Tropical Fish Keeping banner

Is my fish dieing?

5K views 28 replies 8 participants last post by  yhbae 
#1 ·
Hello. I have a 10 gallon tank. In it are 5 female and 1 male balloon belly mollies. Recently one of them had a baby. We do not know which one had the baby. But we put the fry in a breeding net, that was latched to the side of the tank. But one of the females got stuck in between the side of the net and the tank. So we released her and she sank to the bottom. Then she got up and swam around then sank back down to the bottom of the tank. We put her in a breeding box that floats on the surface of the tank so the other fish won't bother her. But now she is just swimming around ont he bottom of the box on her stomach. She occasionaly will swim up but only if the box if moved a lot. I am worried about her. What is wrong with her? What can i do to help her? She is barely swimming just like "sliding" around on her belly in the breeding box. What is happening to my beloved fish??
 
#3 ·
Is this the first time you've had any problems with them at all? 6 mollies in a 10g tank is way way too small for them to live a healthy life. I wouldn't put mollies in anything under a 29g tank as they generally need a decent amount or room to live healthy.
 
#8 ·
Not sure how long ago this happened but its not unusual for traumatised fish to 'sulk' for a few days. I would turn the tank lights off, leave her alone and let her recouperate.

If she's not improving within a few days, I would assume that the pressure of the breeding trap ruptured her swim bladder, in which case she needs to be euthanised with finquel or clove oil.

Alternatively you can freeze a bun of water so that a thin sheet of ice has formed over the surface, put some ice cubes in it and plunge her quickly into the freezing cold water.

Just whatever you do, do NOT put her in room temperature water and put her in the freezer. Many people advise slowly freezing fish to death like this, claiming they will gradually go to sleep but this is not true. Now that it has been proven that fish feel pain (including frostbite) this method is every bit as crual as putting the fish in a pot of water, putting it on the stove and gradually boiling her to death.
 
#9 ·
Well she is still "sulking" at the bottom of the tank. Well lately on one side of her her eye and fin have started deteriarating. They are peeling it looks like have a layer of "skin" peeling off. The other side of her is fine she does swim up to get food and swim a tiny bit but otherwise returns to the bottom of the fish box. What do you think could cause this to happen to her side???
 
#17 ·
That "rule" is so simplistic and inaccurate, it isn't even funny. And it's a "safe-side" rule, created for the sake of newbies. It definitely is NOT a "maximum allowable" capacity. On a more accurate surface area calculation, your basic 10-gallon long aquarium is sufficient for approx. 17 inches of fish!
 
#20 ·
Okay on the whole overstocked thing.... inches of fish is a very inaccurate way to calculate available space in your aquarium. For example lets look at these 2 1" fish: The dwarf puffer, who has a very high bioload and needs about 3-5g to itself and the endlers livebearer, who has a very low bioload and only needs about .25-.5g per fish.

So stocking according to how long the fish is is not a very accurate way of thinking. In order to more accurately check whether you are ovestocked and how you can fix it, I recommend you plug your tank stats into aqadvisor.com.


Now about the fish: you will really want to make a post in the disease section. There is absolutely NO way even the most experienced fish keepers can give you a 100% certain diagnosis without knowing your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH levels, knowing your tank maintenance schedule and seeing a picture.

We're not fish psychics... when you give us little to no background information we can't give you a straightforward yes-or-no answer.
 
#24 ·
You're right...inches of fish does little to account for overall mass and respiration/filtration needs. Of course, if you have a puffer in a 5 gallon, that is too little space for it. And we all know that there really aren't any acceptable tankmates for it anyway. Endlers are very small fish, mostly finnage and very little body mass. They aren't exactly known for high waste output.

Bioload is less a concern for space as it is for surface area for bacterial colonies to grow on.

According to aqadvisor, every single aquarium I've ever owned has been overstocked. And, in reality, that has never been the case. Additionally, the aquariums for several experienced, renowned and successful keepers that I've known (or have learned about from detailed articles/books that I've read), are seriously overstocked according to aqadvisor. So, in the end, it would seem to be just as inaccurate as any other means of estimating how many fish can be stocked into an aquarium.

The best way to know how many fish your aquarium can hold is to stock very slowly, and continually monitor conditions and behavior. Trial and error is the most accurate determination of "capacity" known yet!
 
#22 ·
It might also be that her slime coat got damaged in the accident. That may be allowing bacteria to go all om nom nom on her skin, making her peel. As anyone else would probably advise, do a water change. If she's sulking, maybe giver some treats or something to perk her up. Can you get pics of her?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top