EMERGENCY! PLEASE HELP!

[FishForTanksNotBellies]

I bought a Creamsicle Mollie from Petsmart, because she was beautiful. She was placed into a 20gal Hex Tank that was already cycled, and has a few Mollies and Gourami's. She began to show aggression towards the others, and began to damage them. We have another 20gal, but this time long that's been set up for about 4 days with already established filter media and a few plants. We had no choice but to move her into the uncycled tank, otherwise our other fish would have been overly stressed, and damaged. After we put her in there, She was swimming great, and eating plenty. But, we've never been able to keep her plump since we got her (2 months ago). She would come up to the front of the tank when you would take a look. She was exhibiting normal behavior. Now, she's sitting at the bottom of the tank. Rarely swimming, but still eating a little. Her poop is long, whiteish and stringy. I gave her an epsom salt bath for about 20 minutes and placed her back into the tank. She swam for a good two hours before she started to make her way back to laying on the bottom. Is she acting like this because we placed her into a non-cycled tank? Or does she have a possible internal parasite? Any suggestions or help would be so helpful right now. She's one of my favorite fish, and I really don't want to loose her this soon. Especially if there's something I can do about it.

 

[neoyyf]

Whenever you see a fish stressed do a water change immediately of at least 50% with dechlorinated water at a temperature matching the tank water. To help cycle the new tank quickly, use media from the old tank filter in the new one. There is a lot of information on this forum and online on how to do this.

As long as she is eating, that is ok, she doesnt need to be plump. I think mollies are social so maybe she is getting depressed. Have you tried reintroducing? I have heard of people doing "time outs" for their fish when it gets too much and reintroducing. Perhaps look at youtube vids and see what you can do. Maybe try to plant heavily, provide hiding places/caves/tubes so when she gets too much the other fish can hide

 

[hobby5]

As far as I understand the tank was cycled as you used filter media from your other tank. Moreover, the tank was planted and 1 molly is no bioload for a 20G anyway. So there is some other problem. I would suspect some internal parasites, indicated be the consistency of the poop. That you never got her plump, is also a sign for health problems.

 

[FishForTanksNotBellies]

I've done a few time out's on her, the longest being 48 hours, but she would always resort back to aggression. Currently, she still sits behind her little plant. When it comes to feeding time, she does swim around quite well. She'll also swim around a few times during the day no more than 20 minutes though, then she goes behind her plant and sits on the bottom again. I've been feeding her some probiotic flakes with garlic in it (which she goes absolutely crazy for), and an occasional partial pea. Her poop is still long, however it's no longer white. She's also starting to get a little bit more weight, but I'm still kind of worried that she sits at the bottom of the tank.

 

[neoyyf]

Iv been trying to find something online to try and resolve this situation and the only solution i found was to add more mollies. The idea is that the aggrssion would be divided between tank mates.

But first are you absolutely sure she is female?

I found one poster online that managed to control the aggression of a female molly by adding her to one male to 10 females (one being her). However they were sailfin mollies but i dont think it makes too much difference.

Another poster added male guppies with the aggressive female and it seemed to calm her down a lot. However the male guppies would constantly try to mate with her.

Sorry but i couldnt find a better solution other than to rehome her