Ballon Molly Not Swimming!

[tropical_fish_lover]

Hello,
A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of my Balloon Mollies was starting to swim a little differently. It swam constantly looking up... I thought "Hey... mustn't be too serious." Then about a week later I noticed the same fish just lying on the substrate. That is when i thought "Ok, it is going to die..." but that fish continued to amaze me. It has survived like that for over a week now... Even though that in itself is miraculous, i cannot help wondering why it cannot swim. It is constantly floundering and gets about an inch from the bottom but then falls straight back down.
In the first few days of noticing that it couldn't swim, it had all its regular body parts, and there was no discoloration. It looked like a healthy fish that forgot how to swim. Now, it has half a left fin, but since has managed to flounder under some plants to avoid any further attacks from other fish.
I really would love to know if there was a way to heal this fish.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[merry78]

hi, welcome to the forum!
there's a few things we need to know to narrow down what's wrong with your molly.
can you tell us:
-the size of the tank,
-what fish are in there
-how often you do water changes
-what your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are
-what your pH is
-what your temp is
-what you have recently added to the tank
-if your tank is oxygenated by an airstone or powerhead near the surface
-whether you feed mostly meaty foods, mostly veggy foods, or a combination
-how long the tank has been up and running
-any other illnesses you have had in the tank.

don't worry if you can't answer everything, just let us know as much as you can and we will try to help you as best we can......

 

[WILDER]

Need to look at tank size in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite,nitrate, and ph.
Sounds like swim bladder not being able to get off the bottom of the tank.
Has the fish bloated up.
Shimmies which livebearers can suffer from is where they swim in place but not getting anywhere.
Mollies do better in brackish water.
Also when livebeares rest on the bottom for long periods bad news.

 

[tropical_fish_lover]

Thanks for the kind welcome!
Well i will try to answer all of your questions:
-the size of the tank
50L
-what fish are in there
An Angel fish
Cardinal rainbow
Another balloon molly
A swordtail
Two Skirt tail tetras
And this little sucker whose name I am not quite sure of. I think it is a Phantom something or other... lol
-how often you do water changes
I do top ups about every two weeks, but 1/3 water changes once a month
-what your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are
Everything is A-Ok in that department
-what your pH is
About 7.0-7.2
-what your temp is
27 degrees C
-what you have recently added to the tank
Just plants
-if your tank is oxygenated by an airstone or powerhead near the surface
Yeah, i have a air curtain running across the back of the tank
-whether you feed mostly meaty foods, mostly veggy foods, or a combination
I have only ever fed flake food, but i try to vary the brands or makes. Like i will get the colour enhancing one one time, then the tropical stuff the next time... so on...
-how long the tank has been up and running
About 8-9 months, and my molly has been there right from the start!
-any other illnesses you have had in the tank.
The only other apparent illness' were a Gourami that had flopsy and a clown loach that got white spot.




The fish doesn't seem to be bloated and the water has a bit of salt in it, but i am weary of how much I put in there for my other fish, so it isn't much...
Yeah, i expected it wouldn't be good news, but yeah. Still hoping!

 

[WILDER]

Your tanks overstocked.
Angels and long skirt tetra's the tanks to small they need a 20 gallon tank, even more for angels really.
Not doing enough maintance on the tank should be doing a gravel vac and water change of 20 to 30% each week.

As for the fish she sounds in a bad way.
Mollies need veg and frozen foods in there diet.

I would feed some frozen daphnia and some shelled peas to the fish and see how she gets on.
Cook frozen peas for a few minutes, let cool down pop out of shell, mush between fingers and add to the tank.

Can you post your water stats.

 

[tropical_fish_lover]

Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0 And the Nitrate reads normal at 0.12mg/L (estimate - somewhere between 0.1 and 0.15mg/L)

 

[WILDER]

A clown laoch in that size tank while that old news now.
Add a bacterial med, but to be honest she dosn't sound good.
Good luck.