# what happened to my molly.



## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

D-Bo my fiances molly died this morning! my tank is three weeks old. i got the majority of my fish about 8 days ago, including D-Bo. i may have some over crowding, its a 10 gallon tank with 10 aquatic creatures. a molly (now deceased), a small angel, a small algea eater, two neons, two rosey tetra, two african dwarf frogs, and a tiny ghost shrimp. i might have been over feeding, being worry some about what to feed to my variety. the waters clear but now theres some white fuzzy mold growing on some of the food on the bottom of the tank but it seems to be helping the food become dislodged from the gravel. Could this have killed my molly? Another thing is D-Bo got her name because she was very aggressive to the other fish in the store but once she got home her personality did a 180 and she was almost scared of the other fish. she liked to hide in the back of the tank by the filter. i also noticed she wasnt eating well, i put her in a bowl to examine for ich the only thing i notcied was it looked like she was shedding around her mouth is that normal? Help me i need to know if i should get the fish into new water asap!!!


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

First of all, welcome to the forum.

f you got the fish 8 days ago and the tank is only three weeks old it's likely that your tank hadn't cycled, adding the fish (i assume all at the one time?) would most definitely have spiked the amonia. 

also, thats an aewful lot of fish for that size of tank. and fish that are mush too big. the mollies grow to 3 or 4" and angels really need a pretty big tank as they grow to about 6", but remember that theyre not slim fish, theyre very deep bodied. my lfs recomends at least 120litres for an angel, i would put them in much much more than this.

i cant tell you anything about the size the frog will grow to unfortunately.

as for the mouldy food: you should only feed your fish what they can consume in about 5 minutes. anything left in the tank should be removed as it can lead to bad water quality, and further increase the amonia levels.

if you havent got yourself one, go to your pet store and but a multi test kit so that you can test your water parameters. get one that tests for amonia, nitrite and nitrate. amonia and nitrite should be 0, whereas nitrate should be quite low, under 40ppm (i think - mine has never really exceeded 12 after cycling so im not 100% sure on this one). when you do so, post your water parameters and well better be able to help you however i strongly suspect a high amonia level with that amount/size of fish and with a tank so young.

if you havent cycled your tank at all then if you look under member submitted articles you will see "mushos guide to faster cycling" or "faster cycling by musho" i cant quite remember and it will explain it to you.

to get rid of the amonia do frequent partial water changes. until you test the water, and after you do if you get an amonia reading, change 20-30% of the water every couple of days to bring it down short term.

long term - you really need a MUCH bigger tank or to return most of your fish and stick with some neons or something

good luck to you and i hope your fish make it


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## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

ive got a 5 in 1 test, I bought it about two weeksk ago when i put the neons in. my nitrate has always been 0 and the nitrite peeked to .5 yesterday but leveled today back to 0 by itself.my waters a lil too soft about 25, alkalinity levels are a lil low at 40 and ph is 7.2. im really new at this so im not sure what all this means but the only thing the tester bottle says is out of wack is my alkalinity. i do realize my angels in jepordy in this tank with all the other fish and i do plan on moving her, the frogs, and the algae eater into a 20 gallon tank. do you think i should get a tank more than 20 gallons?


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## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

not to be rude that you for the welcome and thanks so much for your imput


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

ive never had angels but if i were to get some i would put them in a 50g tank minimum. they also like quite a tall tank as well. pet stores are notoriously bad for selling fish without any forewarning of the size a fish will grow to - its one of my pet hates. 20g for your algae eater is definitely fine though. like i said i have no idea about the frog but ive never seen any that grow very big my my guess id that 20g would be fine.

as far as your water parameters, nitrate and nitrite levela are both fine. amonia is what i would guess is the real problem so it would probably be worth your ehile getting another test kit for that. i think most of the multi test kits have amonia testers on them but not yours it seems. the cycle ahs three stages: amonia, then nitrite then nitrate. so you could have a high amonia level even thgouh the other two are fine.

it certainly wouldnt hurt to do a partial water change tonight until you can get the test. 

mollies prefer hard water so this could have been the problem there unfortunately, althoguh they are hardy fish that can survive on a variety of waters. my mollies as well are all doing well in my water and glasgow water is known to be quite soft so you cant be sure there. perhaps the softness of the water coupled with the overcrowding and the (possible) amonia put together was too stressful for her 

my suggestion would be to do a 30% water change tonight and get a test kit for amonia to be on the safe side.

good luck and i hope the rest of your fish are fine.


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## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

thanxs so much you dont think the shedding lips is wierd though? ill do the water change ive got to go to petsmart later so ill get an amonia specified test. the one i have has amonia classified with nitrite but thats obviously wrong. oh the frogs get up to an inch and a half i could get a 50 gallon and move my whole community frogs excluded and be fine i think.
p.s. my algae eaters getting bloated (am i crazy or do you think i might have a disease in my tank)


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

i think the bloatedness is more likely to be because of overfeeding. with you saying there is some lying on the bottom and going a wee bit mouldy then that suggests you are overfeeding. dont feel bad about that. i overfed my fish when i started out as well. i was so scared they would be hungry! however if you find that your water quality is poor when you test later today or tomrrow (i nevr can work out time differences between countires) then diseases are more likely to occur in bad water conditions so you could look into diseases. dropsy can cause bloatedness, but this isnt a very common disease. fish with this also tend to have scales that seem to be coming off, and their eyes can often bulge. the good thing however is that its not contageous. fish with it are only really put in quarantine tanks to prevent other fish becoming stressed by the medication. also if the fish dies and you have a suckermouth like a plec or algae eater, there is a chance that if the suck on the dead body they can become infected. i wouldnt suspect dropsy but its something you can read up on and look out for just incase.

when you do the water change remove the left over food as well.

im not 100% sure how the cycle works. i just know the order. however, i think that when amonia breaks down it produces the nitrite and nitrate so in effect is it part of the same thing but its best to be able to test for each individually. its not guaranteed that there will be amonia in your tank but it just seems likely from what you have said. even if there isnt, its best to have a tester on hand so you are able to check every week or so, or more so when you are medicating.

as for the fungus, sorry i forgot to mention that in my first reply. when i first got 2 of my mollies, they grew a wee bit of fungus, this could be the same kinda thing as yours had on its lips. fish can have this when they become stressed. usually if its just a wee bit a dose of melafix clears it up. melafix is a good medication because its 100& natural and so doesnt affect your water (oxygen levels, parameters etc) and also since its natural there are no chemicals in it which can be harmful to the fish.


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## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

a sigh of relief!! D-Bo deffinetley was acting stressed but i thought it might go away instead i ignored it and she died!! it was probably a mix of things softness, amonia,fungus, overfeeding. this was deff. a learning experience thank u for all your help. how long have you been a fish owner, you seem to really know your stuff.


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

lol thanks 

i have only started up the hobby for the second time round about 6 months ago actually. but i had fish when i was young from day 0 until i was about 16. my mum took to do with them mostly but i helped and its amazing what you learn form listening and watching. i then didnt have any fish until about 6 months ago like i said because i moved out a year ago and have been really busy with uni, and really skint as a result lol then my bf bought me a 10g for my 20th birthday in which i keep 6 cories and a betta, then i moved onto a 35g (still keeping the 10g) and in that i keep a pitbull plec, an upside down catfish, 4 mollies, a swordtail, 2 blue rams and 2 blind cave tetras. all are still babies now and in the summer i plan to make another bigger tank where i can move my 2 rams into and make that one a cichlid tank. well see hopw sucessful i am with making it, if not since i will be working full time rather than part time when im off uni for the summer i will be able to afford to buy one if im not sucessful.

the majority of what i know thoguh comes from just reading up on them, and reading other peoples posts on this forum, whether they're relevant to me or not because you learn only from experience, and if thats other peoples experience from reading about them its almost as good as your own, and will help you not to make the same mistakes. members here have been really helpful to me whenever i get stuck or dont know what to do. only last week i discovered white spot in my tank and have lost 2 fish because of it but without posting here and getting everyones input i would definitely have lost more, and now it is clearing up 

keep reading up on them and check on here now and then to read through posts and youll soon know an awful lot more


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## herefishy (Dec 14, 2006)

Mollies do like a little salt in their water. About 1Tbsp for every 5g should suffice. Do not use table salt, use aquarium salt. The tank is relatively new and you are probably a victim of "new tank syndrome", a spike in ammonia or nitrates. Smaller tanks are the hardest to maintain. The small volume of water is much quicker to show a biological imbalance of the filtering system. So, regular maintenance is imperative. Good luck and my condolances for the loss of your mollie. If it is any consolation, I had a tank that has been set up for quite a while have an ammonia surge just last week. I didn't lose any fish, but I had to perform an emergency water change and check the setup. Found that the impellaer on the power filter had become jammed. It's fixed now. By the way, welcome to the best fish info center on the net. The members here are mostly ok too. At least you don't have to feed them. lol


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

> Mollies do like a little salt in their water. About 1Tbsp for every 5g should suffice. Do not use table salt, use aquarium salt.


this is absolutely right however, mollies can also do well without salt, whereas other tankmates will not do well with salt on a long term basis. the tetras and angel will not tolerate it on a long term basis but will be fine while you are medicating for a short time.

basically, if keeping mollies alone, or with other livebearers for example, add salt at the concentration herefishy advised, if keeping mollies with other freshwater fish, dont add salt

keep us updated as to how your fish are doing


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## Sadie (Jan 21, 2007)

If it is a basic African Dwarf Frog (not clawed) it's body will only get to be about 1 1/2 inches. You have to the watch the height of the tank though because they have to be able to surface for air. I believe the maximum recommended tank height for the frogs is 18 inches. They aren't strong swimmers so any higher could kill them. Until I overdosed my with antibiotics he was doing well in a ten and I also talked to someone who some in a 30gal long (again short in height).


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## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

wow this really is the best fish site on the net! everyones so helpful. it seems that the amonia is fine and i did a 40% water change trying to get all the extra frood out and everyone seems fine for now. i think it had a lot to do with over crowding. everyone else seems a lot happier. pretty soon im gonna have to get a large tank for my angel ive already noticed some growth! Thanx for the frog imput i think this 10 gal. will stay there tank for a while becuase the angel likes a tall tank.


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## Holly (Feb 28, 2007)

One more suggestion I learned. Next time you need testing supplies, pick up a master test kit. Something like this http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=4454&N=2004+113074 is even about the same price of the Quick Dip. I've been using the Quick Dip 5 for the past year and didn't realize just how much the results were off till someone on here told me to get a master test kit.


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

glad to hear theyre doing better


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## nvmyluv420 (Mar 29, 2007)

thanx guys im gonna buy one of those testers the wal mart stuff just wont do for my fish.


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