Swollen stomach?

[satu]

Hi,

We have a 60 liter tank with 2 corydoras, 2 balloon mollies and two normal mollies. The water quality was tested and is fine. One of the normal mollies, an under 1/2 year old dalmatian has his stomach swollen on only one side. Exactly a week ago he had dropsy and his stomach was very swollen and scales sticking out. We gave medicine right away and everything else has gone away, except his stomach is still a bit swollen on one side, but his scales are flat against his body. During this whole thing he's been eating normally and swimming around. He was hiding a little during the dropsy, but is now normal again.

Does anyone know what this last swelling could be, please. We're a bit worried the little guy might have something else wrong too.

Thank you.

 

[Zagz]

Without exact parameters and more information it is impossible to help accurately. Saying your parameters is fine doesn't tell us anything. Also a picture would be helpful. Answer the questions in the sticky at the beginning of the forum and we can help better.

 

[satu]

Hi and thank you for your reply.

We used Interpet Anti Internal Bacteria treatment no.9. We gave one dose and another dose 4 days later as in the instructions. We will put the carbon back in on Thursday if the treatment is not continued. We did not treat in a hospital tank.

Our current water parameter are:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
PH 7.5
Temperature when the dropsy attacked was 26 centigrades, but was increased to 27 as suggested in instructions.

The tank is 60 liters and was set up about 5 months ago.

The filtration is Tetratec EasyCrystal Filter 250 and the EasyCrystal FilterBox 300. I cannot find the amount of water filtered per hour in the packaging.

There are 6 fish in the tank: 2 corydoras:female 5cm = 2" long without the tail and male 3cm = 1.25" long), 2 male mollies: one 4cm = 1.75" long and the other one 2.5cm = 1" long (this is the infected one) and 2 female balloon mollies: both about 2cm = .75" long.

The water was changed from now 2 weeks ago (right before the swelling of the stomach and scales starting sticking out). The gravel was vacuumed at the same time. Both are done once every two weeks. We usually remove about 25-30% of the water.

We've had the infected dalmatian molly about 5months.

We change the decor in the tank when cleaning every two weeks, but all the decor we use is their old ones and no new ones have been added for 5 months.

We feed our babies with frozen bloodworm, shrimp or mosquito larvae in the morning and a bit of TetraMin flakes for tropical fish (BioActive formula) in the evening (and King British Catfish pellet food for the corydoras). Their diet has been the same all the time.

I'll try to put a photo a bit later as I don't seem to be able to upload them to the computer at the moment for some reason.

I hope this explains something. If someone knows what we are suffering from, please let me know.

Thank you.

 

[roka64]

I agree a picture will help.
Does the fish not eat?
Has it darkened in color?
Does it hang away from the other fish?

 

[Zagz]

Are the scales still sticking out? It sounds like the dropsy may be returning. You can use a hosting service for your photos such as http://www.photolocker.net. It is free and you can copy and paste the code right into your posts.

 

[satu]

Thank you for your replies.

I've attached a picture here of the fish with an arrow pointing to the swelling stomach. The stomach is much better than it was originally, but has not gone away completely.

The fish eats normally, is normal color and hangs and swims around as always. He behaves totally normally, but has the lump.

The scales are not sticking out anymore. Most of the swelling went away when we starting giving medicine, but not all of it. What is left can seen in the picture. It's not the best picture, but hopefully gives some king of an idea.

The first treatment with the Interpet Anti Internal Bacteria treatment no.9 will be finished on Thursday (=gave medicine, added after 4 days and leave it for 7 days, then water change). Do you think we should continue the treatment? And is this the right medicine to give?

Thank you so much.

 

[Zagz]

If the fish is continuing to get better then I would not continue treatment unless the fish starts to swell again. Good luck & keep us posted.

 

[satu]

Thank you for your reply.

The dropsy went away very quickly, but the lump's been there for a week without changing to better or worse. The photo is not very good. You can't really see the lump too well. And it's only on the right side of the fish.

Thanks.

 

[Puriti]

The lump may just be a benign tumor. We have a black molly at school that's got one and it just grows very slowly and doesn't effect the fish at all, she just looks weird ^^;

 

[satu]

Thank you very much for your help.

We've stopped the medication and I'll do a water change now. We'll keep an eye on the fish and if anything changes, we'll start treating it again. I received Maracyn-Two today for dropsy so this should be good if needed.

Thank you.

 

[satu]

Hi,

There's been a change in the molly's (above) health. We went on holiday for 2 weeks and had an electric automated feeder for the fish and a person who kept checking on them. When we came back the dalmatian molly was laying on his side on the bottom of the tank.

We moved him separate into a breeding net so the others won't touch him. He had lost a lot of weight, which we though could have been because of another bigger male fish who bullies him so we fed him well and have given three small meals a day for 3 days. Other than that he does not show any abnormalities on him.

Before our holiday he was back to normal, apart from the shape on the stomach, which is on the photos above. I think it had got a bit smaller though.

After our treatment for a couple of days and during those days he looked much better and was swimming around, but today when we came home from work, he was laying on the bottom of the breeding net. He keeps trying to get up and swim, but he can't properly and it takes a lot of effort. It looks as if he's dragging his tail with him and swimming with the side fins and body. Could he be paralysed or maybe some awful bacteria? We cannot see anything else wrong with him, except he's a bit thin, but still eats normally.

We tried giving Maracyn 2 hoping it'd help.

Any advice and help would be very much appreciated. We're worried. I was also wondering if he feels pain.
Thank you.

 

[satu]

Hi,

I just wanted to update the details. The fish has been swimming today more, but seems to be struggling a lot to do it. He has to move his whole body to swim. He doesn't open his tail at all when swimming. Also the rear part of the body has started drooping down a bit.

I found something else on the right side of the fish today. It's a white spot, not a shape of anything. It looks a bit like a scratch, but it's hard to see what it really is no matter how close you look. I've attached two pictures of the fish here and circled the white area on the new photo. The first photo is the same as above in another post and the second one is the new photo of what he looks like now. If you compare him on the photos, you can see a big difference. (You can click on the photos to enlarge them.)

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[satu]

Hi,

Just an update of the situation. Today the molly is mostly sitting on the bottom of the tank and it looks like breathing is difficult for him. He breathes slower than the other fish and then suddenly he (I think consciously) breathes faster for a short moment and then again slower.

I don't think it's a swim bladder as when he manages to swim, he can decide which depth he's swimming in, but then he gets really tired very soon I think because he has to struggle so much to swim and floats slowly slower and to the bottom.

Could someone please advise what this is.
Thank you.

 

[Zagz]

It could be either a bacterial infection or internal parasites. I would bet on a bacterial infection. Are you still treating with the Maracyn II? Is he eating at all?

 

[satu]

Thank you for your reply Zagz.

We are still giving the Maracyn II. Tomorrow is the last day of the 5 day course. So we've given the medication for 3 days + today, but he doesn't seem too well still. Should this medication be the best for bacterial infection? Or should we try the internal parasites medication if this doesn't help?

He's eating totally normally. His appetite hasn't decreased at any point and he doesn't hide away. We have separated two parts of the tank so he shares half the tank now with our two corydoras and his molly pals are on the other side of the separating net. He keeps "communicating" with the other mollies through the net. This way he gets more space to swim around and doesn't get chased by other fish. The corys are very nice to him.

Today when I woke up he seems a bit more energetic and is swimming around more again. It seems to go back and forth between worse and better daily. I've also come to thinking after looking at the "scratch" on the side of him that that's exactly what it is, a little scratch.

Thank you again.

 

[satu]

Our fish is even worse. He's just laying on his side on the bottom of the tank and didn't even come for dinner. Could someone please advise what we should do. Should we change for internal parasites medication as maracyn 2 has not helped?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.

 

[Zagz]

The main problem here is using more than one med on the tank within a short time. Keep an eye on your parameters the meds may affect the beneficial bacteria. Can you get ahold of any medicated food for internal parasites? It would be a way to target feed the fish for parasites if you are suspecting parasites. One question is have you seen the fish poop? Is it normal or white and stringy?

For bacterial infections I would use a medication that contains Metronidazole. It can also be effective treating parasites. Check with your local lfs to see what meds they have that contain Metronidazole.

 

[satu]

Thank you Zagz for all your help. It was very much appreciated. I'll keep your advice in case we get something similar in the future.

Unfortunately we were not able to save our dear fish. He will stay in our hearts.

 

[roka64]

Ahhh, sorry for your loss.

 

[Zagz]

I'm so sorry for your loss. You can take solice in the fact that you tried everything you could to save him.