# What is the hardness required by Mollies?



## IanHulett

My Dalmatian Balloon Molly has a case of the shimmies and I suspect it has something to do with the water hardness. Maybe it's too soft, maybe it's too hard. I have been doing 10% water changes to try and combat this and I have not seen any signs of improvement yet, of course this morning was my second change. So, what hardness do mollies require? Can Ramshorn, Mystery, Apple, Nerite and Bladder snails handle that hardness? Can Guppies both fancy and wild handle that hardness? Can Ghost shrimp handle that hardness? Thanks a bunch.


----------



## Raymond S.

Tropical freshwater aquarium fish: Find fish
Try that although it don't list the shrimp.
When fish sites recommend any certain Ph etc. for any(most) fish is it because they "need" this...or is it because the water where they
come from just happens to be that Ph etc. ?
Mollies are, in nature, a brackish water fish. They get along well in fresh but are said to like a bit of salt in their water also.
I had them in a tank I kept when I was a teenager, that had .25% salinity which is half what brackish water is supposed to be.
I kept it there because I also kept a couple of tropical fish in there(freshwater types). All seemed to do well.
I would suspect another problem/w them. First I would suspect that "the"(only one of it's kind) fish is stressed by this and therefor 
more succeptable to having issues to begin/w. Then too the "shimmies" in my experience means it's too late/w mollies.
Some people(I have done this back when in the 60's when too little was known about water quality) have been known to
keep a couple of black mollies in their tank as water baromiters to tell if the water quality is getting bad because of how easily
they "catch something".
Using the very close or exact if possible water temp, I'd change 50% of the water to start. Then I'd use this to do regular as suggested
water changes from then on. Also I would change more on the first time if it advised that for a regular change.
AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor
Also I would suggest that the tank this fish is in be kept not below 78F.


----------



## jrman83

The hardness is a pretty wide range as far as what they can handle. Question is, have you tested your hardness? If so, what is your hardness? 

How long have you had the fish? Did you drip acclimate to your water? Hardness would be the least thing I would think of, unless you were talking the kh or carbonate hardness. Low kh will cause the ph to fluctuate up and down and can cause fish stress.

What is your ph?


----------



## IanHulett

I forgot all about my water test results. I would have to have it tested again. Since I don't have my own tester yet, that will have to wait, but as soon as I get the results, I'll post them.

Although I think I'm getting the upper hand of the Shimmies because ever since I've been changing 20% of the water daily, I've noticed Lady isn't gasping as much, or shivering as much. She still does it, but not as often. So, I would assume that the water quality is fine... but I won't jump to any conclusions yet.


----------



## coralbandit

IanHulett said:


> Although I think I'm getting the upper hand of the Shimmies because ever since I've been changing 20% of the water daily, I've noticed Lady isn't gasping as much, or shivering as much. She still does it, but not as often. So, I would assume that the water quality is fine... but I won't jump to any conclusions yet.


I would think(and do) the opposite.If she is getting better with the waterchanges, then thinking the water is good doesn't sound right.
Keep up on water changes especially since you don't have a test kit .
Sounds like ammonia issues and they are the death of many fish in new tanks.
The % of water you change is the % you lower the nutrient(ammonia,nitrite and nitrates).So if you have 2 ppm ammonia(just saying) and you do a 20% waterchange you only lower it to 1.6ppm,which is still too high.
I'm with jrmain in that while cycling or with nutrient issues any waterchanges under 50% are better than none,but not worth alot.A 50% change with 2ppm would cut it in half leaving you with 1ppm,still that should be as high as ammonia is allowed to go with fish in.


----------

