# Why do our Mollies keep on dying?



## Bee

We have had like 10 mollies give or take since the begining of the summer. All have died. Cause of death: UNKNOWN. It's strange they are treated like our other fish, platties, guppies, loaches and cories. They are in the same tank and that is the only fish we have repeatedly lost. I have begun to hate this breed, while my fiance Nick is a hopeless mollie romantic and will never give up. We have only one female mollie that we have had since the start. Just so happens she is the biggest B of them all. So she is in the angel tank until we can find her a better home. She bullies other fish but I don't think that made the other fish die. It never killed the guppies or platties. The fish that die don't look any different, they aren't bloated or missing scales. They are in established tanks with other fish. Help!


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## Summer

How do you acclimate them? 

I lost a molly right after she had fry. Others said probably bad breeding....


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## Bee

Put bag in water for like 20 min, slowly adding water. Just like everyone else. They don't die immediately like sometimes 1 or 2 weeks after they were bought up to maybe a month. And we have gotten them from all different pet stores and LFS.


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## jrman83

Bee said:


> Put bag in water for like 20 min, slowly adding water. Just like everyone else.


Not the way I do it. I drip acclimate. Your way is better than nothing, but not the same.

I have had trouble with Mollies. Although I have some in my tank that I have had for 7 months. I would suggest a little salt in your tank. I have been putting in about half the recommended amount on the aquarium salt box and it has been doing well for them. I stopped for a small period and one of them started looking a little rough and he was back to his normal self after a week or two once I started adding again. None of your fish would be hurt by this small amount of salt. I even have Cories in this tank.

Just remember that salt doesn't evaporate like water. From week to week with your water changes, only put in enough to replace what was removed. Truthfully, I just add every other week. Keeps the salt in the tank and I don't have to think about how much I added last time or anything else.


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## Bee

When I said like everyone else I meant like all the other fish ha ha ha. I meant like I treat them no different yet they die while everyone else survives. And we do have the salt in our tank. So that's why I am so confused. If we weren't acclimating them right wouldn't they die right away? They are fine for weeks to months then suddenly they just drop off.


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## Gizmo

Bee said:


> If we weren't acclimating them right wouldn't they die right away? They are fine for weeks to months then suddenly they just drop off.


Osmotic shock from improper acclimation can be a slow death sometimes. Kind of like getting injured but dying from the infection weeks later.

Out of curiosity, what's your water parameters, water change schedule, and any/all chems you add to your water like tap water conditioner, salt, etc.?


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## Bee

Okay so we have a nice big filter on all of our tanks and live plants so that should help right? We change 25-40% of the water every 1-2 weeks. Treated with AmQuel Plus. Aquarium salt every other time for the amount of gallons we put in. So that's about half f what should go in I guess for the salt. We could up that and see if it works. Also use "special blend" every once in a while to give the bacteria a boost. As directed. Still don't have a test kit, I know that's bad.. please don't ream me


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## Gizmo

No reaming needed. However, I would back off on the bacteria supplement as you might actually be causing a mini-cycle due to shifting the balance that your tank is naturally trying to maintain. I doubt this would kill your fish though. Does the AmQuel Plus treat for chlorine and chloramine? Those two would definitely kill your fish if they're present. Also, without knowing your hardness, alkalinity, phosphate, nitrate, etc. there's really no way of telling what your water might be doing to your fish.


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## jrman83

Just how big is the tank and the inhabitants?


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## BBradbury

Hello Bee...

I have large, planted tanks of "Livebearers". I researched Mollies and in general found out that they aren't the best choice for someone new to freshwater tank keeping and wants to keep fish that give birth to live young. 

Mollies aren't as forgiving of mistakes in tank management as the other Livebearers. Mollies are very sensative to changes in water chemistry and they need larger than normal tanks. A 55 G with just a few Mollies isn't too large. Mollies are water temperature sensative and require a specific diet. 

You should be changing at least half the water in your tank weekly. If you're not, your chances of keeping Mollies is slim. I change a minimum of half the water in my tanks every week. The more water you change and the more often you do it, the better.

I'd suggest leaving the Mollies to those with a lot of tank keeping experience and if you like "Livebearers", there are better choices.

Just one lover of Livebearers opinion.

B


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## jrman83

jc, I'd have to agree with most of what BB posted. They seem to be the more difficult of the livebearers.....at least in my experience with them. I'm not so sure that a new aquarist couldn't be successful in keeping them, but I do see the point.

I have had them in my tank for about 18 months, but every adult I've ever bought has long since been gone. The few I have in my tank are young from those. I love black Mollies, but they just don't seem to do too well for me.

A buddy of mine that has kept them since he was a kid and used to catch his own, now refuses to keep them. He says they are much too sensitive and believes that if there is anything at all worng in the tank the Molly will be the first one to show it and will likely die from it.


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## congar15

I've never had a molly live for over 2 weeks... yet all my other fish live for months- years at a time. I personally hate mollies as a breed... tetras all the way.


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## Bee

Well I am glad I am not the only one then! If all my other fish are fine, happy and healthy- which they are. I guess it's not me.


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## Bee

Gizmo said:


> No reaming needed. However, I would back off on the bacteria supplement as you might actually be causing a mini-cycle due to shifting the balance that your tank is naturally trying to maintain. I doubt this would kill your fish though. Does the AmQuel Plus treat for chlorine and chloramine? Those two would definitely kill your fish if they're present. Also, without knowing your hardness, alkalinity, phosphate, nitrate, etc. there's really no way of telling what your water might be doing to your fish.


Yes it treats both chlorine and chloramine.


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## Bee

jrman83 said:


> Just how big is the tank and the inhabitants?


We have had them in all of our tanks at different times. At one point there was like 4 or 5 medium ish mollies and some guppies in a 45. Same with our 60. Also have had 1 or 2 at a time in our 20 gallon with some platys. Most recently tried in the 55 gallon, I give up on them. I don't really like them anyway. I don't believe that it is overstocked.


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## Kehy

It's odd that everyone's saying they can't keep them, when I was a kid with a slightly over stocked 25 gallon and knew absolutely nothing about keeping fish, I had a trio of mollies live for a good couple years-same fish. No young though, had a pair of tiger barbs and a couple others to take care of that.


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## Saramaking

Bee said:


> We have had like 10 mollies give or take since the begining of the summer. All have died. Cause of death: UNKNOWN. It's strange they are treated like our other fish, platties, guppies, loaches and cories. They are in the same tank and that is the only fish we have repeatedly lost. I have begun to hate this breed, while my fiance Nick is a hopeless mollie romantic and will never give up. We have only one female mollie that we have had since the start. Just so happens she is the biggest B of them all. So she is in the angel tank until we can find her a better home. She bullies other fish but I don't think that made the other fish die. It never killed the guppies or platties. The fish that die don't look any different, they aren't bloated or missing scales. They are in established tanks with other fish. Help!


I noticed you said you have loaches in your tank too. Loaches are your problem they are very teratorial and mollys are very shy so because the loaches terrorise the fish the mollys get white spot n die cause stress take the loaches out


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