Emergency!

[auntiebuttons]

Our balloon molly has a red/see-through bubble sticking out of its bum. Has anyone got any ideas what this is?

A while ago the belly of the same molly ballooned up to double the size within a couple of days. We thought it may be pregnant but this was like 2 months ago.

Is this all linked??

 

[WILDER]

Never heard of it before only thing i can think of is internal parasites then not sure, i would issolate her if you can, just to be on tthe safe side.

 

[Luke_e]

Dont have a clue tbh, but maybe it could be trying to abort a birth?

 

[WILDER]

Not the writer of this.
Camallanus- A worm that infects the rectum of aquarium fish. It is usually seen in livebearing fish. Clusters of the worm can sometimes be seen protruding from the anus of a resting fish.

 

[kat and james]

a pic may help

kat

 

[babeasel]

Try thi site for parasite pics

http/www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/a-z.html

Hope it helps

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Our balloon molly has a red/see-through bubble sticking out of its bum. Has anyone got any ideas what this is?

A while ago the belly of the same molly ballooned up to double the size within a couple of days. We thought it may be pregnant but this was like 2 months ago.

Is this all linked??

When you say the previous molly doubelled up in size did its scales stick out on end at all like a pine cone?
Need more info on your situation i.e water quality results for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, how many gallons is the tank, how long has the tank been set up for, what and how many fish do you have plus all the fish you have lost over the last 2months if posible.

Does the bubble look like these pics at all;

http/www.fishpalace.org/unknownworms1_anonymous.jpg

http/www.fishpalace.org/unknownworms1_mikeaofa.jpg

http/www.fishpalace.org/unknownworms2_anonymous.jpg

?

 

[auntiebuttons]

Unfortunately Molly died early Sunday morning. She was laying nose down with bubble in air, just bobbing around the surface of the tank. I took some photos (at work at the minute but will post when I get home) and took them to my LFS on Sunday morning who told me she died while trying to give birth. She must have been stressed 'cos after the nightmare we have been having recently (lots of fish have died due to tank temperature) we were left with her, a black molly, a tiger barb, a plec and 4 black widows (that seem to survive anything the water/other fish throws at them). I reckon the black molly made it too stressful for her to survive. Saturday night I was watching (for a short while) the black molly trying to nip the bubble. Not nice.

God bless Spotty, you were my fav!

 

[WILDER]

So you didn't issolate her, sorry for your loss, R.I.P.

 

[auntiebuttons]

Thanks Wilder.

Unfortunately we had nothing to isolate her in. When I take my water back to my LFS this weekend for a test I am gonna buy a pregnancy cage thingy - just in case!

What size are hospital tanks normally and would these be okay to use for ill AND pregnant fish (obviously not at the same time!).

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hosiptal tanks are usually 10gals, although pretty much anything as long as it could hold your fish naturally for long periods of time i.e it meets the normal stocking demands- you could use the tank as a pregnancy tank although it would be quite difficult as meds can somtimes kill new born fry and will generally stress the mother fish out while she is staying there- plus you wouldn't want any deseases to take advantage of the pregnant fish while she is in such a fragile state, fish are 10times more likely to get ill when they are stressed.
If you want to breed your mollys you have to have a plan on where you are going to put the fry and what you will do with them when they are older, breeding nets only make a short term temporary refuge for fry in their first couple of weeks of life when they are most prone to getting eaten by other fish, it isn't advised you put anything bigger than a guppy in a breeding net and certainly not for more than 2-3days as they are quite stressful things.
Molly fry take a year on average to reach maturity and most lfs's will not take fry in at anything less than half grown, some lfs's will not take fish off customers at all due to insurance reasons so you need to make sure you have somewhere for the fry to go when they are full grown before you start raising them- which can be difficult as mollys can produce up to a 100+ fry in a single batch, if you want more info on raising livebearer fry or looking after pregnant fish check out the pinned articles in the livebearer section .

 

[WILDER]

I agree with tokis, and also it depends on how big the fish you keep, good luck.