Potentially sick molly? I'm not sure?

[katiethemuffin]

Hello all! I'm new to this forum and I will probably be around here more now that I'm into the hobby ^_^

I bought some panda cory cats and 3 died, 2 within the span of a day. While everyone else seems okay, I've noticed a reddish brown discolouration spot behind my molly's left pectoral fin. I noticed a dot there a few weeks ago but I just noticed today it had grown in size.

It doesn't look like a sore or a lesion, it's not bleeding, but it looks internal. She has been chasing the cory cats hardcore, especially when it's feeding time. She's also been pregnant twice (I bought her pregnant) and her babies are healthy and okay.

Basically, I don't know what this discolouration is? It looks like it could be organ based? She's acting otherwise normal and eating normally. I read it COULD be Hemorrhagic Septicemia but I don't know... doesn't seem QUIIIIITE right? She also seems to have redness at the base of her pectoral fins which I just noticed...

This aquarium is a 10 gal, temperature's about 79F. There are 6 amano shrimp, 3 african dwarf frogs, one female half moon betta, molly, and her 18 children [in the small breeding tank within the aquarium]. I do a 50% water change once a week.

I have no idea what to do. I can't exactly set up a quarantine tank and I'm worried that whatever she may have may spread. I'm scared

 

[katiethemuffin]

Forgive the quality, they are very fast! >_<

 

[Matt68005]

My guess would be a bacterial infection cause by aermonoas bacteria.
Use Kanamycin or Terramycin. Flake works best if shes still eating. angelsplus.com
You can save alot of money using flake, and it does not kill off your good bacteria, goes straight into the fish and works much better, in fact some medicines are totally in-effective in hard,calcium rich, high PH water.
And its much cheaper! http://angelsplus.com/FlakeMedAntibiotic.htm
Terramycin works well for Hemmoragic septima.

 

[katiethemuffin]

Thank you so much for the link! I hope they can ship it fast enough to help her! So far she's acting normal and whatnot so maybe I can intervene faster than whatever she has.

I see there are two medications on that web page. Do I get both? And do I feed one for 10 days then the other? Or do I combine them? And is it safe for anyone else in the tank to eat it?

 

[Matt68005]

No you would just get one. One is an older antibiotic that is safer but works slower (oxytetracycline "terramycin" my personal favorite) and the kanamycin works faster and actually kill the bacteria instead of inhibiting its growth, but is harder on the fish's kidneys and liver.
Its good to always have an antibiotic on hand, especially with livebearers as they tend to get sick easily.
You Dont mix them or feed both, no.

 

[katiethemuffin]

Uh oh might be a continuation...

Thank you for your reply! I talked to the guys at the store today and they said the hemmorhaging was most likely from her growing so large from birth... which is possible... but then I noticed something else.

My female betta has 2 if not a 3rd small red thread like thing protruding approximately 3 mm out of her egg spot. I read this could be callamanus worms?!?! They were not there a few days ago. I began noticing these problems when I got the 3 new cory cats and two of them died from causes I could not determine.

I just want to cry. These worms are the first to show in bettas. Everyone's acting normal but I fear everyone will die if I can't handle this properly.

 

[katiethemuffin]

Female betta. My precious Diana

Top left where her egg spot is. Looks black in the photo but they're red in real time. I love these guys so much and I'm so ready to give up because this is heart breaking. I learned that the worm transfers from crustaceans and I just bought amano shrimp 10 days ago

 

[Matt68005]

that dosent look like camallanus worm to me. Red can just be red poop sometimes.
This is a picture of camallanus infection.

 

[Matt68005]

Cant see much in the picture. Can we see a video of the beta?
It does suck. I just went thru a camallanus nitmare for the last 2 years.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to take the tank down and bleach it and start over.
That site has de-wormer flake too.
You would have to do this.... order this,http://angelsplus.com/FlakeMedWorm.htm get the levimasole flake, clean the tank and everything with bleach, toss the filter pad, re-cycle the tank, then de-worm the new fish after about a week or two when you set it back up
Make sure you bleach the bucket and siphone tubes, and somehow stearlize the plants. Everything has to be 100% sterile or they will come back easily.

 

[katiethemuffin]

The reason I think it is the worm is because when I look at it closely, it looks red and splits off into two / what appears to be a third thread

How does one disassemble an aquarium when it's the only one I have? :s I mean I bought a 55 gal aquarium and will be setting it up maybe in a few weeks.. But these incidents make me not want to continue with the hobby. It's heart breaking to deal with!

I just took another look and now it appears to be some sort of thick black thing with a white bump at the other end of it. I'll try and get a photo :s

 

[katiethemuffin]

Okay I think she just passed some fecal matter. It looked kind of odd but not worm like much..

But the little two / three line things are back. I caught her and moved her to a small container just for a minute to get a better look and it retracted into her body. And now they're protruding a bit more :s and her egg sac is starting to look more red! Or her anus I'm not sure. Sigh.

 

[Matt68005]

Lets make sure it is parasitic worms first before we freak out. It may just be a turd.
This is not the hobby for everyone, you have to have patiance, a decent pocketbook, and a love for fish and the relaxation they bring to you. You dont need to worry about disease non-stop, but you do need to keep an eye out only buy healthy fish, and keep some meds on hand so this dosent happen again or will never happen in the first place. I hope you do well and enjoy this hobby not give up so easily.

 

[Matt68005]

Okay I think she just passed some fecal matter. It looked kind of odd but not worm like much..

But the little two / three line things are back. I caught her and moved her to a small container just for a minute to get a better look and it retracted into her body. And now they're protruding a bit more :s and her egg sac is starting to look more red! Or her anus I'm not sure. Sigh.

Can you take us a video with an iphone so we can get this solved much easier?

 

[katiethemuffin]

I will show you a video when I get home.

I have ordered fenbendazole, levamisole, and praziquantel flakes from that website and used priority shipping. And I'm pretty sure it is worms just because of how it looks. At least it seems to be in the earlier stages of showing but I don't know how much more time I have.

I am a student and admittedly not rich but I bite the bullet when I need to. I'm also willing to be patient, I just hate feeling helpless

Thank you so much by the way for helping me through this. I appreciate it a lot. I love my fish dearly and I don't want them to go through this.

 

[Matt68005]

Sorry to hear your frustration. This can be a frustrating hobby.
Worms are very contagious, and tough to get rid of once they get ahold in your tank, especially the substrate and plants.

 

[katiethemuffin]

I tried to upload a video but both attempts failed. I'm not sure where I can upload it to successfully show you. But what I can tell you is that a fourth worm/tendril thing has appeared and they all seemed to have grown a millimeter or so. They seem to retreat or retract when shes more active?

Her poop is more of a circle shape than string-like. I observed the Molly, who I suspect may have given it to her, but her poop is completely normal. Kind of a relief, since that means it may not have the same hold on her yet.

I have ordered the fish flakes and it's being shipped out today. I hope it reaches me in time but I'm afraid it won't When these things start to show, how much time do you have until it kills your fish? My betta, Diana, is a trooper. She literally has not changed how she acts. She still looks throughout the roots for things, she still wedges herself between leaves (it's really cute and it's her favourite thing). But her lower part has some swelling and looks darker... I assume from all the worms in there

 

[Coursair]

A. 79° is too warm for Panda Cories...they are a cool water Cory.

B. Once you get them healthy, Mollies need 30g or larger. 10g is too small for such a large active fish. It would tend to stress them out or they get nippy.

How many fish are in this 10g ??

I'm very sorry you've lost fish. We'd be happy to help advise on future stock, but research of your own will save you headaches. Do not trust what LFS employees say. Research before you buy.

If you do get a second tank, once this tank is sterilized it can be a QT tank for any new fish.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[katiethemuffin]

I didn't know that about Cory cats! my heater is turned all the way down but it seems to be rather warm still.



I have a 55gal that's 4ft long that I haven't set up yet as I'm moving this week, but I was hoping to put the mollies in there to grow out because she had babies and they're growing too



Thing is, I don't know if I can save these guys in time :/ I'm super scared about bringing these guys to the new aquarium along with the worms



I heard shrimp can carry these worms. What do I do about them? I heard treatments can harm them but if they're carrying the worms...? Gah! And do African dwarf frogs carry this worm too?



I'm in Canada where levamisole is banned because apparently someone decided to treat himself for worms. But it's literally the most effective thing. I have ordered medicated food for them but should I order something I can add to the water? What could I add to help kill off the worms outside of the affected buddies?

 

[Matt68005]

Theres really nothing you can do to my knowledge to kill the worm larvae in the tank. If its only a small tank and a few fish, may be your best bet to break it down and clean the heck out of everything
I think their lifecycle is about 3 weeks. Me personally i would euthanize the sick fish and use the medicated flake Prophalactilly on the new tank new fish after about a week or two to make sure they dont get it.
Im just saying, i would not hold on to a couple fish in the hopes of saving them and never actually kill the worms, they will keep coming back and getting new fish sick. Stop it here and now and not have such a hassle and worry about it down the road.......
Even if you have to be a little ruthless and put them down. I had too, it bites, but it stopped them for good at least.

 

[katiethemuffin]

Hello again, I think I can post a quick update!

So bad news is, still got the worms, and I miiiiight be noticing the baby mollies with symptoms of them, I'm not sure. It's still early to tell because they're so young. Can an infected mother pass it on to offspring?

Anyways, I have medicated flakes on the way from AngelPlus, and I read on a few forums people mentioning a guy who could mail me some Levamisole. I am happy to say both are on the way!! Whichever one comes first I'll start with. I'm not going to combine the treatments though because that's just too much on their little bodies, I think. But if I alternate, maybe that'll help a bit.

Poor betta's straining to poop but she's able to. It comes out weird but it's brown, occasionally red... I assume those may be egg sacs she's dropping for the worm's behalf, or it's blood from the intestines. She only acts strange when it comes to passing poop but other than that she's super curious and her usual piggy self.

I also learned my heater can be turned down, it was just a bugger to turn! So I turned the aquarium down to 75F, so hopefully that's better for the cory cats.

If I can get these guys cured, that means no one has to die <3 unless the medication stresses them out... but there's not much I can do about that other than keeping an eye on how much I use. I will keep you posted!