Mollie Pregnancy Emergency

[mariac1973]

We have had a tank up and running for a few months now. The water quality is good and all the fish seem happy. We were very excited when a baby mollie appeared on Saturday morning. By Sat night, there were 4 babies, which are now separated in the nursey.
However for the last two days the mummy, still very big and pregnant, has been sitting on top of the filter up in the corner, doing rapid gill movements and not eating, staying away from the other fish. The male who was following her all over the place sat, is now pretty much leaving her alone. Is she gonna die? I think she's trying to give birth to the rest and cant. What should I do? Help?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Its posible that she's not pregnant but rather her pregnant appearance is bloating caused by an internal infection or other problem (like dropsy). She's obviously quite stressed at the moment, can you see any other syptoms the fish is displaying, like inflamed looking gils or unusually bloated appearance etc? What other fish do you have in the tank apart from mollys and how many gallons is the tank plus how many fish you have etc?

 

[mariac1973]

Earlier, she came out and was swimming around like normal. Now she has gone back up on top of the filter and is just sitting there facing the wall, I haven't noticed her eating anything today, and I put food right in front of her! Maybe having those 4 babies took it out of her? There is no swelling or bloating on her. She still looks quite oblong like a fish about to have babies. Is it usual for a fish to have a batch of 4 babies? We were expecting alot more, although if born at night I guess they could have been eaten!
I think the tank is about 30 gallons according to the calculator on here. We have 8 neons, 3 flame tetras, 4 corys, 4 pencil fish, 3 mollies and 3 platies. Two flame tetras died a few days ago, one of a white spot looking thing that spread into a crusty white patchy thing, and both were swimming strangely and upside down, unfortunately it was too late to save them, I hope the other fish will be ok, and the babies too, they seem fine right now.
I just read on one of these forums, that a mollie can have a few babies then the rest a week later, maybe thats whats going on. Thanks for your help, I will wait and see.

 

[chibi]

I would wait a few more days. It may seem hard, but I've had livebearers (including mollies) deliver a few every day. My guppy just had 10 more babies after delivering 20 3 days ago. It happens often. She's probably stressed out.

 

[mariac1973]

Thanks, its worrying when you're a newbie at this stuff! It doesn't help that the male is bothering the heck out of her! Is that normal? I will wait and see what happens next.