unsocial Molly???

[abnscout82]

Thanks for reading... I have a new freshwater tank, a 10 gallon (all the room I have). I did a lot of question asking at the pet shop. I set up the tank, let it set for 24 hours, let it filter and reach proper temperature (72-74), I also added prime to condition the water. After 24 hours I bought three fish. The pet store told me to get some hardy fish to get the tanks bacteria and natural cycles going. So I bought 3 Mollies, 2 silver lyretail mollies and 1 black lyretail Mollie (I think that is what it was called, looked just like the silvers but black). Well the sad news was that the black one did not make it, poor thing dies within an hour of being in the tank. Well, the pet store offered a 24 hour gurrantee, so I took it back. They tested the water and found the ammonia high, but they said that was normal for a new tank. Well, they were out of that exact kind of molly, so I got a regular black molly. The new black molly is living just fine but stays near the bottom of the tank (with his dorsal fin up all the way, not sure if this matters but might be a dominance thing) all of the time while the silvers swim all around. I am kinda worried bout the black one. I got all males, because I do not have the room for a bunch of little ones swimmin around. The black Molly was feisty and active in the bag when I brought him home. Anyone know if this is weird behavior or is it something that I should not be concerned with? One other quick question, the pet store directed me to go with the "bio Blend" fish food. They told me to only feed them every couple of days, but they seem hungry a lot. I really do not want to starve my fish, I know I like to eat and I figure they should to. How often should I feed them? I am sorry if this has been asked already in another post, just though I would piggyback. Thanks

Dan

 

[MrPufferfish]

To cut it short !

Your tank needs to "cycle" longer before adding any fish !
At least 2 weeks !, not 24 hours !
Hence the high ammonia reading which is fatel for fish.

You should really take the fish back to where you purchased them from
and kick the salesmans head in for bad advise .

All i can recommend is doing a 5-10% water change possible on a daily basis or every 2 days using the same water conditioner, just to keep the readings down but nothing too drastic. !

Mollies also benefit "big style" from salt ! not just any salt but marine salt,
which as a guideline should be 1 teaspoon of salt for every 10 gallons of water BUT be aware ! if you plan to add more freshwater fish in the tank like tetras, they wont do too well with salt in the tank !

I have been keeping mollies for years, and from my own records, Mollies should be in a brackish tank, temp pretty high 79-83, in hardish water.

Hope this helps and good luck !!!.

p.s Dont overfeed them as this makes your water quality even worst !!!

 

[Harlock]

Yip, cycling with fish is usually a losing proposition. If you do not already have some test kits, buy some. Here's an inexpensive one: AP Master Test Kit. Test your water everyday while you are cycling. You will know the cycle is over when ammonia and nitrites can stay at zero for 48 hours and nitrates are visible at somewhere at or near 10ppm. Secondly, I really feel that mollies do not do well in tanks smaller than a 20 long. They like to swim a lot. All over the tank. Aditionally, a mix of all males will likely lead to problems down the road. Daily water changes are recommended when doing a fish cycle, also, you can change 50% of the water at a time. Also, it is not harmful for the fish to get two, back-to-back 50% water changes. I change 50% of my water every five days in my already cycled tank and my plants and fish couldn't look any better. Also, don't jump the gun on salt. Mollies do just as well in hard, alklaine water as they do in softer or acidic water with salt. Finally, fish always act hungry because they are opportunistic feeders. In the wild they develop an instinct to eat whatever they can whenever they can because they might not get another meal for a few days. Also, most people tend to really overfeed at first. Feeding every other day, especially during a fish cycle will not hurt a thing. Many people on this board feed every other day even in cycled tanks. I hope that helps and I am sorry your LFS has taken down the fish cycle path. For more information on cycling, please read the sticky thread near the top of the Freshwater Newbie Index page, or just follow this link. Good luck

 

[abnscout82]

seems to be working

So, all three of my fish are doing well, at least it seems, they black one is even playing with the other two. I bought an all inclusive test kit and found out that my ammonia levels are still high. So I decided to do a water change. Then I had a thought, what if the tap water I am using has ammonia in it??? Well I tested it and found out that it si high in ammonia also. So today I drove my happy butt to the store and started with distilled water. I hope that helps a lot. The only problem was that I have a sticky thermometer on the tank and could not find a protable one to test the incoming water. So with a lot of skill and probably more luck I used the finger test. Got myself a bowl full of the tank water and made the incoming water match. Of course this is probably the least scientific way of testing the water, but the tank temperature only changed by a degree or so. Not bad and the fish are still happy and chasing each other around (do fish play tag???). I also have seen that since the tank is close to my computer, every time I sit down at my computer I get the "hungry eyes" from my fish. So I am feeding them a very little bit each day. They say to only feed what they can eat in 2 minutes, so I figure I only feed them what they can eat in 1 minute every day. Seems to be working. Besides humans are healthier if they eat many small meals, so should fish eh??? Oh well they seems very happy and are still alive so I must be doing something right.

 

[Harlock]

Don't use distilled water. Your tap water contains something called Chloramines which is bonded chlorine and ammonia. Can you describe how the ammonia test in your test kit works? If you are using Prime, you are treating for ammonia and that is fine. If your test kit for ammonia is Nessler-Based it will not make the distinction between ammonia and ammonium (the latter being the end result of Prime and Chloramines mixing and not being poison to your fish) and you may be getting a false result. How big of water changes are you making? Also, are you vacuuming the gravel at all?

 

[abnscout82]

The ammonia test for is from tetra. I take a 5ml sample, add 14 drops of the 1st solution and mix, then add 7 drops of another and mix, then add 7 drops of a third. I then wait 20 minutes and compare to a color chart. The kit says it tests for NH3 and NH4, I think those are ammonia and ammonium. So does that mean that if it is reading high that it might not be as bad for the fish as I thought? So far I have made one water change, and changed about 2-3 gallons, that was with the distilled water. I posted this in another post also, but is a brown growth along the edge of the dorsal fin something I should worry about? I have 2 of my 3 fish that have it. They are the two and always have it raised?

 

[Harlock]

The test kit is likely Salicylate based, you should add Prime to water straight from the tap, then check. Does the test also tell you to compare anything else to get the true ammonia level, like pH?

Don't use distilled water as it can lead to disaster. It is pure water. All of the impurities are removed, including carbonate, bicarbonate, magnesium and calcium cations etc. It can lead to pH swings of the acidic kind, very bad for fish and it can happen very easily using distilled water without adding any of those things back. Your tank will be high in ammonia at first, then high in nitrites as the cycle progresses. Both are extremely toxic to fish. If I were fishy cycling, I would be doing 50% water changes every day as well as testing the water every day. If ammonia and nitrites are really bad, then you can do two 50% water changes back to back.

As for the brown edge on the dorsal, I can't make a diagnosis without more info or seeing it. It could be any number of things.