Mollies acting strange after power outage

[AgeusBMXFishguy]

Hello everyone,
We had a 2 hour power outage tonight and my two mollies are acting strangely. This is a new 10 gallon tank, it is still being cycled. I currently do 30% water changes 3-4 times a week. It is currently 10 o clock at night where I live, and we are going camping tomorrow. Sorry I could not get any pictures, or any water params. In my heavily planted 10 gallon, my male molly now swims frantically up and down the side of the glass. My female molly opens her mouth wide every once in a while, and sometimes flashes off of a rock. I am planning on adding a little salt before I leave, but we will be gone for 3 days. I also did a water change this morning with a triple dose of seachem prime. Sorry for the lack of information, any help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[emeraldking]

It would've been better to have entered the mollies into this tank when the tank was already cycled. If the tank is recently new while changing water so often during the cycle won't help either. When you start to cycle a new tank, you shouldn't be doing a water change so often. You've put tapwater in the tank that needs to become suitable for your fish and plants. By doing so many water changes in a week, the tank water can not set properly. Especially not in the first week.

Glass surfing isn't something you should be worrried about. That's what they "can" do. It's a normal thing. That the female opens up her mouth more widely from time to time, means that she let's more water copming through her gills to absorb more oxygen from the passing water. And it's got to do with a not clearly cycled tank.

But you should also check for your water parameters. Your mollies ain't at a good place yet.

 

[AgeusBMXFishguy]

Hello emeraldking! Thanks for the help. My female molly has stopped opening and closing her mouth, I am aware of cycling and all that comes with fish in cycling. I took an aquarium camp over the summer and the guy running it said to do 10% water changes a week, even when it was cycling. Anyways, I do water changes 3-4 times a week, so I hope it keeps the ammonia down.

 

[Kwikfab]

This would be the first time I heard of water changes being a bad thing.

I fast tracked my own cycling by conducting 25% water changes each week (fishless).

Had I done a fish-in cycle, that interval would've been far less than a week per water change. Reason being is because water changes remove harmful levels of ammonia and nitrites (during the fish-in cycle) but also replenish minerals consumed by the cycle.

Again, more information exists that water changes are a good thing than bad, and it would not interrupt your cycle at all. Given that you're being consistent with every water change, and using the same known source.

It's when people perform cleanings that they can disrupt and even crash their cycle. This is because nitrifying bacteria lives on the surfaces of everything inside your tank, not in the water.

With that said, if you have a concern regarding your fish, an emergency template is imperative.

 

[Sewerrat]

Water changes can cause issues with micro organisms but won't hurt the cycle much overall imo (if using a filter)as long as your not cleaning the substrate or filter in the beginning.

 

[AgeusBMXFishguy]

This would be the first time I heard of water changes being a bad thing.

I fast tracked my own cycling by conducting 25% water changes each week (fishless).

Had I done a fish-in cycle, that interval would've been far less than a week per water change. Reason being is because water changes remove harmful levels of ammonia and nitrites (during the fish-in cycle) but also replenish minerals consumed by the cycle.

Again, more information exists that water changes are a good thing than bad, and it would not interrupt your cycle at all. Given that you're being consistent with every water change, and using the same known source.

It's when people perform cleanings that they can disrupt and even crash their cycle. This is because nitrifying bacteria lives on the surfaces of everything inside your tank, not in the water.

With that said, if you have a concern regarding your fish, an emergency template is imperative.

I just dip in a 1 gal bucket and pull it out, make sure water going in is the same temp as water going out. I do not vacuum the substrate yet, but I do have a vacuum for later.