iirc, Mollies are rated 60 to 90F (not in the same week ;o).  Higher
temperatures contain less oxygen though.  What is the pH/gH?  They like
hard water.  Presence of ammonia = not cycled or bacterial colony
damaged.  Presence of nitrates suggests the tank did cycle and perhaps
the filter was damaged (media overcleaned?), or it is too small.  Many
sources in UK have nitrates, so compare with your tap water.  Salt is IMO
mandatory for Mollies, also helping with the nitrites iirc, which is
missing piece of the puzzle.  Might try massive water changes, and
maintaining the salinity levels (about 4 tablespoons of aquarium salt for
18g).  All of this speculative, so YMMV ;o)  hth

http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

cheers
NetMax

"Aidan Kenny"  wrote in message
news:3E2D17CC.4794AAF{at}s3group.com...
> Forwarding on a reply from Angie: (Thanks)! I was surprised to hear how
high
> the teperature was though. Is anyone else keeping mollies at this high
a
> temperature?
>
> Angie wrote:
>
> do you have an air stone in your tank? sounds like they maybe gasping
for
> oxygen. you also will want to test for nitrite.
>
> do you have live plants? are you fertilizing for the plants? that will
spike
>
> the nitrite level. i have found a plant fertilizer that works well but
does
> not spike the nitrite/nitrate levels. it is biospheres plant nutrient,
check
>
> your LFS for it.
>
> we have our tank temp at 86 degrees. we have 4 adult mollies and about
60
> fry at the moment, 2 clown loaches and a bristlenose pl*co. everyone
seems
> to love the higher temp even the plants. we turned the temp up that
high to
> help kill off the ich that our loaches got, that helped alot.
>
> good luck
>
> Aidan Kenny wrote:
>
> > Hi everyone,
> > I am very confused by a problem we are having in our aquarium at
home.
> > We bought 6 mollies to start our new tank. (18 US Gallon) All was
going
> > well when one of the fish started to "shimmy". I looked
this up on
the
> > internet and successfully treated it by increasing the temp a little
> > (79F) and adding some salt. All was well for a while. We now have 11
fry
> >
> > in the tank, I have read that this confirms that the fish like the
water
> >
> > conditions. The fry and most of the fish look in great condition and
> > very happy but we have had two deaths and two more are very
lathargic,
> > breathing heavily at the bottom of the tank. We got some test kits
over
> > the weekend, ammonia is very low and so is nitrate. The filter is
> > working fine, there is still a slight salinity in the water, the temp
> > looks good, lots of hiding places, lots of plants in the aquarium and
> > feeding regular twice a day.
> >
> > The sympoms are, starts off with just being quiet, hiding near the
> > bottom of the tank. Breathing gets heavier and heavier but will come
up
> > to the top to feed. Then they will stop feeding altogether start to
> > develop a slight white film on their sides, (This was alot easier to
see
> >
> > on the black mollies, who have now both died unfortunatley). And then
> > they die. We really are upset  because we "think" we are doing
> > everything right. Would love to here someone who had a similar
problem.
> > The presence of fry is the only thing that is keeping us upbeat,
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated,
> > Aidan. Kenny
>
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