My Fish are Dying!?

Question

Just bought fish (Mollies) from Walmart a week ago. It is now 8 days later and they all died but one. I put water conditioner in the tank, I have a filter, and gold fish flakes. Am I missing something here? The water here is very hard. Should I be putting something else in the talk to make the water habitat easier for the fish to handle or does Wal-mart just sell bad fish? Why do my critters keep dying? Am I doing something wrong? They keep going to a corner of the tank and sitting there, then they die. Why?

Answer 1

First of all, mollies are brackish water fish. This means they need salt in their water. About one teaspoon per gallon of water. If it is a 10 gallon tank, then put in 10 teaspoons of salt. Regular non-iodized table salt is OK (lots of people disagree, but I use it and don't have problems). The salt will soften the water some, too.

Make sure you acclimate the fish properly before you put them in your tank and never, ever add the water from the bag into your aquarium.

Also, they are tropical fish and need a temp range of 72-78 degrees.

Mollies are algae grazers and need greens in their diets. Pet stores sell mollie flakes that are perfect for them.

Wal-Mart is probably not the best place to buy fish. The one by me here in the Cleveland area always has dead fish in the tanks, dirt on the bottom and algae on the glass. The tanks always look bad to me.

Answer 2

First off, mollies are actually brackish fish, meaning they need some salt in their water. Secondly, Wal-Mart sells bad fish all the time. NEVER buy fish from Wal-Mart. (I say this, and yet, my sister works at Wal-Mart.) Their fish are kept in EXTREMELY bad conditions; everything from overcrowded tanks to constant cases of ich to dead fish in each tank. They even sell fish with infections that they know will die in a few days! Plus, mollies should be eating normal fish food, not food specialized for goldfish. Goldfish and mollies need different kinds of food.

Hope I helped!

Answer 3

well your first mistake was buying them at wal-mart most of the time they die been there done that but there are also drops you can buy to put in you tank it keeps the water clean and the tank for the most part i think alot of wal-marts problem is the dont feed their fish so when you get them home they over eat and implode a fish doesnt know when to stop eating but they know when they havnt eaten at all

Answer 4

I bought 4 fishes and then 3 days after they died but I forgot about it already now I have 2 fishes they lived 8 months already

Answer 5

Maybe it's your choice of fish. Are they the first fish for your tank or have you had some in there before? If it s a new tank I heard that you should stay away from Mollies and get Tetras because of their maintenance. I think you should try feeding them some other type of food too because maybe they aren't eating it and they're starving.

Answer 6

I used to buy spring water in the gallons and that seemed to help, but Wal Mart is infamous for carrying fish that have problems such as sickness. Also seems they don't care for their fish as well as they should. The tanks in our store are always dirty with dead fish floating around. Maybe you should purchase fish else where?

Answer 7

I have fish in my tank that came from wal-mart and I have had some of them for 2 years.go to your PET store and ask them to show you what you need for hard water.

Answer 8

you probably shouldnt have bought fish from wal-mart. Go to the pet store and ask them if they have hard water treatments or if you are using the wrong things.

Answer 9

have you cycled your tank. if you are just starting a tank begin with danios or barbs. if your tank is new and you are new to the hobby do some research on the "nitrogen cycle" and "new tank syndrome" www.cichlid-forum.com has an excellent libary. To fully answer this question i would need much more info. nitrate ammonia nitrate levels how big is the tank ect.

Answer 10

do you have the thing that produces air in the tank because the fish need oxygen also. maybe that is the problem. my fish died because of that too. i have two large fish remaining and they can live with out air. i also have a betta who also lives without air.