mwilloughby

I'm pretty new to all of this would appreciate any help I can get with this one. My husband thought he was being sweet when he brought home 2 hatchet fish from a not so reputable pet store and in turn contaminated my entire tank with ick. So I have increased my tank temp to 84degrees and am waiting it out but my one molly is losing it's color. It doesn't seem to be acting too bad but it is a little lethargic and not eating as well as it had. All my other little guys seem to be doing ok. I only lost 2 tetras and a male balloon molly. Any ideas what this is?

susitna-flower

HI, mwilloughby, WELCOME TO FISHLORE !

Sorry your tank is having problems, and your sweetheart was being sweet....just maybe needed to quarantine the fish for a few weeks before adding to your general community tank.

At this point there are several suggestions that come to mind.

Are you doing water changes? How much and how often?

What are the test results for:

ammonia?
nitrite?
nitrate?

You need to do more frequent water changes when your temperature is up. Higher temperatures = less available oxygen, so more frequent water changes re oxygenate the tank. That is an excellent decision you made to deal with ick, you don't have to go all the way up to 84F though. 82.5 will do it, and might be a bit easier on your fish....

If you haven't been using it a product that helps their slime coat, Stress Coat or Prime, would be beneficial, as well as using vitachem. These products will help boost the fishes immunity and help them bounce back to good health. The MOST important thing though is to make sure your water parameters are in the safe range, this is why I am asking for the test results.... Mollies especially will benefit from eating an algae wafer as part of its regular diet.

Good Luck, let us know how things go.....

mwilloughby

thanks for your response! All of my levels are good, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are 0 and my pH for whatever reason I'm not sure wont go below 8.2. It drops with the water changes but goes right back up within a day so I do have some concerns about the sudden fluctuation affecting the fish. I am changing my water out 25 - 30% every day to every other day, time permitting until I get this clear. I'll drop the temp as you have suggested and I will have to get some algae wafers but so far I've been alternating flakes, granules and frozen brine shrimp. I have well water and a water softener and do use stress coat whenever I change the water or have added fish. I don't have a quarantine tank established yet but intend to do that before adding any more fish. Thanks again for your help

susitna-flower

What are you using to test your water?

The only tests most here on Fishlore recommend are the API tests. These are available in a API Master test kit for freshwater, at most stores. The kit is cost effective since it provides ample testing chemicals to do hundreds of tests.

I am seriously concerned for your tank. It is 3 months old, and you have only 55 gallons, stocked with almost 100 inches of fish.

Even if they are babies now, we count the fish in "Adult inches", with the rule of thumb for stocking 1" per gallon of tank.

I assume the synodontis cat is the "upside down cat"? That is one of the smallest synodontis cats, so that is what I counted....if it is one of the larger ones, they could grow almost a foot apiece!

Bala sharks grow to 14" each, and need a long tank at least 72" when they are adults.
Hatchet fish should be in schools of at least 6, they will not live as long in fewer numbers.

The bio load in your tank is causing stress, which would predispose your fish to infection.

I can't account for why you don't have any nitrate readings at this point. IF your tank is cycled, you should have nitrate readings. By changing 25-30% water every day to two days, you are keeping your fish alive, but it really doesn't sound like the tank is "safe" at this point.

My suggestion would be to get another tank of AT LEAST the same size, and split your fish between two tanks, and use bio-spira in each tank to jump start the cycle. Then you shouldn't do water changes for a week, let the bacteria multiply, then you should be fine with only one 25-50% change every week.. It will cut the work for you, the stress for the fish, and you will have some time to look for that really big tank your balas will need soon! Hope this helps, and Good Luck

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

Have you used any meds recently? From those readings, the tank might be uncycled, either from meds or the heavy bioload.

mwilloughby

I use the API test kits for my readings, I have the dip strips for nitrate/nitrite/kh/GH/ph. Gh is 0, KH is above 240, Ph is about 8.2, nitrite is 0, nitrate is between 0 and 20. The water is clear and the other fish seem to be clearing of the ick, but I'm down to one molly now and the last one is losing its color as well. Ammonia has been at 0 since the second week after the tank was started. As for the potential size of the fish, I have taken that into account and the pet store I deal with will trade in the fish that get too large for smaller ones, which they told me at the time which is why I bought them. When I do trade them in I wont replace them with fish that get to that potential size, newbie mistake. As for the PH I am at a loss as to what to do. I've read not to use chemicals to alter ph or use meds unless absolutely necessary so I have not done that. The only thing I can think of is a porous rock that I bought from the pet store and put in the tank for decoration could be making the ph go up and I will probably remove it for a trial to see if that helps. I've tested my tap water and the ph is 6.5/7.0 from the tap but the KH is still above 240. Is their some other test I should be doing? I thought that when the ammonia and nitrite level went to 0 and the nitrate was really low that the tank was cycled, is that wrong?

mwilloughby

I thought I would give an update on how things are going. My last balloon molly seems to be improving and it's turning back to a pretty shade of yellow/orange. All of my other little guys are also doing much better. There are only a few spots of ick left on 3 of the tetra's and the one hatchet fish. Thanks again for your advice COBetta Couple and Susitna-flower. If anyone has any other ideas as to the ph issue I would appreciate any input you would have to offer.

swords3711

You are doing everything you need to. Sometimes, if the temp change is too dramatic, the fish will have this affect. They should be okay when the temp lowers again or when they adapt.

mwilloughby

thanks swords3711! I never thought fish keeping could become so addictive but I love just watching them, very soothing and I want to take good care of them. I imagine if I ever get the ph problem worked out I know I'll end up getting another tank or two, lol. My whole family gets such a kick out of watching themtoo. With teenage girls in the house it's so hard to get them all in the same room at the same time but if I tell them I'm going to feed the fish they all come running and pull up chairs

COBettaCouple

The test strips tend to be highly inaccurate and I would recommend liquid tests instead. High pH is something most fish can adjust to. Usually the pH at a local store is similiar. Some african cichlids enjoy a high pH like that. I believe peat is a natural way to lower pH.

susitna-flower

Very glad to hear your fish are doing better... Keep the temp up to 82+ for at least the full 2 weeks...The ick should be gone by then...

PH....It does sound like it might be the porous rock...I have a big chunk of coral (really porous looking "rock"), in my shrimp tank, and yes it did bring my ph up. In less than a month it went from 7.4 to 7.8, the only tank that has done that...Even shells as decorations, or substrate with shell fragments in it will do the same thing.

mwilloughby

thanks susitna-flower. I really appreciate all your help and will post updates to let you know how it's going. I would upload some pictures but I am still new to this site and haven't quite figured that out just yet

mwilloughby

oh and COBettaCouple, sry I didn't notice your last response until now. I do have a liquid test kit for the PH and have been using both the liquid and the strips. You did just answer another question I had which was if the liquid or the strips were more accurate It is much easier to compare the liquid to the color charts than the strips and I think when the strips are gone I will just replace with liquid from now on. This site is a warehouse of info! I was curious about your screen name, I assume you have or raise betta's? I'll have to try the search mode for Betta's and see what's out there. LOL

COBettaCouple

We have 6 Betta Splendens right now and 5 wild Betta Mahachai and have bred the Mahachai.

mwilloughby

Out of curiousity, how old do the fry get before you have to separate them to keep them from fighting?

COBettaCouple

The Mahachai can coexist pretty well and the we actually still have 3 of them in the tank with the original female.