Molly with potential dropsy? What to do.

[zozo]

My lights come on between 9am - 8.30pm not gradually sadly.

I'm pretty sure that it's an urban myth that fish get spooked when lights suddenly come on... Or spooked by a flashing light is causing jumps.
This is a very old tale that's still alive today, but it comes from a different era when hooded tanks with TL and ballasts and starters build-in under the hood were more common than open-top tanks.

When the 220 VAC TL, Ballasts, starter and relatively open screw connections suddenly switch on the electrical power surge through such a system is quite strong and sends a shockwave of inductive electrical current through the water column startling the fish. And back in the day, it was relatively unknown that electrical current can travel inductively through moist air into the water. So the idea it must be the sudden light flash causing this became common belief.

Little more than a decade ago low powered (DC 12 Volts) LED lights above aquariums became popular instead of TL and were soon followed by automated advanced LED controllers. People came to the craziest ideas with these controllers not only with gradual sunset and sunrise light schemes but also with replicating (thunderstorm) lightning schemes with sudden subsequential light flashes in the evening (obviously the thunder was imaginary) it was quite popular for a short period, maybe some people still do. No one ever reported startled fish from the light flashes, they simply didn't react to it and just went on with their daily life as if nothing happens.



Conclusion There are no differences in sudden flashing light from a 12-volt or a 220-volt light source... Light is simply light...
But there is a major difference in power surge with suddenly switching on an AC 220-volt TL ballast versus a DC 12-volt LED strip...

Anyway, it's still a silly addition with little added value to simulate thunderstorm light flashes above an aquarium. No pun intended... But the positive side it contributed to disproving the old urban TL myth it's the sudden light flash startling the fish... It doesn't... It must be something else and what other than a sudden AC 220-volt power surge could it be?

 

[Hufsa]

It must be something else and what other than a sudden AC 220-volt power surge could it be?

Im not sure im sold on that Zozo, when I turn my tank (LED) lights on unexpectedly my fish scatter into the plants and give me the ugliest looks of disapproval 😬

I dont think its that far fetched that they are startled by it suddenly becoming bright.

Has anyone ever turned on the lights in a room you were sleeping in? 😅 I dont just give ugly looks of disapproval, its usually more of a tirade of mumbly cusswords while I try to figure out who turned the lasers on

When its dark in the tank the fish probably feel quite safe, like they are hiding in a shady part of the river bank and safe from predators.
But when the lights suddenly turn to bright daylight theres no wonder they get startled and dart for safety (or out of the tank if they are near the surface and feel cornered)

Just my 2 cents 🙂

 

[Wookii]

Im not sure im sold on that Zozo, when I turn my tank (LED) lights on unexpectedly my fish scatter into the plants and give me the ugliest looks of disapproval 😬

I dont think its that far fetched that they are startled by it suddenly becoming bright.

Has anyone ever turned on the lights in a room you were sleeping in? 😅 I dont just give ugly looks of disapproval, its usually more of a tirade of mumbly cusswords while I try to figure out who turned the lasers on

When its dark in the tank the fish probably feel quite safe, like they are hiding in a shady part of the river bank and safe from predators.
But when the lights suddenly turn to bright daylight theres no wonder they get startled and dart for safety (or out of the tank if they are near the surface and feel cornered)

Just my 2 cents 🙂

+1 I'd agree

I would also add that instant lights off can be even worse. With lights on for most folks there's some ambient light in the room already, typically, but at lights off it would go from 100% lit to 100% dark, and I suspect also trigger a 'predators shadow' type response.

 

[zozo]

I dont think its that far fetched that they are startled by it suddenly becoming bright.

Just my 2 cents 🙂

Not necessarily so, I might have come over too prejudiced with that statement. It still could be that it startles them... I'm not saying my experience must be something universal.

But still... On the other hand, I gave it lots of tries on my own tanks from high to low-light setups switching lights without fading on a simple old fashion timer and or even flashing it in the middle of the day. With the LED lights I used till now never saw any fish get startled or skittish. But it gives me a hunch that if sudden light startles the fish they might be already on edge for other reasons. And then the sudden light is the trigger they need to get jumpy. Also, have fish in tubs and a tank outdoors and when there is lighting at night they get the full blast of it till now never found one where it shouldn't be after a thunderstorm. And sat under the lean-to during lightning storms watching the tubs and saw the fish happily at the surface not even twitching an eye.

Back in the day, my hooded tanks build with TL and ballasts and starters I do remember jumpy and pale fish after the lights came on... Yet with LED and outdoor thunderstorms with spooky heavy lightning, I still need to encounter the first time...

Next to this putting voltage meters in tanks, grounding them and measuring quite a range of different voltages from 25 up to 60 volts without any leaking equipment made me rather suspicious and started reading about it. Reading topics with questions like "Why do my switched-off lights start to glow faintly when I stick a finger in my tank?" Meanwhile, it fails to make a physical connection "How can this be?" "Where does this power flow from and to?" It can't be!? But it can... Comes down to tanks with water are capacitive, that function if not grounded like little (ionic active - Salts) batteries, cables and motors and coils running power are magnetic and inductive and moist air is conductive. Electrical current can jump over in between and through in mysterious ways. Therefore we should never ground our tank water, if it's grounded even only with a permanent pH meter, there will be lots of current flow if there is any. It already flows minimally over the atmosphere, the more moisture in this atmosphere the more power can jump over...

That's my 2 cents... Not saying I'm 100% correct, but I would still not be a believer and would rule out light without knowing all the other parameters. Switch all off, pull all plugs and then try the lights only, ever given that a try?

I fail to find the video back about Catching Discus in the Wild... They do it from a canoe with flashlights at night... The water over there is this low in CE flashlights don't even need to be waterproof. They search for the discus fish with the lights because they are close to the surface at night easy to spot very relaxed and almost can be caught without a net. If this ain't sudden light in their eyes in the middle of the night, then I don't know what is.

 

[pollyandpear]

I have reduced the number of hours the light is on, so now it from 10am - 8pm because the amount of stringy algae in the tank is annoying. Also the duck weed is a menace, it must have come on a different plant and I'm constantly trying to get it out.

Sad though as today found one of my babies dead (they are kept in a separate breeding box) covered in snails. Owning fish has proven very stressful and difficult so far

Can snails kill fish?

 

[Conort2]

+1 I'd agree

Same, If I do not gradually turn my lights off my fish go mental. I have an open top tank and wouldn’t dream of running my led’s without a dimmer which slowly ramps down the lights before they turn off.

Sad though as today found one of my babies dead (they are kept in a separate breeding box) covered in snails. Owning fish has proven very stressful and difficult so far

Can snails kill fish?

Definitely not, they’ll eat dead/dying fish but no way are they harming a fish.

Try not to beat yourself up about it, but fish sometimes do just die and there is nothing we can do about it. You clearly care a great amount for your fish and appear to be doing a good job, keep it up. Unfortunately you may lose the odd fish along the way.

Cheers

 

[Myrtle]

Fish can die from innumerable conditions, especially babies, and only a few of these are within our power to prevent or cure. Even the most experienced fish keepers here won't have a 100% survival rate with fry, so don't feel bad!

 

[pollyandpear]

So sad another dead today. Up until now the fry were so happy. Should I release the last fry into the main tank?

 

[Conort2]

So sad another dead today. Up until now the fry were so happy. Should I release the last fry into the main tank?

If they seem big enough they’d certainly do better in the main tank than a fry trap.

 

[pollyandpear]

The remaining baby is now 6 weeks old, still very small but I don't think the other fish could eat him.