White Molly swims verticly, head down - HELP

[bjka]

Hi,

My new Molly (had her for 2 weeks) started swimming vertically (head down) 3 days ago. Her fins are clamped. She looks slimmer than week ago but I have seen her eating. Water condition is good and other fish happy as always. Please help. Bianca

 

[tommyk]

Hi Bianca.

I'm by no means an expert but I'd say they will be along soon.

Something similar happened to a buenos aires tetra of mine. I did a bit of googling and came up with two possible answers either swim bladder problems or constipation. ( I never knew a fish could get constipated) anyway I treated him for constipation by feeding him cooked garden frozen peas. Just boil a few peas and cool them down. Take the outer shell or skin off and break them up and feed to the fish.
The next day he was swimming perfect.

 

[bjka]

Would Molly with bladder problem get really slim?

 

[tommyk]

Hi Bianca. Sorry I'm not much good to you.
Hoping somebody with more experience gets on board.
I would try the peas in the meantime

 

[pip walters]

Clamped fins in mollies coupled with angled swimming position and also 'shimmying' back and forth in one spot is often a sign they aren't happy with water conditions, although it can also be constipation.

Mollies enjoy hard alkaline water and often do well in brackish conditions. Check your pH and Kh aren't too low. Often, changing these conditions will improve the fishs health in a very short time. It could be the fish were raised with salt in the water, as is often the case with imported fish.

For constipation, peas... as mentioned....are good and also live or frozen daphnia.

 

[bjka]

My water conditions are as below. Tested yesterday with Tetra Aquarium 6-in-1 Test Strip.

NO3 - 25MG/L
NO2 - 0 MG/L
GH - 4°d
kH - 3°d
pH - 68
Cl2 - 0

Is there anything I need to change and how?

 

[tommyk]

Hi Bianca. How is your Molly doing now.

 

[bjka]

She is little better today. I have put her in hospital tank. Feed peas and today she is actually trying to swim in the right position. I have ordered today swim bladder treatment from Amazon so hopefully she will get better.

 

[anibis]

Your pH and GH are pretty low for mollies. They prefer a pH range of 7.5-8 and a GH range of 15-30.

I'd put some aquarium salt (1tbs/5gal) in the hospital tank, and see if that perks the molly up.

 

[pip walters]

Your pH and GH are pretty low for mollies. They prefer a pH range of 7.5-8 and a GH range of 15-30.

I'd put some aquarium salt (1tbs/5gal) in the hospital tank, and see if that perks the molly up.

This dose of standard aquarium salt may help correct the fish's equilibrium, but won't affect the water paramaters. To change the kh, you will need to increase the carbonates by using maybe bicarbonate of soda and calcium carbonate. You could add marine salt gradually to effect brackish conditions, if so gradually add salt, dissolved in tank water and trickled in. You will need around 10 - 15g per litre.