2 sick molllies Home » Forums » Freshwater Aquariums Replies: 1   Pages: 1   Most recent reply posted by: Ananda (Jan 4, 2004 11:00 AM)

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ilovesailfins Posts: 2 From: Registered: Jan, 2004 2 sick molllies Posted: Jan 3, 2004 8:47 PM Reply I have a 55 gallon freshwater tank. All the fish except 2 are doing great. I have 2 sail fin mollies who are just looking under the weather. One mollie is over a year old and about 4 inches long. The other mollie is about 8 months old and was full of vigor until about a week ago. Both mollies are eating very well. The older mollie just hangs around the top of the water slowly wagging her tail. She does get excited at feeding time though. The other mollies hides in a decoration at the bottom, but again she gets excited when it is time to eat. I noticed both of them have slightly arched backs. Thier fins are not clamped, there are no white spots, or extra mucus on their bodies. I can't figure this out. I have looked up every kind of problem in one of fish books and nothing seems to fit. I am wondering if mabe they are lacking in some kind of nutrients. Their breathing rate seems normal. I am at a loss here. Water quality is good ammonia-0 nitrites-00 nitrates-00 ph-7.5 temp 80 Does anybody have any ideas as to what is going on?

Ananda Posts: 7,034 From: Chicagoland Registered: Nov, 2001 Re: 2 sick molllies Posted: Jan 4, 2004 11:00 AM Reply Have you got any salt in that tank? My sailfins seem to prefer a salted tank -- at the very least, their colors brighten up. I try to keep my brackish molly tanks at 1.004 - 1.006 so it's easier to move the mollies from the fw planted tank to the brackish tank. Failing that, how hard is your water? I firmly believe success in keeping mollies in non-salted water depends on having hard water. Marine salt has, in addition to the salt, assorted other minerals; if you have hard water, you have at least some of those other minerals in your tank. It may help to start up a brackish tank (maybe a 20g long) as a "molly resort"... when the fish don't look great, they get a vacation in brackish. A couple of months or so later, back into the main tank they go. That would let you keep them in the 55g display tank most of the time. Alternately, set up a big new brackish tank! :-) Truthfully, brackish is about as easy as freshwater. The only difference is you mix in some saltwater with the freshwater when you do water changes.

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