How long do Mollies live?

[Randy19615]

Hi everyone!
I am so glad I found your site. I am new to running an aquarium and so far have had fun. I have had a lot of trials and errors I always seem to learn the hard way lol....

I bought some sailfin mollies 2 male and 2 female, 2 days after I bought the mollies they both gave birth. It was about 2 months after the births and I have lost one Molly she just died suddenly the other female molly looks funny her back is arched like it has a hump her fins are not clamped and she is acting normal the two males are healthy and acting fine. my PH is 7.0 to 7.5 I have not done the other tests as the advice I was given from PJ's is if the PH is good the other tests usally fall in check. I do weekly water changes and have been putting salt in the water not as much as I should have been adding judging by the posts in the forum I have been adding two tsp to each 5gal of water....

I was wondering if the female molly just died of old age? how long do mollies live?

I have to say I really love this site everyone is great

Randy

[beowulf]

The information I found says a few of years at least.

Scientific Name : Poecilia sphenops
Common Names : Black Molly, Lyretail, Sailfin, Liberty, Mollie, Pointed Mouth, Short Finned, Mexican, Golden, Piebald, Ghost Pearl, Gold Dust, Red Sunset, Dalmation, Ballon, etc.
Care Level : Easy, very good for freshwater beginners if keeping a single sex. Keeping both sexes could cause problems since this fish is such a prolific breeder.
Size : 2 to 4 inches (5 - 10 cm) depending on the species
pH : 7.5 - 8.5
Temperature : 70°F - 82°F (21°C - 28°C)
Water Hardness : 10° to 25° dH,
Origin / Habitat : Central America
Life Span : 3 - 5 years

[Randy19615]

Thank you for the information, my fish are about 3 inches long so I am guessing that they might be older, my babby mollies are a few months old now and are about 3/4 inches long


thanks again
Randy

[fishycanuck]

I was given similar information about water tests - don't believe it. Buy kits to test ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Check weekly (ish) if your tank is cycled.
It helps others help you if, when you post a problem, you tell us the size and age of your setup, whether or not it is planted, and the parameters.
Good luck! 

[Randy19615]

Hi Thanks for your advice.
Since I have come home I have found that my tank is infected with ick. one of my remaining male mollies is just sitting at the bottom of the tank not moving much at all. the smaller mollies are covered in ick I have stopped the filtration and administered ick medicine.

My tank is nearly a year old I set it up in Jan of this year I have 20 Gallon Aqua Clear filter I don't have the experience with plants so I have only fake ones for now. I work at the Home Depot and I had found a box of natural slate tiles that were all broken so I took them home rinsed them in boiling water and have made a rock wall for the back of my aquarium this is about 6 months old now.

I have 3 mature mollies and about 10 offspring from them one cori, a beta and a pleco.
I will let the ick medicine work and then I will buy a water test kit and see what my tank is doing.

Thank you all for your great advice
Randy

[Quatro]

I have stopped the filtration and administered ick medicine.

You should leave your filter on.  Just remove the carbon bag from your filter so that it doesn;t remove the medication.  Extra heat and salt should help too.

[sas]

the smaller mollies are covered in ick I have stopped the filtration and administered ick medicine.

Hi Randy, When you say you have stopped the filtration do you mean you have unplugged your filter and it's not running? If so I'd plug it back in. Ich is a parasite and your fish will benefit from good filtration.  I'm not sure what you are using for meds. but usually decent water changes, salt( depending on the fish you have), an increase in temp. and gravel vacuuming will do the trick. Use the search feature above and you'll find all kinds of diff. methods for treating ich. The trick is breaking the life cycle .

[Randy19615]

Hi sas,
I am using a product called API super ick cure, I have added salt to the aquarium and turned up the temperature. The directions on the bottle of medication instructed to take out the carbon filter that is what I have done.  Now I am running the filter with out the carbon in it.

[sas]

Sorry
I took what you said that you had stopped running your filter.

[Randy19615]

Hi sas,
thanks for the advice. I am new to this and appreciate your help

thanks again

Randy

[kennyman]

keep using some form of salt even once you have the ick taken care of. That profile Beowulf posted for you shows a hight Dkh which is a measure of stuff that your PH7 water is likely lacking. A livebearer salt or cichlid buffer should help give your fish the kind of water they need to be healthy. Once they are healthy they wont be as likely to get sick from stuff like ick.

[Randy19615]

I have been using salt all along maybe I have not been using enough I was putting 1tsp per every 5gallons. Right now I have slowly raised the temp up to 85deg and have slowly doubled the salt. I can see a big improvement in the fish now. They are swiming and acting like they were when I first bought them.


Thanks again for all the help

Randy

[Randy19615]

Well since last night, my las female molly died I have not lost any of the fry The two males look like they might go next I dont see anymore ich on the bodies I did a 25% water change and will continue to use the medication for the next couple of days...

[NetCop]

When it came to mollies, I stared off with some simular issues. I lost some but with them poppin' fry like rabbits in heat... well next thing you know they are pretty much making a food supply for Oscar (the oscar, of course).

As for the hump, I have one of my original females that had arched (sounds like you were talking about the same thing I am) after once giving birth and stayed that way but she's absolutely fine... not to mention the she's the favorite to the boys.

[Randy19615]

Hi Net Cop,

I think I am giving up on mollies, this is my second attempt the first attempt my batch of mollies had velvet patches all over them and they all died. The ich has cleared now I lost both female mollies and have only two males left. I bought a 40 gallon tank a couple of months ago and bought 10 tiger barbs they are cool fish I have not had a problem yet with them and they are fun to watch.... I sure am enjoying this site all the people are so knowlegable and nice..... thanks to everyone

Randy

[NetCop]

Yeah research has told me that mollies are ich prone buggers; however I spend so much time in front of my tank that if I'm to see anything, out comes the infected faster then you can say "ich" 

Gotta keep my Oscar feeding machines healthy 

[Randy19615]

my uncle had a oscar, they are cool fish. His got almost to large for the tank it was in.

I bought a test kit for my aquarium, it shows my water as kind of hard

here are the readings

NH/3 0
PH Low Range 7.6
PH High Range 7.4
GH 2,24 Cmg/L C0 C03
KH 320 17.92 mg/L
N02   0.3

I have full filtration on my Tank it has been running that way for 8hrs I have done a 50% Water change and have added cycle and waste control to the water.

The fish seem to be happy now....

[Randy19615]

I guess this will be last post about mollies.... I lost my last two male sail fin mollies the last one bloated up really big and died, and all four of the fry died as well.... I don't think I will try mollies anymore....

[renadia]

That's to bad Even your fry died. They probably had some sort of bacterial infection.

You didn't mention Nitrate(NO3 ) is that high or low because being high is not good for your fish and it also shows some Nitrite. Do you use Prime? I have been positively influenced to use it here with very good results 

what type of fish are you going to try now?

Good luck

Diane

[Randy19615]

Hi Diane,
I tried mollies twice now and have had poor results, my test kit did not have a NO3 Test just a NO2 test it read 0.3 I have been using cycle every water change. What kind of fish am I going to try?  I have had tiger barbs in my other tank and they are doing good.  What fish do you like? any recommendations?