mollie fry care

Question
QUESTION: so I've had problems keeping female Mollies for some reason they all seem to die before or just after giving birth. Anyway i noticed that my newest Mollies was just kinda floating around and being pestered by the other fish in the tank. so i took her out and put her in another tank she immediately dropped 6 or 7 fry then she dropped a little yellow pellet what is the pellet or egg type thing? Then she proceeded to die, I understand that it is common for the female to die from stress of birth but this is just silly I've gone through like 4 females in like 5 months and none of the fry have survived.  this time though i have 5 fry that have survived so far but it has only been a day. they all seem to just hang out in the gravel at the bottom of the tank is this normal and is there anything i can do to give them a fighting chance?

ANSWER: Cameron,
My question to you is is your tank cycled? It sounds like maybe it's not. We have to cycle our tanks before we add any fish. To cycle a tank, you add your gravel, water, filter, heater, and any decorations we want in your aquarium. Turn on the heater and the filter and let it run. Add some food to the tank, but do not remove it. In about a week, you will have a bacteria bloom. This is the bad bacteria and if there are any fish in the tank, this is when  most of them die. In another week or so you get the second bacteria bloom. This is the good stuff that both the filter and fish need. Once that has happened you start testing the water for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Once you have test 5 days in a row and you register NO ammonia, NO nitrites and no more than 20 ppms of nitrates, the tank has been cycled.This can take anywhere between 3 to 6 weeks. When you add fish, only add a few at a time. I always tell people to add 2 at a time. Leave the 2 fish in the tank for no less than 2 weeks. If they survive and show no signs of illness, you can add 2 more. Continue to do this until you have all the fish you want in the tank. Be careful not to over stock your tank with fish. Once the fish have been added, you will do water changes. You do this by vacuuming the gravel and removing 25% of the water every week, and replace it with clean conditioned water. Even though you have a filter, the weekly water changes still have to be done. If the tank is not cycled, you will most likely loose the fry that are in the tank now. When adding new fish, don't forget to quarantine them for a minimum of 2 weeks in your hospital tank before adding them to the main tank. Your hospital tank will not have any gravel, but it will have a filter and heater, if you are keeping tropical fish, and also needs to be cycled and running at all times.

What are your water readings for the tank? What are you feeding the fry? What other fish are in the tank with the female mollies? Make sure the filter and heater are working properly. Feed the liquid fry food or just crush the flake food into powder. I will guess that there is something wrong with the water. Remember, ammonia has to be zero at all times as well as the nitrites. Mollies are also brackish which means they like salt in their water. Let me know what other fish are in the tank with the female mollies. Knowing this might make it easier for me to help you out.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The tank is a 30 gallon ish tank and it  has been established for quite a while and the water readings are all great i get them double checked at the pet store. I have a variety of fish in the tank ie a Placostimus, male Mollie, 2 Rainbow sharks (but i am getting rid of the small one), a couple of types of Danios a couple of types of barbs and a couple of types of tetras and everyone seems to get along good. i do water changes every 2 to 3 weeks, I've put salt in the water. believe me I've done all of the usual recommended things. Its quite puzzling i just can't seem to keep female Mollies alive. my other  female Mollies all got sick and died one got pop eye and an other just kicked it curled up in a horse shoe shape and that was it and so on. Right now i have the fry in a small quarantine tank set up with stuff from my big tank and actual before the female died she must have dropped a few more cause i have about ten at the moment and 7 or 8 of them are much more active today. I am feeding them crushed up flakes at the moment 2 to 3 times a day. I was wondering if they could eat some small bitts of blood worms?

Answer
Cameron,
Well, I will say that the water changes need to be done weekly. If you and or the pet store are using test strips they are not reliable. Most of the large pet store chains do use test strips. The best testing kit is the API liquid testing kits. They are by far the best and most accurate. As for feeding the fry, the best stuff are newly hatched brine shrimp. They are small enough for the little mouths to get. As for the blood worms, you will have to make sure they are small enough for them to eat. Don't forget that you have to do water changes with them more often to get the uneaten food out of the tank. Make sure the heater is set right and they should be good. I would also suggest buying your fish at a different pet store. If all the mollies were bought at the same store then maybe there supplier is selling bad quality fish. Other than that you seem to be doing everything right. Fry are very hard to keep alive but if you stay on top of the water changes, use a good water conditioner you should be ok. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask.