Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Mollie Sick?? Help!
- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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Can you please remind us the size of your tank ? tell us about the other residents and whether they are doing fine. Can you also please tell us what your most water parameters readings are : ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? what is the tank temperature ? when did you do a water change last (and frequency) ?
A photo would also go a long way for people here to be able to help you.
Is your molly eating ?
Sorry for all these questions, but this would help people helping you diagnosing your issue.
Thanks and kindest regards,
Valerie
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- JohnH (John)
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Can you post your test kit findings as Valerie suggests, but for the immediate course of action I would suggest a 33% water change as soon as you can then - say - 20% on alternate days for the next week. I am not able to tell you the name of the affliction your Molly is suffering from but have witnessed similar symptoms and the water change regime seems to have cleared it up over the course of a couple of weeks.
If you don't have any salt-hating fish such as Corys I would suggest you add a small amount, say a teaspoonful per gallon of tank water (4.5 litres), but don't just drop the whole lot in at once, do it over a spell of an hour or so, replenishing the salt at the same percentage when you do the water changes. Mollies are renowned to benefit from a small amount of salt in their water, and they also revel in extra warmth in their water so if you could raise the temperature a little over the space of a few days to around 78deg f that could well help too.
Let us know how things progress.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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GH 30/40
kh 40
ph 7.0
Nitrates 0 and
Nitrites 20 (I might have my nitrate and nitrites mixed up here but basically the one that is meant to be 0 is 0, forgive me If I cant remember the difference but I know the test kit at home says it should be 0 for one of them and it is always 0 when I do the tests weekly). The tank is up and running about 2 and a half months or so and Ive had no problems with it so far. I do 20% water changes weekly.
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- Valerie (Valerie)
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What is 0 in your tank and should always be 0 is the nitrite.

(this subject has been discussed a few times on this forum : as time goes by in your tank, some beneficial bacteria colonise your filter. There are 2 sets of these. The 1st one transforms the ammonia (food leftovers and fish waste) into nitrite. Both Nitrite and Ammonia are extremely toxic to your fish. The 2nd set of beneficial bacteria transforms Nitrite into Nitrate, the latter being plantfood. The time is takes for these bacteria to get hold in your tank is called 'cycling'.)
If your pH is 7.0, it probably is too low for the mollies. It seems they prefer a pH from 7.5 to 8.5. Could this be your problem? I am sure some people here know more about mollies ...

Maybe your temperature is on the low side? what is your tank running at ?
Thanks and Regards,
Valerie
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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- JohnH (John)
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Here comes a very long shot...
I am wondering if your Molly could have been derived from Black Molly stock or if somewhere back along the breeding history a Black male became infiltrated into the genes.
I am wondering this because many years ago Black Mollies were not always born Black but gradually became that way over a period of time. It's probably being a bit simplistic to suggest this but just possibly your male will develop into a (predominantly) Black fish.
Now don't bank on this as I am really only thinking out aloud, but it is a possibility.
In the meantime keep up the water changing regime and keep a watching brief.
Oh, and by the way, you are probably right that you have your Nitrites and Nitrates the wrong way round - at least that would be my submission.
John
Location:
N. Tipp
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.
ITFS member.
It's a long way to Tipperary.
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- Fishowner (Gavin fishowner)
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