steffy81

I am seeking help as to I cannot figure out why my female mollies keep dying.

First off, I let my husband and the fish store pick the fish we purchased. This was over half a year ago. I had four or so female mollies. Two of them gave birth at least once. After that, when a molly was ready to give birth, they died. No baby mollies were visible. They were never released. I waited several months before buying new mollies. I finally felt sorry for the males as they seemed to be turning guy.

We got 5 new females. We already had about 8 males. The males still have little to no interest in the females. I came to realize a couple of days ago, that one of the mollies I thought was male was really female and just avoided the males. She was absolutely huge. Well, a couple of days ago I found her sunk down to the bottom of the tank dead. She was pregnant and did not release the babies.

Do I have my female to male ratio wrong or is it possibly something else?

Jonah

It is best to have a ratio of at least 2 females to each male, 3 or more would be better.

The males will constantly harass the females with less. They have also been know to stress the females to try an get them to abort or birth early when the ratios are out, this leads to no fry and dead females.

That may be whats going on but there may be other issues as well

Can you provide a bit more info about your awuarium? What size is it and do you know what the readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates are in the tank?

Drew 43920

In nature the ratio is usually 3 or 4 females for each male. Your females may be getting "stressed" to death. How big a tank do you have and how many and what kind of fish do you have ?

steffy81

I believe my tank is 75 gallon. Currently all of my levels are off because of treating the tank for a fungus/parasite. I had one fish die from this not knowing what it was and when another formed the same thing, I treated it. Then just a few nights ago my power went off and on all night long and my filter kicked off. It messed up some and killed a fish. The next day is when my female died, so I think stress may have been the factor this time.

Levels: nitrate - extremely high. Nitrites - Normal. Water slightly hard. alkalinity - low. pH - acidic.
I just went through a nasty cycle of cloudy water that I could not clear and had to let clear on it's own. I am going to do a water change and new filters in the next couple of days.

Fish count: Mollies 10 (ratio is now 1:1) Cherry barbs 7, silver dollar 1, goramis 3, others I am not sure what they are 4 and 3 (no bigger than any others), chinese algae eaters 3, golden algae eater 1, white corydora 4, speckled corydora 3, and finally african frogs 2.

I also have a filter system rated to 75 gallon I believe and 2 bubblers.

steffy81

Just an update, I cleaned my tank today and did a water change. Once I was finished, I plugged my filter back in and it was dead.

When I got my tank from my sister she sent all of her extra stuff with it. She sent an undertow/undergravel filter with it. I placed this in my tank and it is crystal clear now. I am only using one filter tube and my tank looks better then it ever has. My fish even seem to feel better.

Steffy

JChacon

Good to hear steffy; as they say, keep your water clean, and your fish will do the rest!




..... or something like that.