serafik

I have had my 10 gallon fish tank for about 4 months now and i can never keep the ammonia levels right. I now have a very sick gold molly who is laying on the bottom of the tank and only swims when the other fish, 3 balloon mollies and 4 zebra danios, pick on her. nitrite and nitrate levels were ok and the pH read too high on my test kit. the water temperature is about 77. I have also had a different gold molly and a cory catfish die already. to try and help the ammonia levels i changed about 2/3 of the water. the fish eat tropical flakes occasionally some peas and some shrimp pellets. The gravel at the bottom gets dirty so quickly it is hard for me to keep up with the cleaning. what can i do to help my sick molly?

TFA101

You might actually want to consider rehoming some fish or getting a larger tank. With those fish, you'll need at least 29 gallons. The gravel gets dirty so fast and the ammonia levels are so high because there are too many fish in the tank and your tank is probably still in the nitrogen cycle. Your gold molly in particular has the potential to grow up to 5 inches long, and ten gallons will just not suffice. If you set up a larger aquarium, you will be able to keep all those fish you have with greater ease and not have to worry about water changes as much.

Also, what are your current readings for your aquarium?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH:

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore

I'm sorry your fish isn't feeling well. It sounds like it may be feeling the effects of ammonia in the tank.
As TFA pointed out the tank is overstocked.
if you could post the readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate it would be helpful.

Sounds like you should be doing daily water changes and vacuuming the gravel. Left over food creates ammonia.

Good luck.

serafik

ammonia 3.0
nitrate o
nitrite 0
pH 7.8
thanks for the help. i did not know the gold molly could get so big i was under the impression she would stay in the two inch range.

Lucy

Thanks for posting your readings. We should have asked what test you're using.
The liquid kits are far more accurate IMO than strips.

It would be a good idea to begin doing 50% daily water changes or 25% twice a day. Use Prime as your water conditioner. It'll detox the ammonia for 24 hrs between water changes making it safer for your fish.
Keep doing that until your readings are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite with 5-10 nitrate.
Hang in there and be patient, cycling can take up to a month, sometimes longer with fish.

So you understand what is happening in your tank, please read abiut the Nitrogen Cycle

Good luck with your tank.