VelmaG Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 Sally is the last of my original Molly's. She stopped eating a few days ago. The water is 0/0/5, so not ammonia or nitrites (?), and the nitrate level was the lowest one the kit tests for. Her skin doesn't have the same luster, and there are some red dots on her cheeks (on the skin, not inside the gills). I tried to take a picture, but none of them turned out. I don't think I can save her, but there's one of her older fry in the tank (she's probably close to 1.5 almost 2 cm now, and I want to make sure it's not anything she can catch. My first thought was that she was just old. She was fairly large when we got her. The spots on the cheeks made me want to check in though. Her baby looks fine, and has been eating. Jeepers...whoda thunk you could get attached to fish. I'm getting discouraged with being sad every couple of months. I know the other situations were due to my learning curve (hard way to learn), but I'm at a loss as to what happened this time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted June 3, 2009 Report Share Posted June 3, 2009 I'm sorry to hear that . We do get attached to our finned friends . I don't know what she could have . The only advice I could give is add salt to your tank , mollies need salt . I'd even go with 2 Tbl . per 5 gallons of water maybe more but start there . Take some tank water out into a large bucket . Stir in the salt until dissolved . Reintroduce this new mix slowly into the tank . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelmaG Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Well she's still around, which is surprising. She actually ate something this morning. I'll try the salt thing. I'll pop by the LPS tomorrow and hopefully they'll have some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DANA T Posted June 4, 2009 Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Sorry to hear about sally ,Hopefully she pulls through i agree the salt treatment works i use whenever i have a sick or injured fish . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelmaG Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 So I pulled out 2 1/2 gal of her water, and put 1/2 TBSP of aquarium salt in there. She's still around, which is amazing. It said 1 TBSP for 5 gallons. Should I do more, or is what I did OK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 From what she said before it sounds like Mollies can tolerate Salt really well so you should be able to safely dose up to 1TSP per gallon/1TBS/3Gallons The way i recommend doing this so as not to shock the fish or the bacteria in the tank is to do it in three different steps One tsp/gal three times, 12 or so hours apart. This is what i do for any sick fish i have. You can also try Melafix to help with the sores on her body. Hopefully this helps. Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ishkabod Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 From what she said before it sounds like Mollies can tolerate Salt really well so you should be able to safely dose up to 1TSP per gallon(1TBSP/3Gallon) Higher doses might be possible and even recommended but i'm no Molly expert so i can't advise more right now BE WARY OF PLANTS(might cause death in Some). I use a total of 1tbs/gal(3tsp/gal) to get rid of Ich and my fish and Pleccos are fine so you should be to but as i said before I'm no expert. You can also try and add Melafix too if the salt doesn't help(it most likely will) to help with the sores on her body It can be added with the salt. Hopefully this helps. Good luck L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelmaG Posted June 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Tomorrow's change day. I usually do 20% on my 10 Gal. What I think I'll do is salt up the new water to go in...so 2 gal with 2 tsp of the salt. Should I maybe do a 20% water change every 2 or 3 days if she's still going? Should I maintain the salt even after she gets better? (Yeah...I'm holding that vision...she's the Mommy of all my little fry.) Thanks for all the insight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qattarra Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 (edited) Yes they need salt. I don't think it's quite "brackish" but close. Who else is in that tank? They may not like the salt. Edited June 5, 2009 by Qattarra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VelmaG Posted June 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 I only have Molly's. I'm having enough of a learning curve with them...not adding someone else to the mix! There's only Sally and her daughter right now. The other fry are in their own separate tank. I lost the other molly's through the learning curve (new filter without keeping old filter on...threw out the cycle.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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