Whos the culprit???

[flutterbye75]

I have a tank with Mollies, Guppies and Swordtails. I have had no problem with tail nipping in the past. I was lovingly watching my fish in this particular tank and all seems peaceful, I walk away and three minutes later I go and look at them again only to find that my female black molly is missing a chunk of her tail. She had it there three minutes ago because my husband and I were commenting on how full of babies she is. Who is the culprit? I have recently added a female dalmation molly and a pair of swordtails (about 2 weeks now). I am assuming it is one of these fish, since my female black molly was the biggest fish in the tank before the addition. My next question is, I have had problems with this particular tank with diseases and I am afraid that it might get infected. I have no other tank to put her in because my QT is being used right now. Any suggestions?

 

[Adrahel]

Every time you vac the tank for cleaning use something like AmQuel to dose the tank keeping the nitrates, nitrites and ammonia down. It's good stuff and keeps tanks nice and healthy.

 

[ScottoMacD]

Every time you vac the tank for cleaning use something like AmQuel to dose the tank keeping the nitrates, nitrites and ammonia down. It's good stuff and keeps tanks nice and healthy.

Amquel will not do anything for the nitrates. It is just a water conditioner that removes chloramines.
Yes after a water change the nitrates will go down but that had nothing to do with the water conditioner.

http://aquascienceresearch.com/ProductInfo/Amquel.htm


If there is ammonia and or nitrites in the cycled tank than covering them up without finding out what is the cause is no good either.

A cycled tank should not have ammonia or nitrite present. They should both be converted and become nitrates before they even become measureable.

As for nitrates. The best method to keeping them down is regular maintenance. Water changes.

As for who beating who up in the tank. If I had to quess. It would be the swords. They can be nasty little buggers when they want to. Especially when the have doscile tank mates that won't fight back.

I wouldn't worry about infection. Just keep an eye on the fish if your water parameters are good it should heal right up on it's own.

 

[Arjuna]

Amquel will not do anything for the nitrates. It is just a water conditioner that removes chloramines.
Yes after a water change the nitrates will go down but that had nothing to do with the water conditioner.

Actually, I think he was talking about AMQUEL+ - which is advertised (standard dose) to neutralize 1.2ppm of ammonia, 2pmm of Nitrites, and 13ppm of Nitrates.

http://www.novalek.com/kpd79.htm

I can't vouch for it's effectiveness in removing Nitrites and Nitrates - but it does completely neutralize ammonia in the tank if it's at 1ppm or so. I've seen it do that many times.

Take Care,
Mark