Tamara

i have four 1½ month dalmation mollies and they're all about 1½cm big then there's this one that's about 1 cm big...and he's just laying on a rock panting like crazy and just moves if i go to put him in a net or if there's food that's right in front of him...what's happening to my baby fish?!!?

boff

Buy the size difference at that small size, it might be mother nature and the strongest will survive ,but have you done a water test just to make sure .

Tamara

yesterday nitrite was at 0.25-0.50...now it's gone up to 0.50-1.00 my pH somehow went flying up past 7.6i'd say it's about 7.8-8.0 and ammonia's at zeor. Sorry i don't have a nitrate tester...getting one soon.

Butterfly

Need to do a water change the Nitrites are toxic to your fish.
Carol

Tamara

i just did a 60& water change and tested...went down to about 0.25-0.50ppm ..no ammonia either.
and the ph is now at 7.7....i don't know how to make the ph go down...the water change kind of helped...
but not really alot...

chickadee

Don't try to change the pH as any attempt to change it artificially with chemicals will be disasterous. They are too unstable and the fluctuations are harder than just letting them get used to the change on their own. The Nitrites are still too high. You may have to do another water change. You are in the middle of a cycle for some reason. Is your tank filtered? How long have you had the tank? How big is it? What fish do you have in there? If I am missing something please forgive me but I did not get much information from the posts.

If you could do another 25% change to see if you could lower the Nitrites some more it would maybe help. Nitrites are especially harmful for fry and immature fish as they are growth inhibitors.

Rose

Tamara

•10 gallon:
-4 Dalmatian molly fry (born July 25th)
-1 albino Cory catfish

yes my tank is filterd. i've had my tank for about 2-3months.

chickadee

For some reason the tank is trying to cycle. If the Nitrites can be kept at bay it may not take long to get back to normal since it was obviously cycled at one time.

Rose

Tamara

what do you mean by the nitrites kept at bay? it may be because; the fry don't go for the food unless if there's lots...so i have to put in not quite lots..but more than they can eat so taht they can eat it, so i guess the food builds up perhaps? but it should have been building up before too then..not just for some reason now?

chickadee

I don't think feeding has anything to do with it. The Nitrites in your tank are building up for some reason and it has to do with the filter doing a mini-cycle for some reason.

Common causes for a mini-cycle are too big a water change at one time, done over and over soon after the original cycle; too heavy a load of fish for the tank or cycle status; use of a chemical or medication in the tank that has disturbed the status of your filters biological filtration; replacement of the gravel in the tank; replacement of the filter media in the filter with a new cartridge without leaving something to seed the new media. I do not know if any of these apply to you, but it does NOT seem to be that your tank is overstocked so that is probably not a factor. Sometimes however it takes from 6 - 8 weeks or longer to cycle the first time so it could be that you have not ever quite gotten through the cycle process in the first place.

If you are still cycling the first time, (see http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm) then you are smack dab in the middle of the process with Nitrites showing and no Nitrates yet. This process is hard on fish and some are not hardy enough to survive the process and it could be that since you have fry that they will not survive due to the stress on their systems.

When I said keep Nitrites at bay, I meant that they need to be kept at 0 but if you are still cycling it is not going to happen. The best you can do is test frequently and change the water often enough to make your little fish as comfortable as possible. One suggestion, when you change the water wait a while before you test or your readings will not be accurate as the water will not have had a chance to mix into its final composition. If you even wait a few hours it will give you a more accurate reading. Overnight is probably even better.

Rose

Tamara

I just tested again and the ph was at 7.4ish which is really good compared to a few days ago.
The nitrItes were at 0.25ish so that's still better,,but not good enough and i just did a 15% water change. The thing is though i've never seen any ammonia in my tank. But i didn't have a test kit until about a 3 weeks after i got my tank and almost everything was at zero. but could maybe the testing kit thing be..broken?/notworking? i was asking about a month ago if my tank was filtered and everyone said yes so if it is cycling right now..it'd be another mini one? uhmm i have been doing some bigger water changes...because my room was being painted so i needed to move the tank so i did like..70% water change about 5 times in a week but that was a week to two weeks ago. i haven't changed anything else..just the 5 big water changes are the only out of usual things.

chickadee

That many large water changes in such a short time could indeed make your tank go into a mini cycle. Also if your filter is inoperable or turned off for more than 30 minutes the bacteria starts to die so if you were moving your tank about and happened to have it unplugged for a longer period of time, the cycle was disturbed. If that is the case then you are going through a mini-cycle and it will just need time and testing and water changes (small ones) if the parameters get too far out of hand. You basically have just gone backwards by some time in your cycle. The only question is whether the little fry will be able to handle it. That I do not know at this point. The Cory Catfish can probably handle it as long as you keep an eye on the readings and change the water if they get too high.

Rose

Tamara

When i knew the filter would be turned off for more than 30 minutes i put it in a bucket of the aquariams water and had it on. The fish seem fine, all happy and playing, The ammonia=0, ph=7.2, but then the nitrItes=0.50-1.00, i don';t know what i should be doing anymore.

chickadee

I am still thinking it was the massive water changes and that the mini cycle will right itself but will take time to do so. Just go on as you have been checking the water and doing water changes as necessary. I know that is not what you may want to hear, but it does happen to us all at times. I have a tank right now that I will probably have a mini cycle in as the fish have been out of there for a while now and I have to replace them and the filter will probably do a mini cycle, but it just has to be gotten through. We will be here and try to answer questions about any problems you may have, but the cycle won't be nearly as long as the original one. Just do small water changes when you do them - no more than 20% for a while to let the bacteria build up to the normal level again.

It will be okay. If the fry have made it this long they are doing well and you are doing something right. Just continue what it is that is working and it will recycle for you.

Rose