[Whtroze]

Hi all, and thank you in advance for any advice. To start out, I'll explain my tank and issue that occurred.
I have a 10 gal, cycled for over a year, and has aquarium sand substrate. Had 2 mollies...a black male, and a silver female. Water changes were 1/4 weekly. All was going great, in fact in the beginning of August my female had babies!! Sadly, I wasn't even aware she was preg and she ate them before I got a chance to save them. Then things got weird a week later. The female brutally attacked the male and killed him. They had always gotten along prior, so this was a shock. After that event, the female started hiding and sleeping a lot. I had to on a few occassions wake her up to eat...which she eagerly ate like a vacuum. I noticed a gravid dot and bigger belly toward the end of August and figured the odd behavior was likely pregnancy again. In mid Sept I notice she was turning a greyish color...most marked along her back and pectoral fins. Didn't look like velvet or any other parasite...just looked like her skin was changing color. The sleeping lots and hiding continued, but she still ate wonderfully. A friend told me it could be the pregnancy, which I thought was odd since didn't happen before, but I admit, I'm not a fish expert either. After all this, sadly I found her dead this week.
Now my question. I tested my water just to try to get a clue as to what happened. Granted, I used a strip test which I know aren't great, but I was just looking for a general clue. What showed up was a high pH (>8) and water hardness >300. Nitrate and nitrite were still ok. I then was told water hardness can cause this color change I was seeing. I don't know why this happened as the tank was fine for a year. I don't doubt my tap water is hard water but I've always used water conditioner with each water change. Anyway, my question is....what about using distilled water?? I can't get a water softner for my tap as I live in an apartment. I'm concerned it this would deprive the fish of any elements they get from water or is it ok to use?? Any other options or suggestions??? I'm not looking to spend tons on my tank as it is only for recreation. However, I never want my fish to suffer unnecessarily either. Thank you so much for any help!!!

 

[emc7]

Mollies have no issues even with "off the scale" hard water and high pH. Whatever her problems were, I don't think the water was the culprit. Probably injury from the first pregnancy or disease attacking her while she was weakened. If her belly was sunken in rather than rounded, you should treat the surviving fish for internal parasites.

You should never put a fish in straight distilled or RO water, but you can use it to dilute tap water that has more minerals than you want.

I don't think you should even consider changing your water unless you are going to also change fish.

 

[IAoddball]

If you have hard water, as I do from my tap, I recommend getting something called sphagnum moss. Usually from a garden store. It's almost the same as peat moss, but ya get a lot more for cheaper. All you'll need is a little media bag and put some in your filter and your water will soften a bit without chemicals. It works for my tank, and even with my mollies.