[HobieDude16]

allright, well, i got a 10 gallon tank, and, stupidly, forgot to pay as much attention to my 5 gallon..... i noticed today that the fish were not as up and at it, so i looked for them..... theyre all still alive, but my black and silver molley have hte cotton stuff hanging..... the baloon belly is fine, but the other 2 are seeming to not want to move...... i took them out, drained the tank, put in new water, got some medicine for fungus, and put them back in, theyre slowly starting to move more, basically just holding themselves up in place..... is there anything else i can do? im hoping this will help keep them fine, but im not sure....... i hope nothing happens to them!

 

[Cichlid Man]

Mollies are strictly brakish water fish, and even though they can be maintained in fresh water for a reasonable amount of time, they will not thrive in it and are best kept at roughly 1 teaspoon of sea salt per gallon to prevent fungal growths and shimmying.

 

[Damon]

Wild caught mollies are brackish fish, and even those can adapt. The mollies purchased from a lfs have been bred and raised in freshwater for many generations. Salt can be added but it isn't necessary. Sounds like you have a fungus in there. An anti-fungal med should do the trick if my diagnosis is right. Clean water is paramount to good fish health.

 

[Cichlid Man]

Even so, mollies are far more prone to catching bacterial infections if a small amount of salt is not present.

 

[HobieDude16]

well, the silver molley went last night, sadly, and just now, i lost my black molley..... the balloon belly, who has seemed fine all along, now seems sick, im scared im going to lose him too, then, my 5 gal is empty.... this really sucks

 

[Cichlid Man]

Do some regular water changes, about 30% every other day will do the trick.
Is there any salt in the water.?
I'm sorry about your losses

 

[HobieDude16]

well, i got some salt in my tanks now, i bought a 2.5 gal to hold my injured balloon belly, and now he seems fine, thankfully, so i cleaned my 5 gal, ran it for a while, and got 2 puffers for that one.... im sticking to taht setup so i dont overcrowd it..... i might get a tetra for the molley to have as company, not sure, but other than that, everything else is ok with thsoe tanks..... in my 10gal my clown loach suddenly got "pop eye" so i put medicine in the tank for that, and hopefully he will be fixed...... i think it was caused by my filter not running properly, as yesterday, when i was checking my tank, the impeller had stopped, and no water was being filtered..... it IS a new tank, so i dont know if that would hurt it (it was off no more than a day) so i dunno, hopefully everything will be fine..... we shall see

 

[Damon]

Even so, mollies are far more prone to catching bacterial infections if a small amount of salt is not present.

What research is this based on? I would be interested in this reading. All my research shows mollies don't need salt, and in fact very few actually inhabit any. They perfer harder water but TDS and salinity are not the same thing.

 

[HobieDude16]

awww man, my balloon belly is going, hes on his back i cant really do anything to help him i guess, today, he seemed fine, now hes dieing, this totally sucks....... i hope my clown loach is ok

 

[ravekiss]

I'm so sorry to hear of your losses...:-(

 

[HobieDude16]

thanks man, i know, it sucks, i just wish i couldve done better on the molley tank, i think that one was all my fault, which makes me feel worse...... but on the 10 gal, i dont know how that filter just stopped running so suddenly, thats really not cool..... make me think of finding nemo.....

 

[ravekiss]

Right...I remember that scene.

 

[Cichlid Man]

Even so, mollies are far more prone to catching bacterial infections if a small amount of salt is not present.

What research is this based on? I would be interested in this reading. All my research shows mollies don't need salt, and in fact very few actually inhabit any. They perfer harder water but TDS and salinity are not the same thing.

If the water they live in is not hard then adding salt will increase the hardness, also it will prevent shimmying that mollies are prone to get, this can also lead to bacterial infections.

Quote: poecilia latipinna sailfin molly: This beautiful Live-bearer comes from eastern states of the U.S.A where it is mainly found in coastal or estuarine areas. For this reason a small amount of sea salt is benificial.

This quote comes from the book "The complete Aquarist's Guide to freshwater tropical fishes" by Gilbert books and Iv'e also read it in other books.
Also I know this through my own knowledge through personal experience.

I'm sorry to hear about your deaths, and about your pop eye clown loach, my guppy overcame this easily with treatment.

 

[HobieDude16]

my loach still is alive, his eye hasnt gone back in, hes in my "quarantine" tank, my 2gal, and hes alone, with medicine..... he seems ok so far, but who knows, maybe he will live, id be excited, thats for sure

 

[HobieDude16]

with your guppy overcoming it, how long did it take, and did the eye just go back in? hes swimming around some now, which is a good sign, but his eye is still puffed out and whiteishly glazed..... im hoping the medicine will be enough to help him, but im worried bout him, i dont want to lose him

 

[HobieDude16]

nevermind that last question, my loach just left me. i am no longer replacing my fish, not untill i get some stuff straightened out.... my 10 gal seems ok for now, i have one puffer in my 5 gal, and im going to keep the 2.5 gal running in case another fish gets sick.... man, this sucks, thanks for the help though guys, too bad it didnt work out