In reply to Tiffany ……….. treat the whole tank both for epistylis (antibiotics in the food and only in the food) and for ich (ich-x, formaldehyde and malachite green combination in the water). It is virtually impossible to find a difference between epistylis and ich in a really small fish.

In reply to Helen ……. I would look up Mycobacteriosis or fish TB. Diana Walstad, probably one of the best tropical fish researchers on the planet, says fish TB is “the most common fish disease”. Fish TB is untreatable with medications and cannot be sterilized out of an aquarium. It is ubiquitous in virtually all aquariums. Adding a lot of biofiltration and/or a UV unit can be extremely helpful, and both are treatments of choice. And Fish TB can rarely occur in humans. Note many fish live long lives with TB. Read this article for a complete low down. http://tankstartguide.com/index.php/10-4-fish-tuberculosis/.

In reply to Doreen…….No need for photos. “Laying down” and “blacks spots by the gills” can be almost anything. You have little choice but to just wait it out. Keep feeding medicated food.

Posting a question to see if i could get some expert insights:
Pretext: I got 2 cobra male guppies + 2 dalmatian mollies in a 14 gallon tank 2 weeks ago used water conditioner, biological startup, added fish too early without fully cycled tank(aded fish+plants after 2 weeks of letting tank run) all those rookie mistakes,(did water test at Petco and guy said i was okay to add fish)
1 of my guppy died 3-4days later, symptoms: 1-2days before death was only stationary on top of surface breathing kind of rapidly from the what i see while everyone else was playing and doing okay. no other symptoms. —— added airstone after his death
Then 1 of my molly died: symptoms included hiding a lot, then 1 day before death had his head downwards(head towards bottom) like a hanging fish unable to swim properly, fro,m time to time he would be able to swim normal but then reverted

After that i noticed white spots on my other molly, also he appeared to be having seizures occasionally like his head would turn up like he was electrified and then shake then return to normal,
so applied a treatment of Tetra Ick Guard tablets + General API Cure —– didnt mix with food since i was unaware i should’ve, just roughly mixed with flakes and threw it in with food.

Water parameters around the death of my 2 fish were all average, water was a bit soft+ a bit of nitrite in which i panicked like an idiot and added water conditioner+ biological startup thinking that would get it down, regret doing that
temp is average of 79f , had instances of going up to 84 ish due to sunlight but only a few times

Current water parameter: 0 ammonia,nitrate, nitrite, Water is very hard, ph normal

Currently my other molly is having issues, the white spots faded as well as the seizures, but he is having white stringy poop, eyes are a bit cloudy (it looks like white cloudy stuff is in his eye), and he is shimmering with clasped fin from time to time(mostly at night)

I am currently applying ick tablets daily(been like 4-5 days)(got hikari ich-x today so will change it to that tomorrow), doing 20% water changes every 2 days, giving them General API cure(during lunch) + Kanaplex(at night) every 2 days — roughly mixing into food since i wasn’t aware that i should’ve mixed with food so will apply that from tomorrow
also mixed in some epsom salt 3 days ago, adding 2 tablespoons for each water change-saw my molly’s poop shoot straight out so might’ve thought it was effective for his constipation.

Currently besides the cloudy eye and shimmering, + white string poop, my molly is not displaying any other symptoms, he eats well when i feed him too

Question:
1. do you might now what may have caused the death of my 2 fish? (i know its a difficult question but just wanted to ask)
2. My rough guess is that the molly might have columnaris or an internal parasite =/infection but can’t pinpoint what it might be, do you happen to have any ideas of what may have caused the seizures+cloudy eye+shimmering?
3.Are the treatments/kind of ingredients im applying too much? i heard the chemicals i applied might have messed up the nitrogen cycle and im screwed but dont know what to listen to.
4. Saw in your article that it might be difficult for me to increase additional beneficial bacteria and add new fish since i kind of did the “fish in cycling” method, does that mean i cant add any more fish or more bacteria capacity to house those fishes?

Sorry for the long talk, been researching, googling and even asking people offline + on reddit for answers since i wanted my 2 surviving friends to live.
Not expecting a know-it-all answer knowing that there could be tons of causes
Any kind of help or insight would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

In reply to Robert …. The only option it the so called shot gun approach. https://tankstartguide.com/index.php/12-10-the-shotgun-approach/