Platys/Molly dont survive n' my tank

[miagrewal]

Hi I have a 10 gallon Aquarium. I have had it for 9 mnths. I had many dead fish before I figured out what to do. I still have my original catfish. She is the only one that survived from my maiden batch. But from the past 5-6 mnths, I have had a tetra,a chinese algea eater, a RTS, another catfish (I got another as that seemed to be the only thing that survived in my tank) which are doing well. But everytime I put a molly or a platy in my tank, they die within a month ot two. I cant understand why other fish can survive in my tank but no platys or mollys. Initially I was told not to change water for 4-5 months by somebody and after my fish started to die, i strted doing 25% water change once a month. But even that didn't help.Till date I must have lost atleast 20 mollies and platys.I thought those were easier to keep. My amonia and nitrite level are fine. Can anybody help????

 

[fishtankmaster5]

i could be two things, either your ph is off, if livebearers are not in high ph(7.2-7.6) then they can't breathe properly, were your mollies or platies breathing at the top of the water? and second it could be were you are getting your fish, were are you getting your fish from?, if it is not your ph, then try to buy your fish somewere else, and see what happens, and for that small of a tank, in fact any tank size you should do water changes at least once every two weeks, but of course it would be even better if you did it every week, that could be what is killing your fish also

 

[miagrewal]

I lost another of my platy today. I lost one two days ago. The last surviving platy looks ready to die too. I will try doing weekly water changes and hope it helps. I love platys. All my fish are from the local fish place. But I had bought some at petco, but even they died. I will check my ph, maybe that would help. Thanks

 

[punkrockfish]

what are the other stats on your water (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite)? you should be doing 25% water changes once a week. how many fish are you putting in there at a time? what is your original catfish that is still alive?

 

[miagrewal]

Yah, I started my aquarium with 6 fishes. mainly platys, mollies and a single catfish. all died except my catfish and I kept adding more and my platys and mollies all kept dying. I usually add 2 fish at a time. But from the past 5 months I had a RTS, a tetra, 3 platys, 2 catfish. On a nice day out of the blues, I found one of my platys dead. The second followed two days later, the third is on the verge. But my tetra, the RTS and the two catfish are still ok. Yeah my original catfish is shockingly still alive.

 

[fishtankmaster5]

what kind of catfish are they, how big is your RTS and just like punkrockfish said, what are the other stats on your water (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, ph)? we need to know these so we can see what the problem

 

[punkrockfish]

Here is what i think, still without knowing what your catfish is or your water specs: catfish could be preying on the other fish, how did they look when they died? too many fish in a 10g could be causing the problem...and wait, you have an RTS, tetra (kind?), and these two catfish? def overstocked, and that RTS needs way more room than he has. they are also territorial and many people have experiences with them attacking other fish. you need to seriously look at the fish you have in your tank and figure out your stocking situation before you add anymore fish.

 

[miagrewal]

My aquarioum water stats:
Nitrate- 40 ppm
Nitrite- 0
Hardness- Very hard
Alkalinity- High(180- 300ppm)
ph- 8.4 (I think my ph is very high), what else could be the problem
My fish types are:
ALBINO CORYDORAS (White Catfish)
BRONZE CORYDORAS ( my original catfish)
RTS
A lemon tetra
2 Rose red minnows
Did my platys die due to high PH? When they died they had a cut on their belly, like the belly was breaking open or something. It was yucky!!! What can I do to fix that? I dont have an airpump in my aquarium. Is it required??

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Nitrates look high, but i'm not a pro on the whole chemistry stuff yet.

Make sure you get them from a good source, sometimes they might come sick. I have NEVER been able to keep livebearers alive. Never, all kinds of expensive cichlids but never the $1 fish like platys and mollies. Maybe its just my luck.

I had one of mine die way back when from a belly bust, no idea on cause.

 

[FroggyFox]

Your fish will not die from high or low pH...they might die from a fluxuating pH. I'd check your pH every once in awhile to make sure its not fluxuating.

As punkrockfish said, your tank sounds overstocked for a 10G and adding more fish would just be asking for trouble. Your nitrates go down with water changes...as punkrock suggested 25% a WEEK is what is generally reccomended for water changes. I think your nitrate sounds a little high.

Cuts on their bellies could mean that they were bloated, or that after they died other fish started eating them or that the RTS got to them and killed them or even that you have some decoration in your tank that is too sharp and they're hurting themselves on it.

An airpump isnt necessarily required unless its powering an undergravel filter. What kind of filter do you have? What temperature are you keeping the tank at? How much are you feeding?

 

[fishtankmaster5]

it helps to have an air pump, but like we said you need to do water change once a week, your nitrates are to high it should be no more then 20 but yours is double that,and your ph is way to high, like i said before it should be at least 7.2, because the livebearers like it around 7.6, and the corys(call the catfish, corys, they are known more by that, and it is less confusing) and the tetras, like a ph around 6.8, so if you get it down to around 7.2, then i think you will have more success, do those two things i mentioned and buy 1 platie, or even a swordtail, these two are alot hardier, then mollies, and right before your fish died did they look very fat and were there scales sticking out(like a pincone)?

 

[FroggyFox]

I would completely disagree with fishtankmaster. These fish are tank raised and a stable pH is more important than a supposedly "ideal" range that you find written somewhere or what it is in the wild. Livebearers generally like a higher pH anyway.

And again, I would add no more fish to your tank until you have figured out what the problem is. A lot of times adding new fish just stresses out your current fish unduly and compounds the problems. Also, if you didn't quarentine the fish you might be introducing more bacteria/parasites/illnesses to your fish.

 

[miagrewal]

I have the regular Bio- filter, that came with the aquarium set. No bubble stone. I have my temp. set at 78 F. I had platys die of dropsy before, but this time it didn't look like dropsy. I have used fungus cleaner medicine to get rid of dropsy. I will bring my PH down and see. I am thinking of waiting a month, and then try introducing another platy. MY RTS looks very harmless. I have never seen it bother any other fish and the funny part is it eats only the alage wafers which I put for my catfish or it sucks alage off the walls of my aquarium. Earlier I thought that was odd but them mant people said that the RTS eat algae. I dont think they are dying of being attacked, it has to be the water. :-(.

 

[punkrockfish]

dont mess with the ph, do not mess with the ph, and i repeat, do not mess with the ph. it will do more harm than good and will result in a fluctuating ph which is more likely to harm the fish than anything else. also, dont add more fish, and if you are not having success with livebearers then maybe you should stop trying with them.

 

[Davy]

I also agree with leaving the Ph where it is. I've had my angel for almost 2 years now with a Ph of 8 and no problems. Fish need a stable Ph, even if it's not ideal. I think having it ideal (meaning whatever they live in naturally in the wild) really only comes into play when trying to breed certain species.

 

[Cave]

I've never had any luck with mollies or platys either, though I've not tried them since my early fishkeeping days, so there could have been a silly newbie problem going on that I wasn't aware of..

I was always under the impression that mollies and platys enjoy a bit of salt in the water. It's not essential I don't think but it might explain why they're not so hardy in some set-ups. Mollies especially seem to like more brackish water.

 

[wayne]

Mollies certainly will not do well in soft water. Harder the better, and higher pH the better or you will get niggly health problems. Brackish or marine conditions are even better

 

[miagrewal]

Today I vacuumed my aquarium and did the 25% water change, I also did all the tests after the water change and my nitrates were still around 40 ppm, so I went and got a nitrate reducer (Aqua safe easy balance with nitrate removing granules or something like that ), The bottle said to use in an aquarium which has adequate oxygen supply, so I went back to the store and got an air pump (bubble stone). Like few of U said, I didn't mess with the ph, left the temp. at 78 F. So, you all are witness that I did all the works. Now I shouldn't be losing anymore of my fish. Right? I am almost tired of losing my live bearers!!
Thanks a lot for UR suggestions.

 

[FroggyFox]

The best way to lower nitrates is to not overfeed and do water changes...unless your tap water has nitrates. Have you tested your tap water for nitrates?

 

[miagrewal]

Yes, I did after reading your post. No, it did not have any nitrates, but the alklinity, hardness and ph and nitrites readings were the same as my aquarium water.