What is wrong with my Mollies?

[trustemedia]

Seems my mollies and only my mollies are affected. They have clouded eyes. Eyes bulging out. One has a curve on it now from the end of the body extending through the tail. It's never straight. One is either severely pregnant or bloated as it is huge and has actually been pretty big since I purchased it. Their fins are slow moving. The fins look stiff and move slow, sometimes one at a time. They wiggle when swim like have a hard time getting around. They don't swim around so much but stay in place.

I did scoop them out and put them into a bucket for right now (I know) but I don't want other fish to get infected with eye problem and have nowhere else for them to go right now so doing my best.

I did treat the tank and the bucket they are in with a parasite guard as I read it could be an underlying cause of curved spine, cloudy eye, pop eye, etc. I had a guppy die with a weird white thing on it so did the treatment. Everyone seems fine, but the Mollies.

I don't have master kit for testing because I didn't realize the Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate kit I bought actually only tests ammonia, but my levels are okay. I seem to stay at .25 and then add a reducer to get to 0. The ammonia comes out of my water at .75, so my water changes, conditioner, filter and doing a good job to keep that at .25 and with the ammonia reducer I get down to 0. I have 30 gallon brackish tank with 3 Mollies, 6 guppies, 2 swordtails, 2 gobies.

The mollies do eat and still swim, just they have eye problems and one curving, possible bloating, and weird stiff/clampy fins when they flap them around - they move slow and one at a time. Anyone know what this is and what I should do next to treat? Is it contagious? Should I keep them separated? Will the eye problems clear up now that meds have been given and with water changes? BTW - I do a 25-35% water change and partial vaccuum weekly.

Posting some pics of them. Help is appreciated. I hope they will be okay. I'm pretty new and not sure what to do with them at this point.

 

[Mcor]

Sounds like you're doing everything right. I hope someone chimes in quickly with some advice for you. It's horrible when your fish are ill and you don't *really* know what it is.

 

[trustemedia]

still no idea what to do. Today i was finally able to move them from the bucket, poor dears, and put them in a 3 gallon tank i got. Their eyes look great to me. So much better, but still sick. I seen a white thing sticking out of the side of one of them, just a couple millimeters long behind the fin on one side. Looks like all have white fluffy stuff on fins and tail. Looks like small circles of it. I have fungal and bacterial meds ordered and on the way. Already did double dose of parasite med.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Are the fins on the big one sticking out, like in dropsy?

Definitely sounds like you've got a fungal infection going on, likely a secondary from whatever else was plaguing them.

Have you tried some Epsom salts? Some people don't like to use them but they have helped me in the past, especially kn cases of dropsy.

 

[trustemedia]

Stillborns

No, they don't look like any pictures I looked at on Google images of what dropsy is supposed to look like. So, I don't think that's it at all. I'm going to try to get some better pics of them now that I can see them better. I haven't tried Epsom salt. I only put some aquarium salt in with water changes to help drain the eye problem they had.

This morning I woke up and went to check on my girls and I seen yellow stuff all over the bottom of the tank. Upon looking closer I found a dead baby, and then another, and another... I got mad thinking "What did you guys do?" (sucker for saving the babies). I started pulling them out with the net and my hands best I could. I kept finding them. I found some full grown, some with just heads and some that were just yellow balls with 2 eye. I then realized the yellow in the tank were round eggs. One of the mollies dropped her young and not fully developed babies, and eggs. When I had all 16 that I could get into my little container and I looked at them closer outside, most of their bellies were busted open and a couple looked like they had some fuzzy stuff on them like what I described on the adult fins and tails, etc. I think she may have dropped them all because she's sick and they were sick. Has anyone had this happen before? Is this uncommon? Is it a sign of what might be going on with them? Soooooo, sad......

 

[Catfish Lover]

Seems my mollies and only my mollies are affected. They have clouded eyes. Eyes bulging out. One has a curve on it now from the end of the body extending through the tail. It's never straight. One is either severely pregnant or bloated as it is huge and has actually been pretty big since I purchased it. Their fins are slow moving. The fins look stiff and move slow, sometimes one at a time. They wiggle when swim like have a hard time getting around. They don't swim around so much but stay in place.

I did scoop them out and put them into a bucket for right now (I know) but I don't want other fish to get infected with eye problem and have nowhere else for them to go right now so doing my best.

I did treat the tank and the bucket they are in with a parasite guard as I read it could be an underlying cause of curved spine, cloudy eye, pop eye, etc. I had a guppy die with a weird white thing on it so did the treatment. Everyone seems fine, but the Mollies.

I don't have master kit for testing because I didn't realize the Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate kit I bought actually only tests ammonia, but my levels are okay. I seem to stay at .25 and then add a reducer to get to 0. The ammonia comes out of my water at .75, so my water changes, conditioner, filter and doing a good job to keep that at .25 and with the ammonia reducer I get down to 0. I have 30 gallon brackish tank with 3 Mollies, 6 guppies, 2 swordtails, 2 gobies.

The mollies do eat and still swim, just they have eye problems and one curving, possible bloating, and weird stiff/clampy fins when they flap them around - they move slow and one at a time. Anyone know what this is and what I should do next to treat? Is it contagious? Should I keep them separated? Will the eye problems clear up now that meds have been given and with water changes? BTW - I do a 25-35% water change and partial vaccuum weekly.

Posting some pics of them. Help is appreciated. I hope they will be okay. I'm pretty new and not sure what to do with them at this point.

It's possible that the little bit of ammonia that the mollies are being exposed to are affecting them. Mollies are VERY prone to diseases if exposed to ammonia, more so than lots of other fish.

 

[trustemedia]

Aww, couple more dead fry

Pulled out some more dead fry. I'm at 21 dead fry. Some fully formed, some head with half tails, some eyes in yolk, plus the eggs she dropped. Poor little fellows...

 

[Bdonaldson]

It sounds like she aborted the babies because of her health situation. You are doing the right thing by medicating the sick mollies. Make sure you stick to the directions on the meds. Ammonia should always be at 0. What size tank do you have? What kind of filter and filter media are you using? How many fish do you have in the tank?

 

[trustemedia]

Sick

Hi there. Did stick to directions on meds and had that done last week. Treated the mollies alone and my whole tank to be safe with Parasite Guard. Mollies have white gunk on them still, although eye look better. Ordered some bacterial and fungal meds and going to give those when they arrive later this week. Everything seems to be okay besides the fluffy/cottony circles of white stuff on the fins and tail fin. But they look better, except for losing the fry.

I do know ammonia needs to be at 0. I'm at 0 right now. I check it often. Above I was saying it comes out the tap at around .75 and in the tank gets to .25 and I have to add a reducer to get to 0. I'm experimenting with ways to make water better. Looking into RO system and I check my ammonia out of the tap last night and I mixed a solution and bubbled it all night and going to check it today to see if aerating all night does anything. We'll see.

Tank info was listed above in my first post except for filter information.

"I have 30 gallon brackish tank with 3 Mollies, 6 guppies, 2 swordtails, 2 gobies."

Filters are a Marineland Penquin 150 and Aquatech 5-15.

A good question to ask now would be how often to change filter cartridges. They tell you every 2 weeks, but I know you need to have good bacteria on them so really, not going by the box, how often should you change them? Right now I tend to do it when they are soggy and falling apart looking, not literally, but you can tell when they are getting thin. Also, after I medicated, I didn't think I should put the old ones back in since they could have had parasites on them, so I replaced them after the med cycle.

I water change and vacuum usually once a week, sometimes twice if it looks messy or levels are off.

Is there anything I should be doing that I'm not? I also recently added 2 marimo balls to help a little with cleaning water.

Everyone seems happy and levels are good, except for my Mollies right now which I separated. They've been separated for about a week or a bit longer now. I'll treat again and re-introduce them when they clear up. Maybe I should leave them by themselves? I read you shouldn't mix them with swordtails also because they could interbreed. Is that a big deal to worry about? Should I leave them in their own tank or put them back when they are better? Agh, so many questions...

 

[Bdonaldson]

Hi there. Did stick to directions on meds and had that done last week. Treated the mollies alone and my whole tank to be safe with Parasite Guard. Mollies have white gunk on them still, although eye look better. Ordered some bacterial and fungal meds and going to give those when they arrive later this week. Everything seems to be okay besides the fluffy/cottony circles of white stuff on the fins and tail fin. But they look better, except for losing the fry.

I do know ammonia needs to be at 0. I'm at 0 right now. I check it often. Above I was saying it comes out the tap at around .75 and in the tank gets to .25 and I have to add a reducer to get to 0. I'm experimenting with ways to make water better. Looking into RO system and I check my ammonia out of the tap last night and I mixed a solution and bubbled it all night and going to check it today to see if aerating all night does anything. We'll see.

Tank info was listed above in my first post except for filter information.

"I have 30 gallon brackish tank with 3 Mollies, 6 guppies, 2 swordtails, 2 gobies."

Filters are a Marineland Penquin 150 and Aquatech 5-15.

A good question to ask now would be how often to change filter cartridges. They tell you every 2 weeks, but I know you need to have good bacteria on them so really, not going by the box, how often should you change them? Right now I tend to do it when they are soggy and falling apart looking, not literally, but you can tell when they are getting thin. Also, after I medicated, I didn't think I should put the old ones back in since they could have had parasites on them, so I replaced them after the med cycle.

I water change and vacuum usually once a week, sometimes twice if it looks messy or levels are off.

Is there anything I should be doing that I'm not? I also recently added 2 marimo balls to help a little with cleaning water.

Everyone seems happy and levels are good, except for my Mollies right now which I separated. They've been separated for about a week or a bit longer now. I'll treat again and re-introduce them when they clear up. Maybe I should leave them by themselves? I read you shouldn't mix them with swordtails also because they could interbreed. Is that a big deal to worry about? Should I leave them in their own tank or put them back when they are better? Agh, so many questions...

Sorry I didn't see the earlier post with tank Info. Thanks for posting again.

Misunderstood what you originally posted about the ammonia. Why is it .25 in the tank? Are you conditioning the tap water before you put it in the tank?

Do the the filters have a bio wheel? Your bacteria will also colonize on the bio wheel as well as in the substrate. So you should be ok with changing out the filter pads. I wouldn't leave them in any longer than 2 to 3 weeks. Make sure you have the right amount of filtration for your tank. I usually will double if not triple the filtration requirements.

The mollies and swords will only interbreed when the male to female ratio is off. The normal ratio is two females for every male per species. I would even do three females for every male to reduce the stress on the females. The male can cause stress on the female if there is only one female in the tank.

You have three mollies, are two of those female? If so, I would add another female Molly. You need to get more swordtails as well to complete the ratio mentioned above.

I would leave them in the container you have them in until they are cured so they don't infect the other fish. Then you can put them back in.

 

[trustemedia]

Sick

The Penquin has a biowheel. The AquaTech filter doesnt. had a bio pad, but I took out after sick and will replace the pad on the plastic. I have a 30 gallon - minus decor and whatnot, so it's under 30 gallons of water. The Penquin is 30 gallon filter. The AquaTech is 15 gallon filter so I'm doing 45 gallons in Maybe 25 gallons of water?

I do condition the water before I add it to the tank, but only with a primer or water conditioner. Today I slapped myself in the head and thought I should add the ammonia reducer to my bucket I get ready BEFORE I put it in! So, will be doing that today and testing to be perfect before I add, Duh! I don't even know what to day about that.

All of my mollies are girls. I think I have swordtail fry. They are getting bigger so waiting to see and I'm going to keep a couple females. Do you think I need to add a female now and keep 1 from the fry bunch. I recently added female guppies for the same purpose.

 

[Darkseid76]

I can't offer advice on your filters because I'm not familiar with them.

But I use 2 filters also and I rarely swap cartridges out of them. I literally let them run months and just do minor gunk buildup removal.

Anyways I would personally ditch the ammonia reducer and either look for inserts that help bind ammonia and/or switch to using Seachem Prime as your water conditioner. It's a very useful product and a lot of members use it.

Also keep your mollies in QT until they have no symptoms and then keep them a little longer just to be safe, then you can try to reintroduce them back into your display tank. Just follow the medication dosing recommendations and do daily PWC's. Dont run carbon on the QT tank either.

As far as mixing with swordtails the possibilities are almost nil they will cross. I haven't found any concrete evidence of a hybrid yet. For the record I have mollies, platies, and swords.

Well one Molly lol ^__^ I have had her over a year and a half and she's never had fry. I've seen my male sword try and mate with her but nothing ever produced. Platies will and can cross with swords and guppies can cross with mollies.

Don't worry too much about losing the fry, if she recovers she will have PLENTY MORE lol

 

[trustemedia]

So, I see some ZeoLite, Ammonia reducing Pads (if they do anything extra beyond a standard cartridge, I don't know), and some Marineland Ammonia Neutralizing Crystals - are these the sorts of things I should get and place into my filter to help out? What does everyone else use? Anything in their filter beyond the cartridge? What's the best?

 

[Darkseid76]

I have an Aqeuon and an Aquaclear HOB filters. I've seen Aquaclear inserts that combine carbon with an ammonia binder. I used it once or twice but that was when I first set up my tank. Can't say I noticed any results.

Also I would advise you invest in a Test Kit to monitor all your water parameters. Nitrite and Nitrate can also cause problems. I use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. It has tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and high range pH. A lot of members also use this kit. It can be expensive in stores but its worth the investment.

 

[trustemedia]

Kit

Thanks for all that info! My master test kit is on the way. It was expensive in the stores between $30-$35, but it's only $16 at petmountain.com. It should be here Thursday.

 

[trustemedia]

Pictures

Here's some updates pictures of the sick Mollies. If anyone know what the heck this is it would probably help with me treating them. Thanks.

 

[Bdonaldson]

The Penquin has a biowheel. The AquaTech filter doesnt. had a bio pad, but I took out after sick and will replace the pad on the plastic. I have a 30 gallon - minus decor and whatnot, so it's under 30 gallons of water. The Penquin is 30 gallon filter. The AquaTech is 15 gallon filter so I'm doing 45 gallons in Maybe 25 gallons of water?

I do condition the water before I add it to the tank, but only with a primer or water conditioner. Today I slapped myself in the head and thought I should add the ammonia reducer to my bucket I get ready BEFORE I put it in! So, will be doing that today and testing to be perfect before I add, Duh! I don't even know what to day about that.

All of my mollies are girls. I think I have swordtail fry. They are getting bigger so waiting to see and I'm going to keep a couple females. Do you think I need to add a female now and keep 1 from the fry bunch. I recently added female guppies for the same purpose.

You can get a filter sock and add zeolite witch will reduce the ammonia. I have done that before and it worked out well.

All of the mollies being girls might be why she aborted. No male to fertilize the eggs.

The string pop is usually a sign of parasites. The white fluffy stuff sounds like a fungal disease. Is are they still eating ok? Did you get the other meds in the mail yet?

 

[Fishgazer]

I'm sorry you are having such trouble with the mollies. Do you have salt in their aquarium? Mollies are brackish & need salt to thrive long term, or so I've read. I've always kept salt in my molly tank, and they are the one fish with which I've never had issues. Could just be coincidence.

Good luck!

 

[trustemedia]

Mollies

I will try with zeolite in the filter and see how that goes.

She did give up full grown fry with the eggs and some still forming in eggs. 18 full grown. 1 without tail. 2 heads, and eggs.

Meds are supposed to be here today and can't get here fast enough. They are all still eating. The black ones seems fine now, but she's staying in since she did have eye problems. The mom who aborted lays on the bottom and clamps her fins to her side and vibrates. This has been going on since yesterday. I didn't know if she would make the night, but she did. And she swam to the top this morning I came to check on them and gave them a bite to eat. I feel she's in pain .

I treated with Parasite Guard because of the stringy white poop. They got 2 doses last week according to package directions. The eye problem went away, but they got some fuzz going now and the lost babies. I would hope the parasite would be gone now then and I need to treat the infection causes by them now.

Yes, the Mollies are in a brackish tank and their hospital tank is the same.

Going to keep fingers crossed next meds clear the fungus and things go back to normal, but the mom who dropped looks so twitted in the spine, I don't know if she'll ever be "right" in the physical sense.

 

[Bdonaldson]

I will try with zeolite in the filter and see how that goes.

She did give up full grown fry with the eggs and some still forming in eggs. 18 full grown. 1 without tail. 2 heads, and eggs.

Meds are supposed to be here today and can't get here fast enough. They are all still eating. The black ones seems fine now, but she's staying in since she did have eye problems. The mom who aborted lays on the bottom and clamps her fins to her side and vibrates. This has been going on since yesterday. I didn't know if she would make the night, but she did. And she swam to the top this morning I came to check on them and gave them a bite to eat. I feel she's in pain .

I treated with Parasite Guard because of the stringy white poop. They got 2 doses last week according to package directions. The eye problem went away, but they got some fuzz going now and the lost babies. I would hope the parasite would be gone now then and I need to treat the infection causes by them now.

Yes, the Mollies are in a brackish tank and their hospital tank is the same.

Going to keep fingers crossed next meds clear the fungus and things go back to normal, but the mom who dropped looks so twitted in the spine, I don't know if she'll ever be "right" in the physical sense.

She was more than likely pregnant when you purchased her. How long have you had them?

Read this article about the shimmies. It may give you some insight as to why she has the shimmies

http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/the-shimmies.aspx

Check your water hardness on your tanks. If the water is to soft it could be the cause of the shimmies.

Hopefully the new meds can help. Keep us posted. Good luck.