Hey everybody... I hope a seasoned fish keeper reads this. I have had my 29 gal tropical fish tank going for one month and two weeks. I have had four silver tetras in the tank since the beginning and they are good and healthy, also; one live plant, bubbler, heater, filter and all the goods. Lastnight I added five mollies to the tank. After reading about mollies I realized that they want salt in the water, from what I understand tetras will not like this. Should I return the mollies? I added them because I'm trying to get more of a biological system goin', the four tetras wern't producing enough waste for my tank. The mollies seem to be doing fine so far exept one of them has an inflammed eyeball. Weird? I don't know if it's a defect or if he's injured. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

Mollies don't NEED salt, but it makes them a little healthier. Honestly, I don't think you should add salt, mollies are freshwater but they can handle brackish, and sometimes even pure saltwater. Tell us more about the eye though.... that might be bad.


Mollies and tetras isn't an "oops" so don't worry, :D

Most mollys gotten today at your lfs are farm raised and haven't had salt added to the water because of the mass production of them and the breeders want to keep their expenses at a minimum. They should do ok without the salt. But watch out for overstocking as when they start breeding you can have a full tank in short order.

Salt is a great medicine and should be treated as such.

Thanks for the fast response!
I'm glad that they will be able to live together, I really like the fish I have. The idea of adding salt to my freashwater tank seemed very odd to me.

I do think one of the dalmation mollies is pregnant, I might just set up another tank and educate myself on breeding because the dalmation mollies are so pleasing on my eye.

The molly with the eye problem; I didn't notice this when I purchased it. Infact I looked at this paticular molly for quite a while before buying him. He's the largest of my mollies and is black. My mollies are the longer ones with not-so-decorative fins. I think it's possible that the lady who fished him out for me might have damaged his eye accidentaly, he was a fighter. The eye is bigger than the other, it is puffy all the way around it. It is still a circle, it's just bigger than the other eye. It's sticking out pretty far from his face. He seems to swim normally, he eats normally. I don't think he's sick, just damaged a bit.
Let me know what you think! Thank you!
-Laura

PS. I've attached the best pic I could get of his puffy eye. The other eye is much smaller, I hope you're familiar with mollies eyes so you can see how much it is NOT suppose to look like that... I hope this helps you figure out the problem and helps you give me some advice.... Thanks again.

Also; my mollies like to swim up at the top of the tank. It seems weird. My tetras are all over the place, usually in the middle or the bottom.
Why are my mollies up at the top? Is it normal?

Thanks!
-Laura

I would consider melafix for the eye.

This is a normal trait of mollys. With the eye, like said try melafix and water changes, should halp alot.

Right on. This website is really nice. I'm sure I will be utilizing it for a long time. Thanks for all the advice.

If anyone else has comments or anything else to say I'd appreciate your experiences too.

I'll go get some melafix.

-Laura

How is the Molly's eye doing?

Hey,
He didn't make it. I think it was what is called "popeye". I didn't read too much into it. The fish started to spin around and around with his nose up and his tail down. He did this for quite a while so I flushed him.
:(
Ohwell... I guess it's just a fish.

Thanks!
-Laura

Symptoms of Popeye and swim bladder issues, I am sorry for your loss and hope that the rest of you fish do better.