Just Rescued A Very Skinny Molly - What Could The Cause Be?

[jeanne-marie]

Evening all!

Yesterday I inherited two back female mollys from my cousin's tank. One was fine but the other was hiding under an ornament and when I fished her out to take her home I noticed that she has an almost concave stomach and has lost a lot of the blackness around her gills. She was crashed out on the bottom of the tank.

I was asked to take them as my cousin thought that they were hassling her guppies but from what I could see, they had a very boisterous male platy in there chasing all the mollys and guppies around - he was the only male and the only platy in the tank!

Didn't think she'd even survive the journey as I've never seen such a skinny fish. Her head looks bulbous and her underneath is like a knife edge. She had very rapid and laboured gill movement.

Anyway....she's been in my hospital tank for 24 hours with ESHA 2000. She seems a bit better. Gill movement seems to be back to normal. She's swimming around but quite weak in the current. She's been trying to eat but seems to have spit flakes out a few times before swallowing. Have given her a few tubifex worms (which she didn't seem to know what to do with!) and have a algae wafer stuck to the side of the tank and she's grazing sporadically on that - perhaps as it's softer as it gets saturated.

So my theories are :
1) Some kind of internal problem but can't find anything specific on "skinny mollies"!
2) Bullying and competition in the previous tank made her lose the will to live hence her hiding in an ornament.
3) Some kind of mouth infection preventing her from eating - although there is no sign of any fungus or discolouration as I watch her opening and closing her mouth.

The other molly is in the main tank and is doing fine.

If anyone has any ideas I would be very grateful as I'd really like to start her recovery asap. I'm thinking about going to get some aquarium salt tomorrow to pop a bit in for her but there is none in my main tank - will that affect her if she's ever well enough for the move?

Thank you for any help you can offer!

 

[WILDER]

Concaved tummy can be internal parasites to fish tb.
Do her gills look pale with excess mucas.
What does it look like when she goes to the toilet
Check her anus to see if its enlarged or red and inflamed.
Fish will spit food out if stressed, gill flukes, internal parasites.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Check her eyes to see if the iris is black.
Any black spots on the fish or black patches.

Tubilex worms are they frozen, live, or freezedried.

Shouldn't of added the other fish to the main tank if its been with the fish that skinny.
I would take it out and put in back in the hospital tank.

 

[jeanne-marie]

Concaved tummy can be internal parasites to fish tb.
Do her gills look pale with excess mucas.
What does it look like when she goes to the toilet
Check her anus to see if its enlarged or red and inflamed.
Fish will spit food out if stressed, gill flukes, internal parasites.
Any signs of flicking and rubbing.
Check her eyes to see if the iris is black.
Any black spots on the fish or black patches.

Tubilex worms are they frozen, live, or freezedried.

Hi and thank you!

Gills just look silver on the outside, no mucus.
Her faeces last night were definately a light colour.
No enlargement or inflamation of the anus.
No flicking or rubbing
Eyes fine, all black still
The only discolouration seems to be the slight silver bits on the outside of her gills but that could just be her markings?

She looks like someone has sliced off the bottom of her belly and pinched the middle bit in.

 

[WILDER]

With a sunken in belly looking at internal parasites to fish tb.
Once fish are really skinny even a med to late as internal parasites do alot of damage to the ogans.

I would buy this worming med.
Signs of internal parasite are.
Long stringy white poo or clear mucas poo.
Red inflamed anus or enlarged anus.
Bent spine sometimes.
Concaved tummy.
Being skinny or bloated.
Worms prutruding from the anus.
Sometimes fish will swim on there sides.


http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936

 

[jeanne-marie]

With a sunken in belly looking at internal parasites to fish tb.
Once fish are really skinny even a med to late as internal parasites do alot of damage to the ogans.

I would buy this worming med.
Signs of internal parasite are.
Long stringy white poo or clear mucas poo.
Red inflamed anus or enlarged anus.
Bent spine sometimes.
Concaved tummy.
Being skinny or bloated.
Worms prutruding from the anus.
Sometimes fish will swim on there sides.


[URL="http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936"]http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936[/URL]

Thanks, will get that tomorrow and see how she goes. Didn;t even think about adding the other one as she and all of the other tank mates were all perfectly normal in appearance. I will put her in the hospital tank now, just in case.

Thanks again, I did think it might have been an internal problem.

 

[WILDER]

Its hard to say fish tb without tests being done on a fish.
I would treat for internal parasties as it best to worm fish anyway.
Leave a link to tb just so you know what to look for if she gets more symtoms.


TB Link.
http/www.fishyportal.com/cgi-bin/pub/diag?c=v&id=49