your tank is cycled. If they will not take all of them, pick your favorite 4-5 fish. If you don't want to deal with fry in the future, make sure they are all males. Your tank is going to hold about 4-5 mollies max.

Longterm, I would seriously think about live plants. It will help on nitrate load. Something that has a solid root development system, or a floater.

1. i cant open the "black box" and i suppose you are asking about a biological media, i presume there isnt anything other than the sponge as a media.
2. i just asked the aquarium keepr, and he said he wouldnt take the fish bcak because they might be diseased too. the aquarium has 8 fishes (4 pairs) which are around 5-7 cms and remaining 7 fishes are around 2cms only. thats why the aquarium guy told me i could keep ten pairs comfortably. anyway i have taken your advice and am changing the water regularly.
3. i have bought a small globe which may hold around 2 gallons. i have isolated the diseased fish in the globe at present. can i transfer a few smaller fish into it once the diseased one is ok? it doesnt have a filter or a airpump. how frequently should i change water then?
4. i have requested a tank from my friend who no longer is using it. if i transfer all my fishes to the tank, how long will it take for me to cycle my tank and how can i find out without indicators if its properly cycled?

 

[uday]

When you say pairs you mean 2 fish correct? If that's the case this tank is way overstocked. Is there a heater in the tank? If not I would recommend having one since mollies are tropical.

A few pics would help too.

The medication will work over the course of a few days. Make sure you do water changes in between doses of medication.

Hope this helps.

i bought a heater from the guy and when i installed it in my tank, i discovered it aint workin. i guess its not my time with the fishes!!! have asked for a replacement. the guy is so **** ignorant. when i quizzed him about ammonia indicators he snapped back "who gave you the idea about ammonia indicators?? they are useless and showy!! its only for huge aquariums where you can keep hundreds of fishes." i didnt say a word and came back. btw, i have what temp should i set? the manufaacturing label says i must set it at 24 degrees and the guy said i must set at 28 degrees. i know i cant trust him anymore!! kindly help me out on this one too

 

[uday]

I suspect the "fiery red molly with black tail" is not a molly at all but a platy. A red wag platy to be precise. Is the top fin also black, or at least black on the outer edge? Also, you use the term "pairs" but then seem to describe individual fish. Were there 9 fish to begin with or 18? And how many individual fish are still living, including the one with the white spot in the isolation bowl?

The "aquarium keeper" who sold you these items and fish appears to be either dishonest or massively ignorant himself. If the total number of fish is (was) 18 I am amazed that they managed to grow up and survive in such a tiny tank with limited filtration and plants. However the fact that they DID survive means they have adapted to these conditions to some extent. Go slowly on changing them over to fresh clean water. The change would be a shock to their systems even though it is an "improvement" for the long run.

And welcome to AC!

1. yes its a platy. i just discovered, but both are dead .
2. there were 18 fishes to begin with (9 pairs). am sorry i confused you. 3 are dead, and now there are 15 including the diseased one which is isolated. so 14 are in my tank now.