Still Mollies?

Question

Ok, I have a 10 gallon tank with 4 mollies (2 black, 2 dalmation). My tank is only a few weeks old and is still going through the nitrogen cycle. Nitrites and Nitrates are present, but Ammonia is not. My fish had ick about 4 days ago. Most is gone but my black female molly still has a white spot by her mouth. All the fish are eating well, but then they just kinda sit in the gravel or just swim in one spot. Even my black male mollies tail seems droopy. I lost a white molly yesterday. Please help me!

I have added aquarium salt and I am doing regular 25% water changes (the Ick treatment says I have to do this each new dose). HELP HELP HELP!!!

Please help ASAP !!!!

Answer 1

The behavior seems fairly normal considering all you have going on in your tank. The lethargy is most likely due to the nitrite levels (http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/nitritepoison.htm ). You don't mention what your levels are, but you should be trying to keep these below 0.5 ppm - that's about the point where fish begin to show signs of stress.

The ich and medication probably aren't helping their situation, since meds can also stress your fish. Just be sure that when you're doing water changes that you're only adding back the amount of medication removed (say you have a 20 gallon tank, and your medication calls for 1 drop per gallon - if you do a 25% change [5 gallons] add 5 drops to the replacement water, not 20) unless your medication specifically says otherwise. Otherwise, you'll overdose your fish.

Have you raised the temperature of the tank? This can help in treating ich, since the warmer water speeds up the life cycle of the parasites so they drop off the fish faster. When they're on your fish, they aren't affected by medications. You can go into the mid 80s for mollies, but be sure you adjust the temperature slowly, so they don't have added stress form this as well. As a side benefit, the warmer temperature also encourages the cycling bacteria to multiply faster!