I can't seem to diagnose my mollies!

[rosie T.]

Hi!! I have a 10 gallon tank with 3 black mollies and 3 pink skirt tetras. I have had this tank for a month and a couple of weeks now. It also includes a water heater and a whisper bio filter. My water quality is pretty good ( i.e. PH, nitrite, chlorine, etc. are at optimum level) and my temperature is at 80 degrees. Recently, my mollies have been "shimmying" and kind of staying in one place. One of them tend to stay near the surface of the water. That same molly just recently excreted white-looking feces as well. What is going on? I've been researching, and all I've ended up with is a load of "possible" outcomes such as fungus, nitrite poisoning, worms, and the need for more aeration. How do you suggest that I go on treating my fish? Is it safe to add fungus treatment, worm treatment, and all that stuff all at the same time since I cannot pinpoint exactly what is wrong? Or do I just try things one at a time? HELP!! Where do I start?

 

[Alien Anna]

It's a bit of a mystery.

The first thing I always do in these cases is to do a fairly large water change (about 20%) and inspect the tank ornaments - I recently had a piece of bogwood go rotten on me, giving off sulphur dioxide (it smells like rotten eggs and very foul). When you do the w/c, clean your gravel thorough, not forgetting to move rocks and wood etc. to get underneath. You can have something called "dead spots" where you get rotten, bad bacteria growing in areas that don't get sufficient oxygen.

Next I'd add some Melafix and a little salt (half the dose recommended on the packet). The tetras don't like salt but should be OK with a small dose, but mollies IMHO really need it. Never add medications without having a pretty good idea what the problem is, with the exception of tonics like Melafix or salt.

Check your temperature with another thermometer, just in case it's stopped working. Also check for ammonia (take a water sample into your LFS if you haven't got an ammonia test kit).

One of my suspicions is that these fish are constipated. Mollies eat algae in the wild, which is high in fibre and low in protein. Most fish food is the opposite. Try them on some veggies for the next few days - shelled, cooked frozen peas, blanched brocoli, cucumber or spinach. When I got two new mollies from the LFS the other day, they'd been fed on nothing but flake for weeks and were very unhappy and bloated when I got them. I fed them peas and brocoli and the next day they were pooing for England!

Keep an eye on them and report back to us what happens. Stand by with the fish meds in case they start showing obvious signs of disease, such as white spots, cottonwool tufts, reddened gills or popeye.

 

[rosie T.]

Hey Alien Anna!

Thanks for all your suggestions.... they're so helpful. I was wondering; however, how do you know that your fish are showing early signs of ich? And how do you know if there are parasites in your tank?

I'm just a wondering mind here... hopefully, it's not in my tank!

 

[Alien Anna]

Hey Alien Anna!

Thanks for all your suggestions.... they're so helpful. I was wondering; however, how do you know that your fish are showing early signs of ich? And how do you know if there are parasites in your tank?

I'm just a wondering mind here... hopefully, it's not in my tank!

Ick is simple to diagnose - you get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach!

No, seriously, it's little white dots all over your fish, really obvious. If you see one or two dots and worry it's ick, within a couple of hours you'll be certain. Spreads like wildfire. Bit like chicken pox in kids, really.

As for parasites, that's a little trickier. Something like anchor worm is very obvious - looks like one of those little plastic security tags attached to your fish. Various kinds of hook worm are obvious because they hang off your fish (unless it's a discus of course - then it's probably young discus feeding of their mother!). Intestinal worms are often not apparent, unless you see something wriggling out of the fish's behind

90% of these problems can be avoided, however, if you keep good tank hygeine (regular w/c's, keep the gravel clean, keep your filters running, keep the temperature within range, don't over-feed etc.).

 

[rosie T.]

Well, I took your suggestions and just did a 20% partial w/c. Hopefully, that helps a bit. Earlier, one of my mollies seemed to be scratching against a piece of wood I have in the tank so I have some meds close by.

Do your mollies "shimmy"? Mine seem to stay in one place a lot. Especially near the surface of the water. Is that strange? I'm just a little concerned since I've seen other mollies that love to swim around the tank. Mine just seem to "chill" near the top.

 

[Alien Anna]

Well, I took your suggestions and just did a 20% partial w/c. Hopefully, that helps a bit. Earlier, one of my mollies seemed to be scratching against a piece of wood I have in the tank so I have some meds close by.

Do your mollies "shimmy"? Mine seem to stay in one place a lot. Especially near the surface of the water. Is that strange? I'm just a little concerned since I've seen other mollies that love to swim around the tank. Mine just seem to "chill" near the top.

Mollies are certainly odd fish. Mine do all sorts of bizarre things - the latest is my male sailfin who keeps blowing bubbles on the surface. Or he's surface feeding. I'm not quite sure (I'm quite new to livebearers).

My sailfin female keeps hiding behind the filter, just below the surface. I kept worrying there was something wrong with her but she seems fine. Judging from their mouth-shapes, mollies are designed to feed from the surface, so maybe it's normal.

My other mollies (short-finned) seem to swim lower in the tank, but my dalmation molly swims up and down a lot (I'm told this is normal for them). I tend to go by the guppies - they like the surface best and if they're swimming about very active, I assume all is well in the tank. The temperature's got a bit too high for them lately and the first thing that happens is my guppies become sedentary. That's when I know it's time to open the hood and get some cooler air in that tank (it's a Juwel and those hoods are devils at keeping the heat in).

Generally, any disease or parasite will eventually show itself if you keep an eye on your fish. With experience you'll be able to assess them in seconds without worrying - I'm like that with my tetras and gouramis that I've had quite a while.

 

[rosie T.]

Hey!

You have been so much help!! Today, I did a partial water change (20%) and double checked on my water quality. Everything seems up to par. That was early this morning... at about 10:00am.

Well, it is now 5:30pm and I just lost a molly!

I thought I did everything right since the water condition was good and the fish seemed happy. Then I left for the day, came home... and she was gone!

What happened? My other mollies seem to be ok, but they're still at the surface. Do you think I need more aeration? I don't have an air pump, just an external filter. Are they gasping for air? It's funny because my water levels are all normal.

I don't want to lose another molly!