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Fish rocking back and forth

24K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  rugie 
#1 ·
I bought a 20 gallon aquarium today that was stocked with fish. I was told that the big orange ones in the aquarium were mollies. I don't know if this is accurate or not. One of them seems to rock back and forth. It will just stay and place and rock. I don't see any other signs of trouble. I have been researching on this for hours and a disease called gourami's disease keeps popping up. Is this possible since my fish is a molly? Is something wrong or is this just a normal fish characteristic?
thanks!
 
#2 ·
the rocking motion is called shimmy, it is an indicator of a problem. there is no way to tell what that problem is, more info about your tank and your acquiring it will perhaps help. if you have a quaratine tank set up then move it there. there really is not much to offer you as a solution. it may get better on it's own.
 
#4 ·
Unfortunaly I don't have a quarantine tank. I bought this tank yesterday. The same person I bought it from listed a betta fish as an angel fish, so I should have known that there would be some problems with fish. *smacks self on the head*

It's a 20 gallon aquarium. I only have an anomia test kit at this moment that I bought for my betta's. The woman I got it from said that she never used any test kts. Even though this is my first tank, I know better. I did order some test kits. Anyways, all that I can tell you about the parameters of the tank is that it is that the anomia is at .25 I added 2 Jungle amnomia tabs yesterday. Retested it 2 hours laster and it was still at .25, so I did a 10% water change (didn't want to cause too much stresss they are already stressed from the move), after the water change I added 2 more tabs and its STILL at .25%. I don't know why this tank isn't cycled. It was transported with about 25% of the water still in the tank. Keep in mind that this is my first tank but from what I have read, I should still have had the "good bacteria" that I need.

So at this point I don't know what to do. Why isn't the tank cycled? What do I do to control the ammonia? I can't get it down. I have some PH tabs. I don't have a way to test the PH. Should I use them just in case or could that do more harm then good? I do have some marclyn 2. Should I go ahead and treat the tank?
Thanks!
 
#5 ·
I would not use the ph tabs. Change in ph can be hard on fish. I also have never used ammonia tabs. When cycling a tank, you may have to do daily water changes to keep ammonia low. A 50% water change may not be a bad idea. This shimmy may be stress from ammonia. I would just try to get the ammonia lower with water changes and hold off on the meds.
 
#7 ·
the bacteria that you need does not reside in the water column, it lives in/on a bio film that coats objects like gravel, filter material, bio balls, deco objects, tank panes, plants, etc. when a tank is disturbed usually it will need to recycle itself. I believe you will be fine if you buy a bottle of water treatment (for new tap water, chlorine, chloramines etc ) use this in a 10% daily water change add nothing else, be sure water is same temp as tank. ammonia is needed in the cycle process. feed the fish a bare minimum. when your cycling is complete you should not read ammonia or nitrite, but nitrate will be elevated, this can be kept in check with small water changes. be patient, do not flood the tank with chemicals. , do not clean your filter material for now.
 
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