My Mollies Are Not Well

[newbie fish keeper]

i have a number of fish in my little 90 litre tank, one of the mollies seem unstable, two mollies have a swollen eye and the other one seems to have a growth below its lip, i took them back to the shop today and i am now treating the tank with melafix, "jack" (the shop assistant) said that the two have pop eye and the one thats drunk is either constipated or a swim bladder problem, the other one with the growth has a deformity, he thouhgt that it was an ulser when i phoned...but could clear up with the melafix the other fish in the tank (a plec "henry the hoover", 5 assorted mollies, 4 emporer tetras, 6 odessa barbs, 4 cherry barbs, 3 clown loachs, red tailed shark "fergal", and two baby mollies (which were a welcome supprise) AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE....lol

could anyone verify what i have been told, and am i treating them accordingly

oh the water is spot on in every aspect, although i have just finished (about 8 days ago) treating for white spot on the clown loaches

i am in the process of cycling my bigger tank, which is another topic i have posted, i cant get the water right for the transfer after 3 weeks

i have been told i could be over feeding them, so they are now fasting for a few days, then i have to put peas in the tank

cheers for reading this little story, any help appreciated

 

[LauraFrog]

The advice seems sound, but they have left out the big part of keeping mollies - salt. If you do not have salt in the water - at least 1 tsp/gallon (1 gram/litre) the fish will not thrive. Up to 5g/litre is preferable but this will not suit the other fish in the tank. A lot of aquarists have recurring problems with mollies in freshwater tanks to the point where they must choose between freshwater fish and mollies.

 

[newbie fish keeper]

cheers laurafrog, i never realised that some fresh water fish require salt, it seems to me that that ammount of salt borderlines marine or am i totally wrong

 

[WILDER]

Can you describe the growth on the fish.
melafix dosn't always work on popeye as it only treats cuts and wounds.
In the uk for popeye anti internal bacteria med by interpet.

 

[newbie fish keeper]

the growth seems to be like a skin tag, should i stop the melafix and go for the treatment you suggest

 

[WILDER]

Not quite sure what you mean by a skin tag.
Do you think is damage itself in the tank.
If no improvement with the melafix I would get the interpet med.

 

[newbie fish keeper]

a skin tag is a bit of excess skin that we bi-peds get, i've got one under my arm, they can be removed by tying a bit of thread around the base of it...but i aint gonna try to tie off this one on the mollie...it was hard enough trying to catch it to take to the shop yesterday (joke)

 

[WILDER]

If you don't think the melafix is working you can always change meds.
Good luck.

 

[newbie fish keeper]

its only been 2 days now, i put the melafix in about an hour ago, i'll see how it goes..cheers...your a diamond

 

[newbie fish keeper]

just read about internal bacterial meds...the other forum i just read said the melafix is ok, but myxazin is prob the best over the counter med in comparison, also a more gentle approach is kusuri sabbactisun, as i am new (ish) to all this and dont really like putting meds into tank when not needed would like help on the subject

 

[WILDER]

See how the fish go with melafix.