Mitchi-chan

I have a five gallon tank with three balloon mollies, a dalmation molly, and a botom feeder that was given to me, currently in it.

Not too long ago, my fish started dying, after adding four fancy guppies.

First three guppies went, then one dalmation molly, my other guppy died not too much later, and finally a balloon molly died.

I've been checking the water and nothing has changed in the levels.

Every time my tests come out-

ammonia - Safe
nitrate - Safe
nitrite - Safe
Water Harness - Soft
pH - Ideal

[[The tests I have don't get much more in depth then that...]]

They are feed on a regular basis, I let the tank filter a week before adding any fish what so ever, and it has gravel two live plants and several hiding spots. The heater keeps the water around 74 F, which is where the sales clerk I talked to at Pet Quaters said would be ideal, the filter cartridges are rinsed weekly during the 25% water change on Saturdays, and they are feed three times a day at regular intervals.

The water is perfectly clear, and there is no signs of anything that could be enviromentally wrong.

Recently [[within the past three days]], I noticed something on the top of two of my balloon Mollies' heads when I changed their water.

It looks almost like scales or wet food adhered to the tops of them. There is nothing that looks "fuzzy" about it, and it's only on those two fish [and pretty badly at that]. The fish aren't acting strangely at all, and the patches of discoloration is raised off of the fish. One of the balloon mollies that has it is also releasing long white strings of something. It looks like a bioload, save for the fact that is is clear and happens in between feedings instead of afterwards like when my other fish tend to drop theirs.

This is my first tank so I'm not quite sure how to handle this. I started a generic fungus five day treatment suggested to me by the Fish Clerk at Pet Quarters as well, and it's on it's third day today.

Any idea what it is, and am I doing the right thing by approaching it as a fungus?

Lucy

Hi Welcome to Fish Lore

Unfortunately, you have a couple of issues going on. Let's see if we can help you get things worked out.

There are several reason why fish get ill. An uncycled tank is one of them. It would help if you had a good understanding of the Nitrogen Cycle.

It would be a good idea to get a liquid test kit such as the API kit. It'll give you the exact readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I suspect they're feeling the effects of the ammonia in the water.

Another is over crowding. It's recommended that mollys be kept in a minimum of 20 gallons. They can grow between 2-4"
What kind of algea eater do you have? Some algea eaters can get to be very large and are huge waste producers. Fish waste creates ammonia which is toxic to your fish.

For now, it would be a good idea to do daily water changes of about 50% to keep the ammonia levels down. Use Prime or Stress Coat+ as your water conditioners. This will make the ammonia safe for your fish.

You really should look into getting an appropriate sized tank for all your fish.
Consider a 20g for the mollys. Your Gold Fish is a big waste producer and it's recommended they have 20g's to handle the waste it produces and provide some swim room.
After moving your mollys to a larger tank, the 5g is much more suited for your betta. Here's some info on betta care:
Welcome and Betta Care Guide - Please Read First!!!

Long white stringy poo is usually a sign of internal parasites. Jungle makes a good med for that.

I'm sorry my post wasn't more positive.

Good luck.

Mitchi-chan

Thank you for your insight, but one thing.. my gold fish... it's in a different tank.

So my tank is too small? Oh geez, I'll look into getting a new tank soon. For some reason I don't know why the sales clerks seem to be so wrong on all of this.

I'm not quite sure what type of algae eater it is that I have, as I stated it was given to me, but he's a little more then a few months old from what I was told and is pretty small. About the size of a the first two knuckles on my pinky, and very thin. I've been researching to try and find his species.

My only question for you is why do the fish need so much room? I've had gold fish and betta's before, and they were quite happy in smaller tanks and even unfiltered vases. Could you explain this to me?

Lucy

A lot of us have gotten bad advice from pet stores. Sadly, most of them don't really know better.

If you post a pic of your algea eater, someone will be able to ID it for you. You can post the pic here:
Fish Id Help

Gold Fish produce a lot of waste. They're beautiful and personable, but they poop...a lot and it fouls the water quickly creating a lot of ammonia which effects their health and internal organs. Depending on the species they can grow from 3" to 14". Given a proper home they can grow to their full size and live up to 10 years. Also, their growth won't be stunted by being in such small quarters.

Bettas are tropical fish. They do best in warm water. They love to swim and play. A vase can't be heated properly and doesn't give them room to swim. Ammonia can build up quickly in a small amount of water doing harm to their internal organs and a higher rate of illness.

They can live in such conditions, but they will not thrive and live to their full potential.

Mitchi-chan

Ah, that makes a lot of sense.

Thanks!

Oh, and you never answered my origional question... have you any idea what might be on the top of their heads, and is treating them with a fungus medicine ok?

I just found the box of the medicine and it's called "Maracyn Body Fungus Treatment"

That's safe for them right?

agabr123

Your tests you said were safe, do you know the exact numbers? The "safe" zones for ammonia and nitrite generally allow for up to .25, and unfortunately that's too high for your fish. As Lucy recommended, I'd definitely get the API kit, they're liquid and much more accurate.

Also, I could be remembering this incorrectly for mollies specifically (I think they may prefer slightly cooler temps), but generally for tropical fish they like temperatures between 78 and 80.

As far as the medication, I would probably hold off, clean, fresh water can be the best medicine. Some medications tend to do more harm than good, especially if you don't know exactly what's wrong.

Mitchi-chan

Alrighty then. I'll hold off on the meds and do a daily water change to see if that helps any. I'll try to get a picture of the "bloom" on their heads with my camera if my laptop doesn't chrash when I upload them this time. >.<;;;

As for the water tests, I'll deffinetly look into getting the API kit next time I head to Pet Quarters. I have to pick up gravel for a new 75 gallon tank, and this time I'll make sure to cycle it well and not overstock!

But back onto the topic of their problem... it seems to have gotten worse since I first started this thread today. I'm worried for my fish and I was hoping that someone could offer any sort of advice beyond water changes that might help with my little guys. I'm so attached to them and I'm really not liking the prospect of letting some more of them go, I bawled when the other ones died before. I have a feeling I'd cry harder over these little survivors.


[[Oh, and in other news, my mom's live breeders in the living room are perfectly healthy, in fact, I'm soooooo excited, two of them are preggo. YAY BALLOON MOLLIES!!!!!
]]

agabr123

I know it's difficult to feel like you can't do anything for your fish but water changes, I lost one of my favorite corycats (my panda, Icarus) a little while back. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him so I had to just quarantine him with a big water change and had to watch him get worse. Do you have Prime or some other kind of water conditioner?

Lucy

I know, it's really sad to lose a finned pet.

A picture would really help the members try and figure out what's wrong with you Molly. We'd hate to recommend a medication if it was wrong.
Either way, I'd go ahead and change the water.

Yay for babies!

Mitchi-chan

Well, I have a few water products I use/d. I've been testing out a few different ones each time I start a tank to try and figure out which ones will work best for me.

I'll list the ones I've used on this tank:

Tetraaqua -AquaSafe w/ BioExtract for all Fresh and Marine fish
API Stress Coast
Acurel F [Crystal Clear Water Settler]
And I've used Ph- once or twice.
OH! And Ph+

Mitchi-chan

Alrighty then! I already changed their water.... [[within the past few hours actually]]

agabr123

If you're using stress coat, it has to be stress coat + if you want it to detoxify ammonia (like prime does). personally, i love prime and it's really the only conditioner i use if i can help it.

Honestly, unless your pH is REALLY out of whack, i would suggest just letting your fish acclimate to it, treating water to try to lower or raise pH is so much more trouble than its worth!

I've never used tetra aquasafe or acurel f, so I honestly don't know about those.

Lucy

I've used aquasafe. It's a good water conditioner but doesn't detox the ammonia or have aloe like Stress Coat+

Like agabr said, it's best for you fish to acclimate to your PH rather than try to adjust it. It's better for them to have it stable.

I've never heard of Acurel f.