2 sick Mollies

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ziphoward

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
4
Hello,
I have a couple of sick Mollies in a 20 gallon tank. I am using a Fluval 50, and my tank is only about 5 or 6 weeks old. It hasn't finished cycling yet because quick start had disrupted it when I was first starting. I have 4 total Mollies, and the 2 sick so far are the two balloon Mollies. I had been doing 15-20% water changes every other day during the cycling to keep levels down, using Prime or Stress Coat. My current levels are Ammonia: 0-25 PPM Nitrite: .25 PPM Nitrates 10-20 PPM PH: 7.6


It first started when my yellow balloon started develop a grey shading around her mouth and some around her gill areas about 2 weeks ago. Over the last week, she has lost some of her color and is a little brownish. Some scales are looking a little funky on the top of her head, and her top fin is clamped. My other balloon molly has some minor top fin rot, a small tear has developed on that fin, and some brown/yellow looking spots on the top of his head. About 5 days ago, I noticed the PH was down and I needed to bring it up, but I wasn't aware I needed to do it gradually. I changed the PH from about 7.0 to 7.8 in one treatment and also added some aquarium salt for the first time. I added 2 teaspoons of salt to the tank, which was half of the recommended amount. Since the fish have been getting worse, ive been using Marineland All In One and Kordon Copper Aid for the last 2 days, because I thought maybe it could be Velvet or Ich.
The fish are acting basically normal for the most part. I feel like they arent as active, but they are still swimming around and begging for food when I come to the tank. I have increased the temperature to 82 degrees and have been covering the tank and keeping the light off in case it is Velvet, but ive come to the conclusion I just dont know. I want to help my fish, but im afraid im making mistakes because I dont know what it actually is, and maybe all this is just from the cycling tank and the PH increase? Either way I need help, ive really come attached to these little guys! I regret the mistakes I have made, such as fish in cycling, and adding medication prematurely.


Here are some pictures. The first was taken on the 5th when I noticed the grey on the mouth coming in, the rest are from today. I wasn't able to get a good picture unless I put her in the net. She is still in the water in the pictures though.

https://imgur.com/a/g5L8J
 
Hi, welcome to the forum. Most times fish-in-cycles go ok but when you get a sick fish (and a new tank / new fish is always tricky) it can get hard. Once over this hump though, you should get a nice tank going so hang in there.


Was there any flashing or white spots/ salt grains visible that might indicate parasites? This reads to me as a bacterial infection but I wanted to check on parasites first.


The ingredients I get on the marine land are 1-Chloro-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone? If so, the notes I have is that its more for low level infections but have never tried it.


Your water chemistry doesn't seem too bad. Are the fish getting better or worse with higher temps?
 
Copper might not have been the best idea to use, is now in the tank and on everything in it, and could kill your cycle. Very hard to get rid of.
I doubt it was a parasite. Probably stress and fighting in a new tank topped off with being uncycled.
Id keep doing water changes, drop the copper and get a copper test kit to monitor when it's all gone.
I learned I was over chemicaling my tank for a long time with all the stress coats and salts etc and most things just hell best with heat and warm clean water.
Id stable out a routine and stop fluxing so much, all two of my favorite meds are prazi pro and paraguard. It's all I use now.
Hope it all works out.

Also I think her color looks fine. Mine was pretty much the same
 
Hi, welcome to the forum. Most times fish-in-cycles go ok but when you get a sick fish (and a new tank / new fish is always tricky) it can get hard. Once over this hump though, you should get a nice tank going so hang in there.


Was there any flashing or white spots/ salt grains visible that might indicate parasites? This reads to me as a bacterial infection but I wanted to check on parasites first.


The ingredients I get on the marine land are 1-Chloro-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-4-imidazolidinone? If so, the notes I have is that its more for low level infections but have never tried it.


Your water chemistry doesn't seem too bad. Are the fish getting better or worse with higher temps?

I had seen them flash every once in awhile since ive had them, before they were sick even, and ive seen them flash a couple times in the last 2 weeks or so. The female seems to have more color today and less spots by her mouth. The male seems to be about the same as yesterday,his top fin still has the tear, and his side fins seem like they might be more brown today. So maybe a little worse? He has also been hiding today, but still eating and forging around.



They seem to like the higher temps. They have always preferred 80 or 81, they protest when its in the upper 70's(by protesting I mean they hang out by the heater in the corner).

Should I keep up the medication? The copper safe was good for 30 days, but I wont add anymore when I do water changes if I shouldn't. The All In One was purchased because I didnt have much selection at the store, and I didnt want to go with the Tetra brand one.
 
Copper might not have been the best idea to use, is now in the tank and on everything in it, and could kill your cycle. Very hard to get rid of.
I doubt it was a parasite. Probably stress and fighting in a new tank topped off with being uncycled.
Id keep doing water changes, drop the copper and get a copper test kit to monitor when it's all gone.
I learned I was over chemicaling my tank for a long time with all the stress coats and salts etc and most things just hell best with heat and warm clean water.
Id stable out a routine and stop fluxing so much, all two of my favorite meds are prazi pro and paraguard. It's all I use now.
Hope it all works out.

Also I think her color looks fine. Mine was pretty much the same

Noted on the copper. The first picture of the fish was 2 weeks old, her color was brighter then, but the other pictures are from today. Her color has definitely lost the shine she had.

Should I keep up with the All in One medicine? Im concerned about her heavy breathing, and the fin rot on the male. Any recommendations on medicine to help with that stuff that would be appropriate for my situation?
 
I had seen them flash every once in awhile since ive had them, before they were sick even, and ive seen them flash a couple times in the last 2 weeks or so. The female seems to have more color today and less spots by her mouth. The male seems to be about the same as yesterday,his top fin still has the tear, and his side fins seem like they might be more brown today. So maybe a little worse? He has also been hiding today, but still eating and forging around.



They seem to like the higher temps. They have always preferred 80 or 81, they protest when its in the upper 70's(by protesting I mean they hang out by the heater in the corner).

Should I keep up the medication? The copper safe was good for 30 days, but I wont add anymore when I do water changes if I shouldn't. The All In One was purchased because I didnt have much selection at the store, and I didnt want to go with the Tetra brand one.



The flashing I'd suspect is just from water chemistry irritations. I'd skip the copper as not needed. If the all in one is helping I'd stick with it. If it gets worse, would swap to tetra fungus guard with furan 2 (or some other antibiotic).

http://www.thatpetplace.com/fungus-guard-tabs-8pk

Just improving the water has much as you can will also help them.

Mine have liked higher temps as well. I added a second heater and that helped (but large tank). Just watch them after any tank temp change to make sure not worse.
 
Hi, i always recommend steering away from meds (unless the fish is severely sick) as often we panic when our beloved pets get sick and go a little over board with the meds. The best treatment is always clean water with good parameters, especially with mollies. I'm sure some guy at the pet store told you they're simple fish and don't require much, when in reality they need near perfect water conditions, plus a varied diet. (I own mollies myself, and feed them granules with insect meal, the occasional pea to keep them regular and blood-worms. Though my male, Fen, eats most of the plants i buy.) A non-varied diet causes health issues.

If you're super worried about not having any meds to help, use aquarium salt. Mollies love brackish water.
Also, regarding the grey on the gills; that's ammonia burns. Fish often get them in transport and from bad water conditions in the tank. If i recall correctly, these are permanent and no threat as long as the no ammonia is present. I have a white molly who acquired grey gills from transport.
 
Thanks for the advice. I have been feeding them Omega ONE flakes, blood worms and sea weed to get them variety in their diet. They seem to be doing better. The one who looked the worst has more color and less spots and has been very playful the last 2 days. The fin clamping is gone and the water quality has been good with the water changes. I have one more day of the All in one treatment left, so I going to finish that up and hopefully whatever was going on with them continues to get better.
 
Seaweed? Never heard of feeding fish that, might have to give it a try.
But yeah, i hope so too. Just make sure you continue to do the water changes even if they appear to be fully recovered. There's always a chance of it firing back up if they aren't actually rid of their illness fully.
Good luck! Hope everything goes well. :)
 
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