VERY Sick Molly - HELP

[schiribizzolo]

Hi All,

I am really concerned that my fourth golden sailfin molly is also going to die!! Most of the other fish seem fine, although a flying fox is having a slightly swollen belly (maybe). I am new to fish keeping and I am completely at a loss.

The molly is hiding, laying on its left side (the other 3 mollies also over the last 2 months showed similar signs and died), swimming erratically, then die eventually. Breathing seems to be faster. There seems to be some reddish lines near the gills. The water quality was a problem before, but for the last month or so, it has been very good. I have treated the fish for bacterial infections, and now for flukes for the last 10 days, but no use. I am currently uploading a video on youtube and as soon as it goes up, I will attach the link here!

Please help!!
Thanks.

 

[Jessy2363]

Swimming erratically can be a sign of either bad water or internal parasites. Do you have any flubendazole on you? What did you use for the flukes? Praziquantel?

Also what did you use for the bacterial infection? If they are dying real quick I reckon it would be a bacteria that is resistant to the strain of antibiotics you used to treat. If it is columnaris which is a massive killer of fish then you need API furan 2 and Seachem kanaplex combined. Try that. If that doesn't work and you've treated for parasites internal and external than I'm stumped.

Not all strains of columnaris show signs of white fluff by the way so it can be difficult to diagnose. Also with molly's they are very tolerant of salt. And remember salt can kill lots of bacteria and parasites. Go to the beach and get some salt water and dip your molly in it for 20 minutes or even longer. If it rolls over take it out. Molly's are brackish anyway so they can tolerate HEAPS of salt. salt water from the sea is perfect and anything parasitic living on the fish will drop off it in the salt solution. Chuck the water away after and dip daily. Flukes and everything will just keel over and die. It will combat columaris also. You could do dips up to 5 times a day if you really want to go crazy treating it.

apart from antibiotics. One med I found amazing for external and internal parasites is tetra parasite guard.

 

[schiribizzolo]

Thank you Jessy2363 for your reply. The notification had gone to the SPAM folder for some reason, hence missed it.

Anyway, the molly is still alive. I had the water tested and there was a very small amount of ammonia, but really really small. I was told that this might not have been the problem. They still felt that it might be internal parasites. The current treatment they are undergoing is Flubendazole. I will do a water change on Saturday and do another treatment (3rd week).

Yes, I do live close to the beach, but the water is quite dirty here. I am worried that it might get worse if I put it in the sea water. Instead, I was planning to add the salt water to the removed aquarium water when I will do the water change and then put the molly in there. I now see that 2 of my neon tetras are also missing! I know that the fish in the tank might not have swallowed it, but then I might have to look under the wood, decorations etc.

Anyway, I will keep you posted.
Thank you.

 

[Matt68005]

How did you get your hands on praziquentel and flubenadazole in the UK? My guess would be that he has callipara, an internal nematode that you treat with the dewormer. Since you mentioned you already treated for flukes.
What antibiotic did you use?

 

[Jessy2363]

How did you get your hands on praziquentel and flubenadazole in the UK? My guess would be that he has callipara, an internal nematode that you treat with the dewormer. Since you mentioned you already treated for flukes.
What antibiotic did you use?

levamisole is also useful to add to the mix of wormers when worming. When I treat for internal parasites I go all out. I use flubendazole, levamisole and praziquantel. They are all wormers but target different types of worms.

I live in NZ and people who own birds are allowed to buy it. Go and ask a bird farmer for some Or a person who supplies to bird farmers. If you ask around and are determined you will get your hands on whatever you need eventually.

 

[Delapool]

Hi All,

I am really concerned that my fourth golden sailfin molly is also going to die!! Most of the other fish seem fine, although a flying fox is having a slightly swollen belly (maybe). I am new to fish keeping and I am completely at a loss.

The molly is hiding, laying on its left side (the other 3 mollies also over the last 2 months showed similar signs and died), swimming erratically, then die eventually. Breathing seems to be faster. There seems to be some reddish lines near the gills. The water quality was a problem before, but for the last month or so, it has been very good. I have treated the fish for bacterial infections, and now for flukes for the last 10 days, but no use. I am currently uploading a video on youtube and as soon as it goes up, I will attach the link here!

Please help!!
Thanks.

What did you use to treat for bacterial infections and for how long? Also did you check kh and ph readings?

I'm also hugely curious on why the lfs thought internal parasites? Eg gradual decline, body curvature, white / stringy poop, lost weight or very thin, etc, etc.

 

[schiribizzolo]

In the UK, I got the fluke and wormer treatment from Aquacare that has flubendazole. I don't know why they suggested that it might be worms, but I did see quite a lot of little black spots on the insides of my filter yesterday that I have never seen before. So, am I correct to assume that the treatment has been working?? But yesterday the molly was directly in the flux of the air bubbles for most of the day and he was choosing to be there. But today he is hiding even more than yesterday. And today he is also staying vertical now and again with his face facing upwards. I am going to do a water-change in some time and give another round of the wormer treatment as I was told that the treatment usually takes 3-4 weeks to work completely!
I have not checked the pH and kH. But the last time I checked, it was fine. I hope he is going to get better with this treatment. Thank you.