GisheryGoodness Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 (edited) So I have some mollies and a female betta in quarantine in my 10 gallon qt. Betta is actually looking better than when I got her but the mollies are not doing well at all and I'm not sure what the issue is so I don't know how to proceed. I have had 3 on total die, returned the first 2 for 2 more thinking maybe it was just something I did wrong in acclimation but when another one died and the others ate acting odd onknew something was up so I just did a return and didn't get another one yet so I have 3 females. There has been zero aggression between them and the betta so I'm pretty sure it's not that. They have been glass chasing a lot, hanging at the top or the bottom, one I honestly thought was dead because it was laying on its side on the bottom but when I went to scoop her out she swam away. She swims for a bit but then settles back at the bottom. A second one has started to lay at the bottom some but when I stepped near the tank she instantly swam away whereas the other just sits there for a bit. I've watched for flashing and haven't seen it, I'm not sure about shimmying though because they have just hovered at the top. I don't see any white dots like ich on them so I just am not sure how to proceed or if I can save them. Is the one laying at the bottom slowly dying? How do I know? Tank parameters Ammonia 0 NitrIte - 0 NitrAte - 5 Ph - 7.4 Kh - 5 Gh -3 ( working on raising this via crushed coral in a netted bag which is all I have. I totally forgot to get it up in the qt as I have in all my others.) Temp - 79 Trying to do the right thing by quarantine but don't want to treat for the wrong thing. I promise the first fish isn't dead but idk if she's suffering and I need to help or what. When she swims it's not erratic, it's normal or at least it looks normal to me. Edit- so now I've seen her do like some kind of barrel roll? And then swim off also now the Betta is laying at the bottom. I rechecked everything and it's all the same with the API Test kit but something must be wrong. Please help I don't want to accidentally have killed my fish somehow or even them just die from something I can prevent. I don't know what to do. Oh also I know qt's are usually bare bottom but to have it was all mirrored and I worried it would stress out the betta seeing her reflection on every surface including the bottom. And it was also the compromise to have it in another room so it could be separate from my other tanks. Edited July 19, 2022 by GisheryGoodness Added info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quikv6 Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 Looks like Sunken Belly/wasting disease. Levamisole (Expel-P) or Flubendazole can treat it. Getting the GH up at bit for livebearers is a good idea. They won't argue with some salt as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GisheryGoodness Posted July 20, 2022 Author Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) On 7/19/2022 at 8:11 PM, quikv6 said: Looks like Sunken Belly/wasting disease. Levamisole (Expel-P) or Flubendazole can treat it. Getting the GH up at bit for livebearers is a good idea. They won't argue with some salt as well. Is it like highly contagious? My betta who originally had stress stripes when I got her was doing better yesterday but now is swimming erratically and hiding/resting at the bottom of the tank by a decoration. I don't think I have that particular medicine. I have Prazipro, Ich- X, Paraguard and Kanaplex, will any of those work? I can add salt immediately. The betta just died and the molly that was the worse off is gone too. I think I'm gonna lose all of them. I tried so hard to do right this time. Edited July 20, 2022 by GisheryGoodness Update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherHumanPerson Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 Where did you get the fish? How much were they? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GisheryGoodness Posted July 20, 2022 Author Share Posted July 20, 2022 On 7/19/2022 at 8:37 PM, AnotherHumanPerson said: Where did you get the fish? How much were they? Petsmart, it's unfortunately my only choice, they're better than the Petco here. At least usually. I can get my money back I just really want to know what I did wrong. I feel like I condemned my betta to death or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherHumanPerson Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 On 7/19/2022 at 7:46 PM, GisheryGoodness said: Petsmart, it's unfortunately my only choice, they're better than the Petco here. At least usually. I can get my money back I just really want to know what I did wrong. I feel like I condemned my betta to death or something. That’s what I thought. To put it shortly, the mollies at petsmart and petco are usually raised in brackish water, and aren’t fully acclimated to freshwater. This often causes disease and even death. Right now, I suggest on getting the betta out of quarantine. Once you are done with that, you are going to want to set up the qt tank as brackish, and get more mollies. Over the time of several weeks, you are going to want to gradually water change the tank with slightly less salty water until it is mostly freshwater. Then, they should be good to go with your betta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GisheryGoodness Posted July 20, 2022 Author Share Posted July 20, 2022 Unfortunately the betta has already passed away. Not sure what caused it. I've checked all the parameters 3 different times in the last few hours just in case and even added a second thermometer to see if it had something to do with that but i just don't know. I currently have 2 mollies left. One is swimming around normally and the other is sitting at the bottom and sometimes swimming around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GisheryGoodness Posted July 20, 2022 Author Share Posted July 20, 2022 Well I now just have the one molly. She seems to be staying at the top of the tank which would indicate low oxygen right? I only have 1 sponge filter perhaps that isn't enough? How do I check this? Also her lips/mouth appears to be red. I'm feeling like such a horrible failure right now. I just don't understand what I did. I added salt last night at the level one recommended. Parameters this morning Ammonia 0 Ph 7.4 NitrIte 0 NitrAte - 5ish Temp 79 Kh 5 Gh 4 ( went up one at least) Kinda hard to see how red it is in the picture but I tried Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherHumanPerson Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 On 7/20/2022 at 1:13 PM, GisheryGoodness said: She seems to be staying at the top of the tank which would indicate low oxygen right? I only have 1 sponge filter perhaps that isn't enough? How do I check this? Also her lips/mouth appears to be red. The redness is likely due to a bacterial infection. Unless you want to treat with antibacterial meds, I suggest adding more salt, as mollies can live in pure saltwater. You could also add something in to increase ph/hardness to help reduce stress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick-In-Of-TheSea Posted July 20, 2022 Share Posted July 20, 2022 (edited) On 7/20/2022 at 3:13 PM, GisheryGoodness said: Well I now just have the one molly. She seems to be staying at the top of the tank which would indicate low oxygen right? I only have 1 sponge filter perhaps that isn't enough? How do I check this? Also her lips/mouth appears to be red. I'm feeling like such a horrible failure right now. I just don't understand what I did. I added salt last night at the level one recommended. Parameters this morning Ammonia 0 Ph 7.4 NitrIte 0 NitrAte - 5ish Temp 79 Kh 5 Gh 4 ( went up one at least) Kinda hard to see how red it is in the picture but I tried Please don't beat yourself up. YOU DID NOTHING WRONG. You are doing the right thing. You have the quarantine tank. You are testing your water. You are monitoring your fish health. Unfortunately with new fish, they can have internal issues that we cannot see. If we cannot see it, we cannot understand what is truly going on or what to treat for. There are a lot of variables. The fish start off in big ponds, then the ponds get dredged with big nets and they go into concrete burial vaults for holding until shipment to stores. All of these things cause stress on the fish, and they are put into different tanks with different water parameters, and then they take another trip again when they are purchased. Stress in fish leads to illness. You can do the quarantine trio or do a salt treatment. Either will be suitable if you don't know what is wrong. But even so, the fish could die. They may not have the strength to endure a treatment. It's not predictable, but we can do the best that we can based on our knowledge, observations, and comfort level. Also, I did the same thing as you are doing. I chose not to medicate my fish when I adopted them. I did quarantine them, then I observed them. If I saw something specific (in my case, white poop), then I treated for just that thing (in my case, parasites). It's all just a matter of what you're comfortable with. Edited July 20, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GisheryGoodness Posted July 20, 2022 Author Share Posted July 20, 2022 On 7/20/2022 at 2:25 PM, AnotherHumanPerson said: The redness is likely due to a bacterial infection. Unless you want to treat with antibacterial meds, I suggest adding more salt, as mollies can live in pure saltwater. You could also add something in to increase ph/hardness to help reduce stress. I have paraguard, kanaplex, prazipro and ich x on hand will any of those work? Also I've added crushed coral, that helps raise the hardness and ph, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnotherHumanPerson Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 On 7/20/2022 at 2:18 PM, GisheryGoodness said: I have paraguard, kanaplex, prazipro and ich x on hand will any of those work? Also I've added crushed coral, that helps raise the hardness and ph, right? Yes the crushed coral will work to increase ph and hardness. I would try Paraguard first. I also agree with Chick-in-of-the-sea on that the fish might not survive the treatment due to stress. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GisheryGoodness Posted July 21, 2022 Author Share Posted July 21, 2022 On 7/20/2022 at 7:36 PM, AnotherHumanPerson said: Yes the crushed coral will work to increase ph and hardness. I would try Paraguard first. I also agree with Chick-in-of-the-sea on that the fish might not survive the treatment due to stress. Thank you, I'll give it a try with the one remaining molly, suppose it's worth trying at least to see if it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quikv6 Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 I am sorry you lost your fishes. How long has the tank been established? You said nitrate is 5, but sometimes 0 can be mixed up with 5, pending the test. If it is zero, the tank may not have completed it's cycle. Extra aeration is a great idea, as suggested by someone earlier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GisheryGoodness Posted July 21, 2022 Author Share Posted July 21, 2022 On 7/20/2022 at 8:21 PM, quikv6 said: I am sorry you lost your fishes. How long has the tank been established? You said nitrate is 5, but sometimes 0 can be mixed up with 5, pending the test. If it is zero, the tank may not have completed it's cycle. Extra aeration is a great idea, as suggested by someone earlier. This is a definite possibility, it's another reason why I'm watching it so closely. The tank itself has been up and cycled but I completely dumped it out, rinsed it and put substrate in it two weeks ago,l so I could move it out of my room with all my other tanks, the sponge filter did not get cleaned and stayed wet in old aquarium water but I have been worried I killed the cycle. I haven't seen any spikes at all with daily testing, sometimes more than once but it also has not gone beyond that 5 possibility less than 5 Nitrates either whereas all my other tanks are clearly above 5. I have ordered a couple of sponge filters from aquarium co-op so those should be in soon hopefully. The last fish is still alive seems ok for now I guess but we'll see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bev C Posted July 21, 2022 Share Posted July 21, 2022 bless you heart best wishes I have the same problem no pet store near me closest one is PetSmart 40-50 miles and their fish and display fish with tanks is not good most of times died fish on bottom when i bought my tank and supplies ,, did not have the fish yet and the sales person pulled me over to side and gave me a fish shop business card and the number and location I took their advice and went there have to travel 1-2 hours to get there but worth the trip when i go wonderful shop and healthy fish i take a thin blanket and styrofoam chest and towels and put the bags of fish in the chest and add towels to chest so they will not move around and i cover the chest with a blanket to prevent sun hitting the chest and make sure i have heater going winter and air conditioning in the summer usually it is my last stop so i can travel straight home with the fish ,, I always have to call to see if they have the fish i want before going but love the shop and been going there for 15 years 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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