[Bgirlabby]

This morning I woke up and found my Dalmation Molly upside down in the corner of the tank. :-( I've had her for a few weeks and she always seemed fine; she was in a ten-gallon heated tank with my female betta and was in perfect health. I don't know what happened; the water conditions were fine and she's never shown any signs of illness. Anybody know what's going on?

 

[Roccus]

first.. Welcome to tropical fish keeping...

you are not giving us a whole lot ot go on... you say everything was fine.. but "fine" is a very broad defianition... what is the water temp...PH... amoinia level... NirtIte...NitrAte level... are there and spots.. fin damage.. what does her gills look like... I don't want to seem like a nosey downer but we all need a few more sdetail before we can even begin to help out..

 

[Bgirlabby]

first.. Welcome to tropical fish keeping...

you are not giving us a whole lot ot go on... you say everything was fine.. but "fine" is a very broad defianition... what is the water temp...PH... amoinia level... NirtIte...NitrAte level... are there and spots.. fin damage.. what does her gills look like... I don't want to seem like a nosey downer but we all need a few more sdetail before we can even begin to help out..

Temperature: 78 Fahrenheit
pH: 7.2
Ammonia: .25
Nitrate: 20
Nitrite: .5

There were no spots, tears or any damage at all. I'm completely clueless as to what was wrong.

 

[Roccus]

OK ..now we have a little to go on...I'm not liking the Amonia level or the fact that you have NitrIte and NitrAte.. some types of fish can sustain themselves with slight amoinia and nitrates, others sucumb rapidly...in a healthy enviroment/cycled tank, idealy you would be looking for 0 in both Amonia and nitrIte.. . when was your last water change?... when was the tank established?... IMHO, Miss Molly possibly died from amonia posioning... 20PPM NitrAte is not out of whack for a fresh water tank, but it does indicate it may be time for a 20% water change... %50 change would drop the nitrAte level to %10 ... I'm sure others will chime in...

 

[Bgirlabby]

OK ..now we have a little to go on...I'm not liking the Amonia level or the fact that you have NitrIte and NitrAte.. some types of fish can sustain themselves with slight amoinia and nitrates, others sucumb rapidly...in a healthy enviroment/cycled tank, idealy you would be looking for 0 in both Amonia and nitrIte.. . when was your last water change?... when was the tank established?... IMHO, Miss Molly possibly died from amonia posioning... 20PPM NitrAte is not out of whack for a fresh water tank, but it does indicate it may be time for a 20% water change... %50 change would drop the nitrAte level to %10 ... I'm sure others will chime in...

Last water change was a few days ago. The tank was established in September.

Thanks for the info. I'll do what I can about the ammonia.