My molly has "shimmy"

[mayreee]

I posted about my platy being sick a few weeks ago. Sadly she died and I am sure it was swim bladder disease. About the same time my dalmatian molly was showing signs of "shimmy." I have read this is caused by poor water conditions which is not true in my case. My ammonia is 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 5, and ph 7.0. I think it may be because mollys are better in brakish water. Is there any thing I can do to help my molly. It just stays at the top of the tank and "shimmies". She does eat still. I added some molly bright a week or so ago and it didn't help. Now I have added a "shimmy block". What can I do to help her?

 

[Regen311]

I was reading about shimmy recently in one of my mollies. From what I read, it's an indicator or some kind of stress. My fish wasn't really sick, just freaked out by another fish that was pretty agressive. I got rid of the agressive fish and teh molly with "shimmy" is now doing fine.

 

[NJFishman]

Mayree, you kinda contradicted yourself, your saying it is caused by poor water conditions, and then you say thats not the case for you, but then you say they like brackish water, which they clearly arent in. So it might just be, water conditions.

 

[mayreee]

Well, I have another one that I got at the same time. She is in another tank and doing just fine. All I want to know is how to cure it.

 

[An t-iasg]

Mollies do best in water with some salt (aquarium salt, not table salt) in it. If you don't add salt, the molly could get stressed because they are not in the optimal environment for them. If no other fish is being a bully, and your parameters are good, try adding salt. Add one tablespoon per 5 gallons, but add it gradually throughout the day. Say you have a 10 gallon tank -- put 2 tablespoons of salt in a bowl, and gradually add some salt from the bowl to a cup of tank water. Dissolve the salt, and then add that water. Do this a few times during the day until you've added the whole bowl of salt.