I think my mollies are ill

[Salty&Onion]

I'm assuming my mollies are sick. They clamp their fins, they shimmy, one of the females gets popeye constantly, they gasp/gulp at the surface, my gold dust female molly has a squared off skinny belly, they stay near surface most of the time and they poo thin, short and sometimes stringy poo too.
Since here in the UK got a bit more hot temperature stays about 29-30 C, constant, and I noticed that my mollies don't shimmy a lot now, but they still do other things I've listed above.
For water quality, I've got an ammonia spike overnight so I'll be doing today or tommorow a 50-75% water change. Nitrite is 0ppm, nitrate is about 20-25ppm, my tap water has about 10-15ppm of nitrate.
@Colin_T , I know that you'll definentely know what's wrong with them, but please be aware that I don't have enough aquarium salt, but possibly I'll be able to get some more tommorow from my lfs.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Start with big water changes

 

[corylover5]

What size tank is it? How many fish do you have?

 

[Byron]

It would help to know the GH and pH. I'lleave it to others to assess the cause, but this info will be part of the investigation.

I will just say though that mollies are particularly sensitive to ammonia; all fish are, but mollies really are. And high nitrate. These sort of issues weaken fish so other problems have a better chance of grabbing hold.

 

[Colin_T]

What other fish are in the tank?

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Any chance of a picture and short 30 second video of the fish?
If the pictures are too big for the website, set the camera's resolution to its lowest setting and take some more. The lower resolution will make the images smaller and they should fit on this website. Check the pictures on your pc and find a couple that are clear and show the problem, and post them here. Make sure you turn the camera's resolution back up after you have taken the pics otherwise all your pictures will be small.

If the video is too big for this website, post it on YouTube and copy & paste the link here. We can view it at YouTube. If you are using a mobile phone to take the video, have the phone horizontal so the video takes up the entire screen. If you have the phone vertical, you get video in the middle and black on either side.

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Shimmying is caused by low GH and or poor water quality.

All common livebearers (mollies, guppies, platies & swordtails) are riddled with gill flukes, intestinal worms and external protozoan parasites, and should be treated when you first get them.

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If you ever have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm, do a big (75%) water change and gravel clean the substrate straight away. The longer the fish are in the bad water, the more damage that is done to them.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

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Check the GH and pH and make sure the GH is above 250ppm and pH above 7.0 for mollies. If the GH is too low, use a Rift Lake water conditioner (for African Rift Lake cichlids) to increase it.

Clean the tank up (big water change, gravel clean substrate, wipe inside of glass down, clean filter).

Deworm the fish.

Add some rock salt, sea salt, or swimming pool salt to kill any external protozoans.
You can buy 10kg bags of swimming pool salt from a hardware store or some chain stores like Kmart, BigW, Target. These big bags only cost a few dollars and contain the same sort of salt you buy as aquarium salt.

 

[Essjay]

From another thread:
Hardness = 15 dH and 253 ppm

 

[Salty&Onion]

Thank you @essjay for mentioning the hardness

Other fish:

Swordtails
The mollies
Guppies
White clouds
Platies
Pleco
Shrimp

I could try posting a video, but whenever I come near the tank they go crazy on my sight.

I'm not able to get aquarium salt today, but definentely this week.

Will do a big water change, vacuum, clean filter and wipe glass down.

Videos in next post.

 

[Salty&Onion]

@JuiceBox52
@Colin_T

I had to post the video to my Instagram account as on youtube everything takes longer.
In this video/s is my gold dust molly that has a squared off thin belly, gets popeye constantly and shimmies a lot more than my two other mollies.
I couldn't "force" her into gulp/gasp at water's surface, I basically couldn't catch her on video if you're thinking what I meant by "forcing" her into doing that.

Here:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[Colin_T]

Any chance of another video?
Make it longer and show the fish from the side, not the back.

She could be hiding from the male/s.

 

[Salty&Onion]

Any chance of another video?
Make it longer and show the fish from the side, not the back.

She could be hiding from the male/s.

Slide with your finger to another video. There are two
My male is not that much annoying and she never hides from other fish or the male in the tank. She's got the shimmies.

 

[Colin_T]

I use a computer and mouse, not my finger.

 

[Essjay]

Click on the little arrow at the right hand edge of the first video

 

[Salty&Onion]

So what's wrong with them and what treatment should I use? I'll be getting aquarium salts this week pretty much soon and I just want to make sure what is wrong with them and what treatment should I use.