Sick Molly - Please help

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

jckd2020

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jul 14, 2020
Messages
2
Hi all
My partner and I have a 2 month old tank with 5 Molly’s (all female), 3 Molly babies and 6 neon tetras. I’m a bit scarce on tank details as it’s more my partner’s labour of love!

One of our balloon mollies recently died - however prior to this happening we surprisingly discovered Molly babies (we had no idea any were pregnant) and therefore wondered if this one died after giving birth. Especially as she hadn’t seemed unwell (ie. was still waiting, swimming’s about) and we just woke up one morning to find her deceased.

The 6 neon tetras were added about 2 weeks ago (after the above death and birth). In the last couple of days one of the adult Molly’s has become very lethargic, lies on the bottom of the tank, isn’t eating - but then very occasionally will swim crazily. It maybe also looks like one fin so moving faster or more frequently than the other. The other Molly’s are eating and moving around but seem to maybe be swimming around less fast or frequently. I’ve attached her picture. Part of me thinks her coloring is very similar to when we purchased her, but having done some more reading I’m wondering if the white is Ich or velvet. She also seems to be on a bit of a lean to the left when lying on the rocks.

We do have a terrible snail infestation that we are trying to get rid of but it’s hard and they breed incessantly! Could that be causing her to be unwell?

I don’t have all the specifics at re water testing etc other than to say it was all normal at the most recent testing. This is our first tank and all had otherwise been going really well. So any help or tips would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!
 

Attachments

  • A7711D64-47AD-4DD9-A148-84F25D15382C.jpg
    A7711D64-47AD-4DD9-A148-84F25D15382C.jpg
    161.7 KB · Views: 33
  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    218.6 KB · Views: 29
What size is your tank? What is your water change schedule? Do you have a heater/filter?
Balloon mollies (or other balloon fish) are basically the pugs of the fish world. Super unhealthy, lots of issues due to their organs being too big for their bodies.
 
I think it’s 80L. Yes to heater and filter. We have a water testing kit at home and water is tested weekly. Not 100% sure re water change as my partner does that. Probably fortnightly. The Molly is looking much worse today - swimming around on her side/quite a substantial lean
 
Mollies are big waste producers, I would get the parameters checked and increase your water changes to 50% a week.
 
SarahB gave great advice. Only things I would add is to assure you that from the pics I didn't see anything that looks like ich or velvet. Your tank does sound like it might be overstocked tho. I'd check your stocking on aqua advisor.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top Bottom