[update: babies here] Black molly pregnant or not?

[michaelgn]

I cannot tell since her belly is about this size for 2-3 weeks. Bought her for 6-7 weeks now.
I did check old pictures and she didn't look like having this big belly 4 weeks ago.
So for a first time mom molly, it takes 6-8 weeks?
Please help me find out if she is pregnant. Thank you.

 

[Colin_T]

It looks like she is pregnant but she also has something sticking out her butt, possibly threadworms (camallanus/ capillaria). Check her butt and see if there are any small thin red or white hair like things sticking out. If there is, the fish has thread/ round worms and will need to be treated (see below).

Female livebearers can carry up to 6 sperm packets from breeding with males and they use 1 sperm packet to fertilise each batch of eggs. The gestation period (from the time she fertilises the eggs to when she gives birth to free swimming babies) is about 1 month. After which she will fertilise another batch of eggs using another sperm packet. This allows female livebearers to produce young about once a month for up to 6 months without any males being present.

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You can use Praziquantel to treat the fish for gill flukes & tapeworms, and Levamisole to treat them for thread/ round worms. You treat them once a week for 3-4 weeks and do a 75% water change 24-48 hours after treating. Don't use the medications together because you can overdose the fish and kill them.

The easiest way to treat them is to use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3 or 4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs.

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To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

 

[michaelgn]

It looks like she is pregnant but she also has something sticking out her butt, possibly threadworms (camallanus/ capillaria). Check her butt and see if there are any small thin red or white hair like things sticking out. If there is, the fish has thread/ round worms and will need to be treated (see below).

Female livebearers can carry up to 6 sperm packets from breeding with males and they use 1 sperm packet to fertilise each batch of eggs. The gestation period (from the time she fertilises the eggs to when she gives birth to free swimming babies) is about 1 month. After which she will fertilise another batch of eggs using another sperm packet. This allows female livebearers to produce young about once a month for up to 6 months without any males being present.

------------------------
You can use Praziquantel to treat the fish for gill flukes & tapeworms, and Levamisole to treat them for thread/ round worms. You treat them once a week for 3-4 weeks and do a 75% water change 24-48 hours after treating. Don't use the medications together because you can overdose the fish and kill them.

The easiest way to treat them is to use Praziquantel on day one. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate on day 2 & 3. Treat the tank with Levamisole on day 4 and do a 75% water change and gravel clean on day 5, 6 & 7 and then start with Praziquantel again on day 8.

The water changes will remove most of the medication so you don't overdose the fish. The gravel cleaning will suck out any worms and eggs that have been expelled by the fish. Repeating the treatment for 3 or 4 doses at weekly intervals will kill any worms that hatch from eggs.

------------------------
To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "How To Tips" at the top of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

Remove carbon from the filter before treating or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working.

Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge. Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it.

Increase surface turbulence/ aeration when using medications because they reduce the dissolved oxygen in the water.

Thanks a lot for the confirmation. I will keep her in the divided 55 gallon until the fry is out. Btw, should I move fry to a smaller tank for the first couple of weeks?

The “sticking out” thing is poop... I just checked her anal for a few minutes but didn’t see anything sticking out. 99% sure it’s safe. However, the detailed instruction will be really helpful if there is something going on. Appreciated.

 

[Colin_T]

Fry should be kept separate until they are big enough not to be eaten by other fish in the tank. They grow fastest in big tanks so keep them in the biggest container possible so they grow faster.

If you have to move the fry, scoop them up in a small container of water and do not lift them out of water until they are at least 2 months old. Basically no nets until they are a couple of months old.

Females can sometimes be kept with the fry but they need to be well fed and have lots of plants in the tank.

Do not lift pregnant females out of the water because the pressure can cause them to go into labour and give birth to premature young that usually die. If you have to move a pregnant female fish, carefully catch her in a net but keep her in the water. Put a plastic container in the aquarium and fill it with tank water. Move the container underneath the net and lift the female and net up in the container of water. Move her to the new tank and put the container into the water and let her swim out.

Keep new mothers separate from males for at least 1 week after they have given birth. This gives the female time to heal and recover from the birth. And don't lift new mothers out of water for the first week after they give birth. Use the above method, net in container of water.

 

[michaelgn]

Fry should be kept separate until they are big enough not to be eaten by other fish in the tank. They grow fastest in big tanks so keep them in the biggest container possible so they grow faster.

If you have to move the fry, scoop them up in a small container of water and do not lift them out of water until they are at least 2 months old. Basically no nets until they are a couple of months old.

Females can sometimes be kept with the fry but they need to be well fed and have lots of plants in the tank.

Do not lift pregnant females out of the water because the pressure can cause them to go into labour and give birth to premature young that usually die. If you have to move a pregnant female fish, carefully catch her in a net but keep her in the water. Put a plastic container in the aquarium and fill it with tank water. Move the container underneath the net and lift the female and net up in the container of water. Move her to the new tank and put the container into the water and let her swim out.

Keep new mothers separate from males for at least 1 week after they have given birth. This gives the female time to heal and recover from the birth. And don't lift new mothers out of water for the first week after they give birth. Use the above method, net in container of water.

She is still holding, if pregnant. I did switched her from large tank to small one a few times, could that cause the reabsorption?
It’s been a while and she is still swimming relatively fast, only the scales and body (belly) showed discoloration/silver.
Earlier you mentioned possible parasites, but she didn’t have the sticking out “thread” and has been eating a lot, and attacking male BM and other platy fish. Could this be pregnancy or just fat?

 

[Colin_T]

Moving the fish from tank to tank will stress her but should not cause her to reabsorb the developing embryos. However, the stress can cause her to give birth prematurely and the babies die if that happens.

If the fish has 100 babies growing in her she will get huge and might only be half way through her pregnancy. If she has 10 babies in her, she could give birth tomorrow.

If the fish is full of intestinal worms she will look fat like she is pregnant but she will never give birth. If she is fat for more than 2 months and doesn't produce any babies, then deworm them. Most fish have intestinal worms so it's a good idea to deworm them anyway just to make sure they aren't carrying any.

 

[michaelgn]

Moving the fish from tank to tank will stress her but should not cause her to reabsorb the developing embryos. However, the stress can cause her to give birth prematurely and the babies die if that happens.

If the fish has 100 babies growing in her she will get huge and might only be half way through her pregnancy. If she has 10 babies in her, she could give birth tomorrow.

If the fish is full of intestinal worms she will look fat like she is pregnant but she will never give birth. If she is fat for more than 2 months and doesn't produce any babies, then deworm them. Most fish have intestinal worms so it's a good idea to deworm them anyway just to make sure they aren't carrying any.

It’s been a while, 6 weeks I guess. There is no sign of giving birth for now so I might try to deworm. It’s a 55g so this is the last thing I want to do.
Will the worm cause other issues? Like eating less? Mine has been thrived the whole time.


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[Colin_T]

Deworming medications are actually very safe and very few people have killed fish when using them. Fish that die from deworming medications have been massively overdosed. If you follow the directions the fish will be fine. The worming medications I mentioned (Praziquantel and Levamisole) are used to treat animals and people for intestinal worms. Praziquantel is used to treat tapeworm in cats and dogs, and Levamisole is used to treat thread/ round worms in all types of livestock. Both medications have been used on people in third world countries because they are cheap to buy and easy to administer.

Just follow the directions in post # 2 and you will be fine.

Small fish and baby fish will be the first to show signs of stress if you overdose the tank. If the fish become nervous or skittish and panic after treatment, you have overdosed. A water change will dilute the medication if you overdose, or you can add some carbon. But overdosing is rare.

The deworming medications work within a few hours and if the fish have worms, you will often see them being pooped out a couple of hours after treatment. In heavily infested fish, they can be fat when you treat them, and the following day they are really skinny. This is due to the worms being expelled from the intestines. The fish usually regain weight within a few weeks of treatment.

 

[michaelgn]

Deworming medications are actually very safe and very few people have killed fish when using them. Fish that die from deworming medications have been massively overdosed. If you follow the directions the fish will be fine. The worming medications I mentioned (Praziquantel and Levamisole) are used to treat animals and people for intestinal worms. Praziquantel is used to treat tapeworm in cats and dogs, and Levamisole is used to treat thread/ round worms in all types of livestock. Both medications have been used on people in third world countries because they are cheap to buy and easy to administer.

Just follow the directions in post # 2 and you will be fine.

Small fish and baby fish will be the first to show signs of stress if you overdose the tank. If the fish become nervous or skittish and panic after treatment, you have overdosed. A water change will dilute the medication if you overdose, or you can add some carbon. But overdosing is rare.

The deworming medications work within a few hours and if the fish have worms, you will often see them being pooped out a couple of hours after treatment. In heavily infested fish, they can be fat when you treat them, and the following day they are really skinny. This is due to the worms being expelled from the intestines. The fish usually regain weight within a few weeks of treatment.

I have specifically put this molly in an isolated container with drilled holes in the aquarium. Within a few minutes she pooped a lot, and a semi transparent thread connected the solid waste. After the dropping, there was still a thin semi transparent thread after her butt. This made my decision to move on to deworm which might affect her normal pregnancy. What do you think about this?


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[Colin_T]

She could be full of worms and might not even be pregnant. Livebearers are regularly infested with intestinal worms and I have had numerous female mollies, platies and swordtails that looked pregnant, but never gave birth. A couple of months later I dewormed them and they all became really skinny. Then a month after that they started producing babies.

Nowadays I recommend deworming all new fish as soon as you get them.

All your fish in all your tanks should be treated at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

Just leave her in the main tank and deworm everything.

 

[michaelgn]

She could be full of worms and might not even be pregnant. Livebearers are regularly infested with intestinal worms and I have had numerous female mollies, platies and swordtails that looked pregnant, but never gave birth. A couple of months later I dewormed them and they all became really skinny. Then a month after that they started producing babies.

Nowadays I recommend deworming all new fish as soon as you get them.

All your fish in all your tanks should be treated at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

Just leave her in the main tank and deworm everything.

I’m almost certain she is full of worms. I’ll start deworming tomorrow. Thanks a bunch for the helpful input!


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[michaelgn]

She could be full of worms and might not even be pregnant. Livebearers are regularly infested with intestinal worms and I have had numerous female mollies, platies and swordtails that looked pregnant, but never gave birth. A couple of months later I dewormed them and they all became really skinny. Then a month after that they started producing babies.

Nowadays I recommend deworming all new fish as soon as you get them.

All your fish in all your tanks should be treated at the same time to prevent cross contamination.

Just leave her in the main tank and deworm everything.

Btw, should I worry about the dosage? Is the information on the medicine box?


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[Colin_T]

The dose rate should be on the packaging.

 

[michaelgn]

The dose rate should be on the packaging.

Can you give an estimation how much volume do I need for 55gallin tank? I couldn’t find the information on product page. Thanks


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[Colin_T]

Each product will have its own dose rate due to the different concentration of the active ingredient. You need to find the product and check the directions on the packaging.