7anya

I'm very frustrated and sad! I thought I was doing it right and now fish are dying left and right.

I have a 20 gallon tank, and I've had it since February 12th. That was the day I went to the store and had my water tested. My tank apparently was ready to have fish added to it; you tell me. The readings were 0.2 amonia, 0 nitrite, and 10 nitrate, and pH of 8.4 (apparently due to the tap water over here).

At that point I added two black mollies and two balloon mollies. One black molly died due to an accident with an ornament, so I removed that.

I'm thinking I added fish too fast, perhaps. But it's strange because they started dying off after a few events.

8 days later I added two more fish. Another balloon molly and a dalmatian molly.
And then 13 days later I added 5 cardinal tetras and one otocinclus (I realize now I should have gotten two or more, but I didn't know at the time).

Then disaster strikes. A few days ago, the power went out all night. I've only had the tank about a month so I wasn't ready for it at all. I stayed up almost all night pouring water in and out of a cup to try and give them air. The temperature stayed ok because it doesn't get cold at night. The fish survived, I was relieved.
But the next day one of the cardinal tetras randomly died. I thought, ok, maybe it stressed from the power outage... The next day, my black molly died. I did a fast water change and read that the carbon in the filter could go bad, so I removed the rocks inside the pouch and put it back.
Tonight, a balloon molly died. One that looked really healthy.
And also, another balloon molly has this weird moldy white stuff in spots on its fins and around its eyes. I know it's not ICH because it looks nothing like specks or salt.

So I really don't get what's going on. By the way, is it dangerous if you leave a slice of zucchini in the tank for too long? I left in for only half a day and it got this weird white stringy residue on it.. I'm wondering if that could have not helped.

And I don't know my water levels right now- I didn't buy a water tester, being uninformed and all. I thought once it was at a good place and fish were all doing fine I wouldn't need to test it. Didn't anticipate needing to know right away.

Chrisson

I checked some books and according to the description of the symptoms on your balloon molly it could be Lymphocystis, Fungus or Pox

Lymphocystis look like cauliflower which makes the fish lose weight but it's rarely seen

Saprolegnia/Fungus can be shown as white hairy things on the fish and happens due to fishes being transferred to a tank that has a wide difference in the water

Pox is due to lack of vitamins and proper diet.

It's likely that your fish died because of the high pH and acclimating wasn't done long enough which shocked them and had immune system weakened and was given disease likely fungus. I recommend getting a ph down but I'm no professional so you should hear what others have to say.

7anya

I have a picture! I'm sad though because I'm sure she'll be dead by morning, if the other healthy ones are going like this.
You can see, there's white stuff on all the fins and a little near the eye. Kind of hard to see in a photo, has to be perfect lighting. Usually the fins are clear, not with those weird white highlights.

7anya

How does one lower the ph? It seems to be a problem here because the tap water has a high ph (I do treat it with aquasafe of course)..

agabr123

hi and welcome to fishlore

you can lower pH pretty easily by adding driftwood to the tank. i wouldn't use any chemicals because a stable pH is generally much more important than one that is perhaps a bit too high or a bit too low.

first things first, you should do daily 50% water changes with either prime or stress coat +, the aquasafe will work as long as it says that it detoxifies ammonia, and removes chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals. that will keep the levels low enough to no longer be toxic to your fish.

your mollie probably has some kind of fungus, but it's hard to tell from that picture. are your fish pooing normally or is their poo white and stringy? if it's white and stringy then that's a sign of internal parasites.

here's a site that should help you a bit more in diagnosing them
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/Q&A/fin_disorders.html
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/Q&A/skin_disorders.html
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_diseases/bacteria.html
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_dis...disorders.html

bluealuefish

Hi, I'm sorry to hear about your fish troubles. Power outages really suck.

A tank should be cycled before you add fish. That means 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and less than 20 nitrates. Since you had some ammonia, that might have stressed your fish causing them die. You can read about the cycling process in the beginner's thread.

I don't know what disease your balloon molly had, maybe someone else has more experience with that. One way to prevent disease from spreading to other fish is to quarantine fish before adding them to the main tank.

Most people here would recommend getting the API Master liquid test kit to monitor your water levels. I wouldn't leave veggies in the tank for more than 24 hours because they might break down, I usually take it out after 12 hrs max. Best of luck!

aquarist48

I'm not sure that the pH is the problem. You can take fish from a low pH to a high pH but you can't take a fish from a high pH to a low pH. If the mollies are extremely sensitive to pH levels I guess it could make a difference but...as posted above ammonia could have been the problem.

Llama

Don't think mollies are sensitive to pH, they're quite hardy fish from my experience with them. That said if I remember well they prefer acidic to alkali, but I doubt it'd have killed them.

ladylouroll

my mollys cope fine with my ph8 so i dont think that can be it.
hope you find out what it is soon! the 50 percent water changes are working wonders at getting my ammonia to come down so id try that mayb? also using stress coat+ sounds like a good plan to. hope you sort it!

peacemaker92

WELCOME TO FISHLORE!

So sorry to hear about your fishes. I experienced the same problem except for the stuff that are growing on your mollies. First thing first, none should have any ammonia in the aquarium even if it's just a little as 0.3. Ammonia should be kept to 0 to prevent any deaths. Another reason why your fishes have been dying one by one is because of the bio load. When you've just started an aquarium, it should be running without fish for at least about a month, then add fish two by two so that your filter can get use to the bio load. So what I'd do in this situation is, maybe give away your fish to a friend who has he/she's own running aquarium or return the fish to start your tank fresh. Hope my info helps! Feel free to ask around Fishlore, PLENTY OF HELPFUL MEMBERS HERE!

Take care & Good luck!