Is my silver lyretail molly okay?

[keleidoscope08]

Hi there. This is my first post... My Molly has been acting strange on and off the past few days. She is mostly sitting at the bottom of the tank, upright (not on her side), breathing fine so it seems. When I turn the light on she usually perks up and starts to swim around, she eats plenty of flakes, when she swims at times her tail is lower but not always. After eating she swims around for an hour or so then goes back to resting, sometimes swimming around again a little. All my other details are on my profile. I'm wondering if she is okay? I am buying a new water testing kit tomorrow. Oh also this has been happening basically since I did a 25% water change. Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[keleidoscope08]

I was wondering if she was maybe pregnant from when i had the male Dalmatian Molly in the tank (seemly profile details) but there's no bulge or anything... *sigh* hope this is temporary and she gets better soon!!

 

[Bichir Bro]

How in the world did you get the letters in italic form?!?!?!?!?!?!?! But to answer your question, yes she's most Likely pregnant. Barbs, guppies and mollies when pregnant often swim weird until the load of eggs is dropped. It should go away on no longer than a few days.

 

[Fishfur]

Mollies don't have eggs, being live bearers, as are guppies. And I haven't seen any of my pregnant fish swim oddly, at least not yet, not even the egg layers. Some of the danios have looked as though they were going to explode, but swam as normal always.

Does her belly look swollen toward the rear ? If so, she might be pregnant, but I doubt that's why she's sitting on the bottom.

Are you certain the tank parameters are ok ?

Does her belly look swollen in general ? It might be a slight problem with the swim bladder, in which case, don't feed her for a few days and see if that helps. It is often a case of constipation. Then try feeding a few cooked, skinned peas, which is the fishkeepers version of exlax for fish, and see if that helps. If you feed freeze dried food, either stop or soak in in water for a few minutes before you feed it, to help it swell before the fish eats it.

 

[Bichir Bro]

Oh yeah I forgot they're live breeders, my mistake.

 

[keleidoscope08]

So now I'm quite sure she has ich she has spots on her tail and didn't eat for the first time today, very sad I did a 25% water change and I'm getting medicine for the water tomorrow, I really hope she hangs in there!! The others are still fine but ill treat the whole tank regardless. Thanks for the replies

 

[keleidoscope08]

Actually I have now decided to do it the more organic way; salt, water changes, and increase temperature. No meds, by the sounds of it people have had more trouble with meds than without. Hoping for the best!

 

[keleidoscope08]

Final update: I'm not sure what happened but she is nowhere to be found in the tank now... The only thing that must have happened is the three males must have ate her after she passed I feel so bad I couldn't save her. I tried... Won't be adding any new fish for,a long time. Just keep the remaining three and moss ball and be vigorous with water quality. May she R.I.P.