molly acting strange....

molliefan09

1. What is the size of your tank? 20 gallon

2. What are your water parameters? State the brand of test kit used. ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 20-40ppm, ph 7.6 (API master liquid test kit for freshwater)

3. Is your aquarium set up freshwater or brackish water? fresh

4. How long the aquarium has been set up? 4 months

5. What fish do you have? How many are in your tank? How big are they? How long have you had them? 2 lyretail mollies adult 2 inches, baby approx 1 inch(one is 15 weeks old), 1 ballon Platy 1.5 inches, 3 albino corydora cats 1-1.5 inches, 1 ghost shrimp, 1 Bristlenose Pleco 3-4 inches, 1 Apple Snail 2-3 inch diameter, 3 molly fry 0.25 in breeders net. most have been in for 2 months, the newest are the 3 molly fry and they are about 5 weeks old

6. Were the fish placed under quarantine period (minus the first batch from the point wherein the tank is ready to accommodate the inhabitants)? no

7. What temperature is the tank water currently? 78-80 deg f

8. Are there live plants in the aquarium? 2 small Anacharis

9. What filter are you using? State brand, maintenance routine and power capacity. tetra whisper 20i, rince the filter (not sponge filter) in used tank water with weekly water changes

10. Any other equipment used (aside from heater and filter which are two very important components of the tank)? no

11. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? What is your lighting schedule (assuming you do not rely on sunlight for our viewing pleasure)? no natural light. lights usually on from about 6pm until 11pm

12. When did you perform your last water change and how much water was changed? How often do you change your water? Do you vacuum the substrate? this past thursday, 15%, weekly, no i have sand substrate

13. What foods do you provide your fish? What is the feeding schedule? tropical fish flakes, tropical sinking pellets, algea waffers, fresh cucumber. flakes and pellets once daily. all others every few days

14. What unusual signs have you observed in your fish? my adult lyretail molly seems more shy then normal, hangs out by herself. it doesnt appear to be flashing but she will bang herself on the bottom of the tank and just start freaking out flying all over the tank, i had the lid up for feeding once and she almost jumped out durring one of her episodes

15. Have you treated your fish ahead of diagnosis? If so, what treatments did you use? State your reasons for planning ahead of proper diagnosis. no treatments and nothing added outside of PRIME during water changes


ok, now that i have gotten that all answered here is a briefing on what has gone on in my tank over the past week.....I removed my African Dwarf Frog and put him in his own tank because he was getting picked on by the BN. Then my male black molly disappeared....i am assuming he died and my snail ate him because i cant find him anywhere in the tank or around it. just prior to removing my frog is when i noticed she was acting strange because i hand feed my frog frozen brineshrimp and she will usually come and nip the air bubbles on my arm and eat out of my hand with the frog. after i noticed my black molly was gone and she was acting strange i did an immediate water change and test my params and everything was fine. i almost thought it had something to do with the black molly disappearing but she never really payed himmuch mind anyhow. She was "hovering" near the bottom of the tank and it looked as though she was using the tank wall to hold her self upright....but when she swam she swam normal. During this i noticed her "poop string" looked a little thinker then normal and when she was swimming it would drop off in segments. it was read in color but the food i feed is red......not sure what is going on.....any suggestions would be helpful

bettababy

Do you have any salt in the water? Those symptoms are quite general for a number of illness issues, and diagnosing via internet is going to be difficult. I would not be concerned with the color of the poo... that is greatly dependent on diet.
I would work to get the nitrate level down some, that could be causing or contributing to a problem. Increasing those water changes to 15% twice/wk would help to accomplish that quickly and safely.

Do you have a quarantine tank? If a quarantine tank is available, you may want to consider moving her to it with water from the existing tank during a water change... and then adding some salt. Start slow with the salt, 1 tsp/gallon, and then increase gradually by 1/2 tsp/gallon with each water change until you have low end brackish conditions. Mollys thrive best in brackish water, but your other fish will not. Increasing hardness for her in a QT tank might also help some. Do you know your GH and Kh readings? pH of 8.0 would be a good range for her, and can be accomplished by adding a small amount of crushed coral in a small mesh bag to the filter. Again, I would not do this for the other fish who share her tank currently, so this would be only in a QT tank.

Without more specific symptoms at this point, it is hard to say what else could be causing her problem. That would be the place to start.

Hope this helps. I'll do my best to track this thread so I can help as you post answers to the quesitons I've asked. Best of luck to you & your fish!

molliefan09

my kh is 10 and gh is 21. that is how many drops i added and i dont have the paper infront of my to convert it over but i used the api liquid. no, i do not have nay salt in my tank because of the cats i have in there. as you can see from my gh reading my water is already VERY hard. my nitrates have been high since the end of my cycle and she was one if the first fish in the tank after 24 hours of being set up. she was my cyle fish. i almost feel as though she is just old....i have only had her about 4 months but was fully grown wheni purchased her. i do have 2 QT tanks a 2.5 gal and a 5 gal that i could move her to. i tried unsuccessfully to move her once but she got so stressed that when i finally gave up she just layed at the bottom of the tank. she still eats but not as aggressivly as before......tomorrow i am due for a PWC so i will try then to move her again....if she puts up too much of a fight i wont bother. I dont want her last moments to be of me trying to capture her.....but i will keep you posted as to how it goes. I know it is hard to diagnose via the internet...i will try to get a vid of her behavior and post it.