Molly Bent Into S Shape

[pauleedle]

Our black marbled sailfin molly has suddenly twisted his back It was quite sudden. He was fine until another molly chased him in circles - then he came out wonky. Since then he has been stuck in an S shape He is feeding and swimming quite well. But is there anything we can do to help him to straighten out? Could something else be causing his bent spine?

Tank size: 84W x 44D x 59H (155 litres)

pH: 8.5

ammonia: 0.1

nitrite: <0.1

nitrate: 50

kH:

gH:

tank temp: 27C

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): Black marbled sailfin molly with spine bent in S shape. Feeding normally and swimming reasonably well, but not fast.

Volume and Frequency of water changes: 155 litres, 40 litres taken out and changed each week

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: None

Tank inhabitants: 3 x orange sailfin mollies (males), 1 x black marbled sailfin molly (male), 2 x sky blue dwarf gouramies (pair)

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): Added 2 x swordtails (male) 7th May; Added male sky blue dwarf gouramie 9th May; first swordtail died 11th May, second swordtail died 13th May - no obvious symptoms, just lay down and died. Water was fine.

Exposure to chemicals: None

Digital photo (include if possible):



 

[kpintheshed]

if they are all males they are were probley fighting to see whos the demonate one so the one who was chasing this poor one won but this is also the same for females. it might be a good idea to sepparate the two. i wouldn't add a female because then all your males would harras that one. if you do decide to get females the ratio should be something like this 4 to 6 or seven but then you will get hundreds of babies un less you just leave them in the tank with no help so like in the wild some people do this because its natural.

27 degrees is quite high but its only 1 degree off could cool it down to 25 or 26.
i don't think you can do much because the spine is bent some die but some still live normally. so yes i would separate them in chase it gets worse.

im not that sure about the water stats but im sure someone will come and see if there is a problem but its more like from the fight

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If the molly has only been like this since been harrassed by one of the males, i would say the mollys position is most likely a defensive stress related position and will go away once the bullying problem has been sorted out.

if they are all males they are were probley fighting to see whos the demonate one so the one who was chasing this poor one won but this is also the same for females. it might be a good idea to sepparate the two. i wouldn't add a female because then all your males would harras that one. if you do decide to get females the ratio should be something like this 4 to 6 or seven but then you will get hundreds of babies un less you just leave them in the tank with no help so like in the wild some people do this because its natural.

I wouldn't advise adding a lone female as she will get pretty much raped by the males all the time considering the high sex drive of the males- adding a lone female may also cause the agression between the males to get worse, as adding a female will give the males a lot more to fight over.
With mollys, the bare recommended minimum of females to have per male is 2-3females per male. So to add females, you would be looking at at least 8-9females at the minimum. Doing such a thing would push the tank to its maximum stocking limits (155 litres = 40.95 US gallons) molly-wise, but of course as you said the fry produced by females would become a problem sooner or later if not dealt with in one way or another.

What i would advise instead is to get more male mollys- the more males you have, the more their agression will be spread out amoungst the group, and thus the less likely any one individual is to get badly picked on. Most people recommend keeping at least 5-7 mollys when keeping them in all-male groups, personally i would advise adding another 3 males to the existing group. I would also recommend making sure the tank has some very well planted areas in the tank and adding more plants if nesarsary, as adding more planting will give harrassed males somewhere to easily retreat to and be out of sight when things get too much, having lots of planting in the tank will help generally lower stress levels for all the fish in the tank .
Your nitrates are a bit on the high side, personally i would recommend increasing the once weekly 40litre water changes to once weekly 50litre ones to help lower the nitrates a little bit, adding some health live plants suited to the tank will also help reduce nitrate levels as nitrates make a good plant fertiliser .

 

[kpintheshed]

i did say i wouldn't add females, i was giving a example if he did and what would happen

 

[pauleedle]

If the molly has only been like this since been harrassed by one of the males, i would say the mollys position is most likely a defensive stress related position and will go away once the bullying problem has been sorted out.

Tokis, thanks very much for this. I think this was the problem. The molly was so jittery I couldn't even catch him to put him in our bully tank. But the bullying gradually eased over the following week, and the molly gradually straightened out. He's fine now.

 

[kewskills]

Glad to hear hes fine now

 

[Arimus]

Glad he's fine now - that adds a whole new meaning to the phrase driven round the bend

 

[kewskills]

Glad he's fine now - that adds a whole new meaning to the phrase driven round the bend

tehe