Fish Not Doing Well - Someones Help Please

I think my fish are in critical condition. I do regular water changes which 10 to 20% weekly. With gravel vacuum. Recently my wife decided to rearrange fish tank. Since its completely gone downhill. My fish aren't has interactive. My mollies fins look horrible. I'm a new aquarium owner. This tank is almost 3 months old and everything has been great. I have the test strips so I don't know exact numbers, but per box all levels are good. Can someone help. One molly is hanging out on surface near bubbles other is hanging out at bottom. Any help on what to do. One glo fish is just laying on gravel. Water is 78 deg

Ill go buy something if someone can tell me what to start with....thank you

 

Looks like it could be fin rot you need to do a large water change and get a fungus medication like apI fungus cure

 

Sorry to hear about your situation.. We really are going to need more information in order to help. You really should ditch the test strips (strips are frowned upon for being in accurate) and invest in an API master test kit. If you can't do that right now is there a local fish store that can test your water and give you the numbers for Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate?

A few questions:
1.Tank size and stocking?
2.Is your tank cycled? How long?
3.Did the wife only rearrange or change water too?

 

Maybe your wife had some sort of perfume or lotion on, it could have poisoned the fish. I would do a large water change, but I'd like to see what other people think it might be as a water change could harm them too depending on the circumstance.

 

Thank you....I did a 20% change like 2 days ago. Should I do another? Also if I should do another water change. Whats considered "large" like a 50%?

 

Thank you....I did a 20% change like 2 days ago. Should I do another? Also if I should do another water change. Whats considered "large" like a 50%?

When did your wife rearrange the tank? Yeah something like 50 or even 70% is a good amount and should dilute any chemicals(if that's what did happen) in the water

 

Its a 10 gallon. I have 4 glow tetras..2 lyretail mollies and a pleco. The tank is 3 months old with no problems. Ive taken several water samples to petsmart and theyve always said everything as far as water levels have been good. Ive cleaned the filter in tank water ive gotten out once a month.

Oh and my wife reareanged while the water level was lower after using the gravel vacuum.

 

Sorry to say, but a 10 gallon is not suited for this stocking. Plecos need large tanks because they grow quite large and are poop machines. Tetras need a larger school and a larger tank. I've never owned mollies so I'll leave that to someone else.

I'm leaning towards a water quality issue for a few reasons:
1. too large of stock for a 10g
2. A small tank like this can quickly go from good to deadly in a short time because the smaller volume of water the harder it is to keep consistent water parameters.
3. Big chain pet stores don't normally give correct advice and saying water quality is "good" isn't always true (hence why I said we should get the actual numbers for Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate)
4. As posted above, something could have easily been transferred to your tank from your wife's hands involuntarily like soap, perfume, chemicals.

What water conditioner do you use? Most of us use seachem prime which is a wonderful product. It will render Ammonia/nitrite non toxic for 24 hrs but also removes metals from your tap water.

One last question. Did you match the temperature of your water to your tank before adding it back in? A sudden change of temperature can severely affect our fish.

 

I use API Stress Coat. I usually set out two pitchers of water the night before I water change treated with stress coat. Its usually 76 deg and my tank is 78 per temp strip. I was told it would be ok with amount of fish....

If you think its a water condition. Should I do the 50-70% water change?

 

If you think its a water condition. Should I do the 50-70% water change?

Yes, water changes are great. Treat the water before you put it in, and test your levels again

 

Ok ill do that now. Thank you so much for your help. Unfortunately 2 of my fish I don't think are gonna make it, but hopefully it saves the others. My other fish seem fine. So hopefully this helps.

 

Big water change and get an apI freshwater master test kit as soon as you can to get more accurate tests and have a better idea of what might be going on. PetSmart uses the strips to test and they often give incorrect advice, especially on stocking.

 

Bad advice always seems to find it's way Into the fish keeping hobby so don't feel discouraged! New fishkeepers are the most susceptible to this bad advice but you made an excellent decision in joining these forums so don't give up!

Yes I would do a 50% water change Immediately taking care to match the temps as close as you can and be sure to condition the water before adding it back in. Hopefully you can get some readings and let us know. In an established tank you should see 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrite and <20 nitrate

 

Grab a bigger tank when you can also, money is always a factor but bigger is better . Make sure you have the nitrogen cycle down.

 

Definitely will get master kit. Just feel so bad my mollies are extremely interactive and they are the ones in worst condition. Ive always thought fish in a tank was just that fish in a tank. Never knew they we so personable. Thank you guys so much. Only thing open rn is petsmart. Ill water change tonight and take sample to a local fish store in morning.

 

Definitely will get master kit. Just feel so bad my mollies are extremely interactive and they are the ones in worst condition. Ive always thought fish in a tank was just that fish in a tank. Never knew they we so personable. Thank you guys so much. Only thing open rn is petsmart. Ill water change tonight and take sample to a local fish store in morning.

If you can I would recommend getting a bottle of seachem prime also, that way your fish will be safe from ammonia/nitrite in the water for 24 hrs. Keep in mind that you can dose prime again the next day and continue to do so while the problems get sorted out.

 

If you can I would recommend getting a bottle of seachem prime also, that way your fish will be safe from ammonia/nitrite in the water for 24 hrs. Keep in mind that you can dose prime again the next day and continue to do so while the problems get sorted out.

Will get some of that too. Ive tried to do this completely by the book. Theres so much more to learn.

Just one quick question. So I got to watching my molly fish and glo fish. I noticed they were upside down but breathing. Found out in dirty water they can develop swim bladder. I'm currently doing a epson salt bath on the affected fish. Do you think this could be possible? When my wife re-arranged tank she stirred up everything in water. I'm hoping this helps them.