My black molly test didn't go well...

[gobble]

I acclimated it to the tank salinity over about 6 hours last night and he seemed fine the hour I observed him in the tank last night. I came home to this. Poor thing.

I hope the white isn't velvet that killed it in less than 24 hours time?

 

[moz71]

Don’t think velvet. They will lose there scales from osmosis though skin in too acclimated too fast. Happened to me too

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

Acclimation should be around 12 hours if possible

 

[gobble]

There's some goof with a youtube video acclimating one in an hour's time. I thought that's crazy and did it over 5-6 hours. Crap I killed the poor fish.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Honest mistake... try not to beat yourself up. 12 hours is considered pretty much the minimum. If you have a small QT and can do it over a couple of days, even better.

 

[Tait]

I've actually done this quite a bit. It actually take days for some fish to adjust there osmoregulation, but mollies are able to make the transition most of them time. These days if I have cycled brackish media handy, I do it in a spare tank over 4 days, which almost guarantees survival. With the 20+ mollies I've attempted transitioning, I've had no less die off after a 10 hour drip, than 2-3 hour drip to be honest. I actually was researching and trying this with different captive bred brackish species that had been found in full marine conditions like black belt vieja, with hopes of having more CB options for SW tanks. With those species it took weeks though. The most important thing would be while drip acclimating to add a small heater and a bubbler. Also if there is other fish, I like to keep mollies in a breeder box or huge net for the first couple days while adjust to the new environment, my clowns are usually rough at first.

Edit- I forgot to say, that is just how black mollies look when they die. I learned that from working at a not so good LFS for 3 years. Still QT newly transitioned mollies, they are more susceptible to SW diseases initially, in my opinion.

 

[Mariette]

There's some goof with a youtube video acclimating one in an hour's time. I thought that's crazy and did it over 5-6 hours. Crap I killed the poor fish.

If you do a google search, you’ll see tons of ppl that day it’s actually best to just dump in straight from fresh water to full salinity saltwater. There are ppl who say at least a week. Who knows? Don’t beat yourself up

 

[SDK]

Part of the reason for the discrepancies is that commercially available mollies are often in bad shape to begin with. They are also warm water fish that generally do better in temps over 80 degrees, despite all of the incorrect care sheets floating around the internet. It's very common for retail store black mollies to be full of parasites, and I would never put one in a tank that I plan to add other fish to in the future.

If you want some nice Mollies, try Aquabid, and get one of the heathier home bred strains from a dedicated breeder. There are also sellers there that collect healthy and absolutely gorgeous wild Sailfin Mollies in Florida and offer them up for sale at reasonable prices...