[amcoffeegirl]

Ok in my 20 high i have 2 male mollies, 1 adult male guppy, 1 one eyed cory rescue, 5 baby guppies, 4 adult black kuhli loaches, 1 juvenille kuhli, and today 1 baby kuhli also a 3 inch rubber lip pleco.(the kind that stays smaller)

i have an underground filter and a hob filter also.

This tank was running well till the mollies got some kind of fin rot/ fungus? They started to shimmy and shake and the other guppies were glancing of the plants.

I treated this tank and took out all my plants.

I do 25% weekly water changes, use declorinator, and dose the plants with flourish excel. i would say that i overfeed a little.

My question is can i keep all these fish together? The baby guppies will go away after they have grown enough to see if i like any of the coloring or finnage, i might keep one or two.

Should the mollies be moved??? Should the ug filter come out??

Does anyone here keep mollies in a community tank- straight freshwater?

these are small mollies maybe 2 1/2 inches, not the 6 inch mollies.
they were born in my tank and have never had brackish water.
They have gotten this cottony white growth on the tail more than once.

I cant list my water parameters right now since the tank was just bombed with meds its pry all contorted now anyway. and im at work.

any sugestions?
d.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

Could i make my water a little harder in this community situation, by adding a piece of limestone, without harm to others?
Or can i add calcium or magnesium?

i have read that mollies like hard water and that frequent water changes are good.

today at my lfs they told me that i should be only doing water changes of 25% per month. This goes against everthing i have read and heard with the exception of super low tech tanks.

I feed a variety of foods frozen bloodworms, algae wafers, sinking pellets.
temp is a solid 78 degrees. no draft. when i add water it mite have chilled them. i do test it with my hand to make sure it feels right.

and i know fish will breed in any conditions but it feels like im doing it right since they keep multiplying. specially the loaches

k

help if you can.

 

[Ariel301]

Your LFS told you wrong about the water changes. I've had an LFS tell me that too...I would be very careful with any advice you get from that store.

Those fish are all compatible as far as temperament. I don't think you have them too overcrowded, especially if you've got plenty of plants to help clean the water up. Keep an eye on your water paramenters (ammonia/nitrite especially) as toxins are obviously stressful to the fish and can weaken them, making them more prone to illness.

As for where the illness in your mollies came from....did you just put in any new fish in the last few weeks? If so, they may have been carrying it. If the mollies were stressed by something or pretty old, they are also more susceptible.

Try adding some salt to your water--plain, non-iodized kitchen salt will do. Put in a few tablespoons. Livebearers like a little salt, and it will not hurt your plants or other fish. Salt is a natural antibacterial agent as well, so it should help prevent disease/parasites.

 

[F22]

live bearing species really do best in a tank with wter parameters suited towards them... a slightly higher Ph with a decent salt content is best for them, I try not to keep them in a community tank with plants, I also try not to sell them if i know that is where they will be going...

Right now i am keeping 12 koi swordtails and 8 gold occelatus in a 37 with a trace amount of salt, Ph is about 7.4 and they seem to be fine, I would personally remove them and keep them out of there... The water they inhabit in the wild would never reach the parameters of a planted system...

just my take..

F

 

[amcoffeegirl]

thanks alot
I couldnt agree more with what you said about the lfs. It almost hurts my feelings that this is what they tell the customers.
and it shows in there mollies they look like crap.

yes i did add the one male guppy within the last 2 weeks and it hurts my heart that this happened as i am usually a very wise shopper with my fish.
i should have quarantined. stupid me.

So you dont think mollies or live bearerers should be kept with plants????
i thought they liked to graze off any algae that might be present. and liked to hide in the cover it provided, especially for the babies???

When i started my 1st tank i was told that a 5.5 gallon would be hard to keep. and was instructed to make sure to do weekly wanter changes of 20 percent at least for this little tank or it would fail.

now that i have a 20 gallon i assumed it was the same way??

I used to add aquarium salt more regularly, i guess i will go back to doing that.

Thanks for all the input.

I would like to continue to learn more about mollies because i love them.
Know any good websites or info for them????
ttfn

 

[lauraleellbp]

I wouldn't use salt other than as a short-term treatment in a planted tank. Salt isn't good for most plants.

I'd move the affected fish to a QT tank and treat them with salt there.

Do you have any idea what the kH & gH are of your main tank and of your tap water?

 

[F22]

^ agreed.

The Mollies will graze algae, but the setup is all wrong for them in a planted... you may do best to setup a seperate live bearer system...sorry your local gives you bad info...

(we aren't all like that i promise)

F

 

[fibertech]

I have two tanks with Mollys in them. One is a 55 planted that I keep a ton of females in and they do real well without salt. The other is a 20H non planted for the males, also no salt. These fish multiplied like crazy when we first got them for a 10 gallon, so we kept buying tanks to house the offspring. Things have settled down now since I moved the males into another tank and we can breed what fish we want now. I use RO/DI water and keep a hardness of 3GH and 3-4 KH in all the tanks.

BTW, the Mollys love the plants in the 55 and play in them all day long. IME, they are great fish to have in a planted tank.

 

[Ariel301]

Water parameters of the fish's wild habitat are not as important for fish that have been tank-bred for many, many generations like most mollies. I have lived with water parameters of all sorts, from very hard, high pH to very soft, low pH waters, and have kept livebearers and other species in them just fine without having to add tons of chemicals to change the water. I have kept them in planted and unplanted tanks, salt and no salt. I notice that the salt seems to help them live longer, but no difference in having different water types. A small amount of salt doesn't do any harm to plants; I put about 1/4 cup in my planted 55 with every water change and my plants grow fine. When they don't, it is for other reasons than the salt--mainly fertilizing issues or algae or snails.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

in the process of treating i did lose one of my loaches, i hope the rest will make it. i didnt see the baby kuhli either but he may still be under the gravel.

I hope i killed whatever the problem was.

they dont appear to be glancing off the gravel or plants anymore.
if it was ich i never saw any signs of white spots.

i bought a new tank to put all my plants in it....no fish.
so if i transfered any disease to that tank i have no idea???
how long should i wait to move the plants back or add some fish??

i have no more water test kits so i will test all parameters before doing anything.
thanks to everyone.

 

[lauraleellbp]

Personally, I'd wait 4 weeks. I always prefer to err on the side of caution.

 

[F22]

Personally, I'd wait 4 weeks. I always prefer to err on the side of caution.

+1

i would stay away from livebearers next time though, they can be funny if you don't get them from a really good source, when i bring them into the store some batches require 2 weeks of meds and quarentine before i even think about selling them...