tropical fish - mollys?

Question

I have a 30 gallon tropical tank with comunity fish in it - mollys, a spotted dojo, some tetras. My mollys have been giving me issues, they are the only fish who have gotten sick or died at all. I swore I wouldn't get any more, but then my last girl died off... all I have now is a boy and a little baby (female). Should I get a few more females for him to keep company? Will it really be upsetting for him to not have any other adult mollys around?
Also, if I do go ahead and get a few more female mollys I'd like to protect the rest of the tank from them for a while to make sure they're nto bringing any diseases into the tank. Any suggestions as to how long I should keep them in the second smaller tank before introducing them to the rest of the group?

Answer 1

How many fish in total do you have in your tank? mollies die off if crowded, rule of thumb is 1 inch per gallon. Your male will be fine with no females around but if you want your female to survive you should buy at least 2 more females, because males are very sexually aggressive and he will just keep at your one, so having two allows him to spread his aggression out. That could be what happened to your last female. Placing your fish in the second tank is a good idea and they should only need to be in there for 3 to 7 days for you to tell if there is anything wrong with them. Hope I have helped.

Answer 2

mollies actually do better in brackish water so it is sometimes frustrating in to have them in a freshwater tank. If you really like them then go ahead and get another one you may have just not gotten a healthy one. What i would do is put some aquarium salt in your tank (i think its like a tbsp per 5 gallons) as that will not only help them but all your freshwater fish do better and fight disease better. Also i would leave them in the smaller tank for about a week before transporting them to the actual fish tank...good luck

Answer 3

You know, I had the same problem with mollies - I'd get 'em home, quarantine 'em, they'd be ok for a couple of days, and then they'd die. Water tests all showed great parameters (ammonia and nitrite at 0ppm, nitrate at 10ppm, pH at 7.0, temp at 79 degrees), so I know it wasn't a water quality issue. The next batch I got, I tried adding marine salt to create the brackish environment - they still died. Finally, on a whim, I went to a different place to get my fish - and they lived for quite some time. So if possible, try getting your fish elsewhere.

Don't add salt to the tank you currently have - loaches and most tetras cannot tolerate salt well, and it will end up causing permanent damage.

I've been in the habit of "medicating" my fish when I get them in the quarantine tank. I'll do a couple of doses of Melafix and a couple of doses of Pimafix - if they still seem ok after two weeks, I'll wean them off of the Melafix and Pimafix and continue to leave them in the quarantine tank for another two weeks. If all seems well after those last two weeks, they go into the main tank. A month seems like a long time to quarantine, but it's better than your main tank full of dead fish...

Just make sure you keep on top of weekly 20% changes on all your tanks. Use dechlorinated tap water, not spring or distilled water (they lack essential trace elements for healthy fish).

I agree with Sabersquirrel though - invest in a good test kit that measures ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and pH (akalinity really isn't that much of a problem for most fish, so if you need it tested, take a sample to your local pet store). If you have a PetSmart near you, you can get the API Freshwater Master Test Kit for $13.49 plus tax if you print out the following ad:
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441776772&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302030152&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1161744853442&itemNo=0&Ntt=master&In=All&previousText=master&N=2

They price match their own online prices, so make sure you take that with you, otherwise you'll end up paying close to $40 for it.

Answer 4

Generally if your molly are giving you trouble it's generally one of 2 things.

1)Nitrate and ammonia levels due to over stocking, over feeding, or under cleaning. Molly are more sensitive to this than most fish.

2)Molly don't do well in soft water. Dojo loaches, and tetras prefer a 3-5 KH water which is mildly soft. Molly prefer 10-25 which is medium to hard water. Adding salt can offset soft water, but the amounts needed aren't good for he rest of your fish.

3)Molly don't "need" salt, and happily live in fresh water, and salt water. In all molly (guppy, platty, swrdtail) tanks you should 1 teaspoon of per gallon, but this is mainly to prevent ich, and velvet. No more than 1 per 5 teaspoons is reccommend fo most freshwater fish.

I'd get a test kit for ammonia, nitrates, and KH. (Note 1 KH ~= 17 ppm alkalinity)

Answer 5

I had a bout 3 mollys mine all died in about 2 weeks of getting them i had no idea what i did wrong so now i dont get them any more good luck

Answer 6

mollys likes water to be a little salty. They live around brackish water. That's why they get sick easily when living in soft water all the time. But dokos and tetras like soft water so don't buy anymore mollys or get all brackish waterfish.

Answer 7

Molly's arent very pretty, why don't you try Gourami's, they are very pretty hearty fish, or if you like smaller fish, try cherry barbs, they are so cute. If you buy fish and they die, I'd seriously look into changing the location you buy your fish, no sense in wasting all that money just to find out they have ick and they kill your whole tank.