# black mollie



## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

Hi i have 2 black mollies that i just got 2 days ago.one is adjusting just fine and swimming around and eating and acting normal,however the other one just sits at the top in the corner and puts his(or her)lips on the surface of the water and does nothing but breathes.when i feed them sometimes he/she comes and eats a little then goes back to his corner.
he/she has a white spot just above his eye,and i dont know if its ick or not. please help


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## Enzo (Mar 25, 2007)

sometimes if i fish continually breathes right from the surface it mean the amonia is to high try testing for it.


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## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

the amonia is pretty high.about 65 ppm or whatever it is,anyway how do i lower it?water change?


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## Enzo (Mar 25, 2007)

i think so


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## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

ok thanks!its midnight so ill do it in the morning.thanx enzo.


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

65ppm???? Surely it's 6.5 or something? Even that is *really* high!

Do partial water changes. If it's 6.5 then change 50% and then change another 25% every day until it reads 0. This level of amonia is highly toxic for fish.

Also if one is doing well and one is not, could it be that the one that ia doing well is a male, and the one who is not is a female. A ratio of 2-3 females per 1 male should be kept otherwise the males will harass the female to breed, often until the death of the female through stress. If you have one male and one female I would either return one, or get another female or 2.


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## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

ok.i thinkhe/she has ick.he/she has white spots on her eyes and all over her body.how do i treat this.just take it back to the pet store?


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## kat1103 (Apr 21, 2007)

Take the infected fish out of the tank right away so it doesnt infect the other fish. I would definetly take it back if I was you.


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## Amphitrite (Sep 8, 2006)

Justin, if the fish is sufferening from ich (whitespot), then the whole tank will require treatment. 

Do you have complete current tank readings i.e. ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

are these the only 2 fish in the aquarium? How large is the tank? I agree that having a single male and a single female could by why the one fish is hiding in the corner. More females will take the attention off of her and she would come out more if that were the problem. Even if they are both males or both females, it is not uncommon to have a dominate molly in the tank...they can be nasty community fish. If these are the only 2 fish in there, I would take them both back to the store. The Ich parasite needs to find a host body (another fish or even a live plant) within about 48 hours for it to continue reproducing. If you take the two fish out and leave the tank without fish or plants for at least 2 days, the Ich will pretty much die off within the tank. Raising the temperature can actually speed that up sometimes. Keep in mind that pretty much every tank has Ich in it, most fish can fight it off regularly though and you never notice it. In a high stress situation (high ammonia or aggressive tankmates), Ich can spread fast. So if there are just the two fish in there, take them back, change 50 % of the water, raise the temp and let it sit a few days. If there are other fish in there than the tank should be treated with an ich medication. Aquarium salt is also a great idea to use and the mollies will love it. Youre first line of defense against ich though is getting that water quality better. Do a 50% water change and continue doing smaller changes until the ammonia comes down to regular perameters. I would also suggest a bacteria starter supplement. Cycle is very popular but I suggest either Stablity by Seachem or BioSpira by Marineland. THis will help seed the tank with bacteria that will break down that ammonia and nitrite as it forms. The fact that your ammonia got that high signifies that enough bacteria is not forming in your tank for some reason.


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## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

OK i took it out and put it into a hospital tank that i made.it turns out it wasnt ick.she was stressed and not eating and the male was picking on her and she had fin rot or whatever you call it.i put some fish meds in the water of the hospital tank and she is doing alot better.i have a 10 gallon that i can move her into soon.i just fed her and now shes really happy,so everything seems under control.they are not the only two in the tank,there are tetras and stuff like that.i did a water change and added aquarium salt,and they all seemed ok.if i have a brackish aquarium,should i test with a salt water test kit ofr freshwater?


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

adding aquarium salt does not deem the tank "brackish". Brackish water is where streams and rivers meet the ocean. If you are trying to do a brackish water aquarium, you would use an actual Ocean Salt used for saltwater aquariums. The saltwater salt has more than just salt and will also provide the tank with minerals and elements found in ocean water. Using a hydrometer, the density reading should be about 1.005-1.01, but i've heard variations on that. 
The reason freshwater aquarium salt is used in freshwater aquariums is for a process called "osmoregulation". Basically it brings the salt density of the water to be equal with the salt density in the cells of the fish. Fish constantly have to expell energy to keep the salt in their cell bodies from "leaking out". By raising the salt in the water, the fish conserves energy. I personally only reccommend doing this when a fish is sick or stressed, it's the equivelent of you or I resting when we catch a cold. Some people will say that livebearers (mollies, guppies, platys, etc) need aquarium salt in their water. They do tend to enjoy it but I don't consider it a neccessity. Mollies will live in anything from freshwater to saltwater though if acclimated correctly. Be careful though as some catfish do not do well with salt.


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## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

yea.as i was buying the salt the lady in the pet store said that corys didnt like salt that much.i have corys and she said that all of the tanks in petco are brackish water tanks and they had corys, so she said it would be ok.


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

no, not all of the tanks in petco are brackish. Most pet stores keep a certain level of aquarium salt in their system (.20) but that does not make them brackish. Remember brackish= larger ammounts of ocean salt and other differences such as pH. Cory's are not brackish fish but they will withstand the normal dosage of aquarium salt ( I think 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons). Petcos often carry brackish fish (puffers, monos, etc) and they may set up one or two tanks as brackish but that is rare. I've worked for 2 major pet store chains in 5 different stores (I won't say which ones because I don't want to endorse or put down certain ones). I do know you have to be very careful with what people tell you in large retail stores though.


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## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

ok thanx guys!the mollie was in the hospital tank for a little under 2 days.
i put her in my 10 gal and she was fine.i had 2 leave at 4 in the morning the next day,and i was gone for a week.i thought for sure she would pass away while i was gone because she wasnt in the hospital tank for long,and my neighbor would scoop it out.but when i got back last night,the tank was looking spectacular! and the mollie was just fine.
so now everything is under control for now.


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## mHeinitz57 (Jun 9, 2007)

YAY!


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## serpaekeeper45 (Apr 12, 2007)

ummm,this is really bad.im sorry to say that she suddenly got really sick and died.I could not figure out what was wrong. i feel like a bad person.
if anybody knows what possibly went wrong i would appreciate it if some one could give me some answers.
the water parementers werenormal,i dont quite remember what they were,but they were all at the safe level.i realise that they are hard fish to take care of,and im a beginner,so i shouldnt have gotten her in the first place. sorry to dissapoint you people who said YAY!


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