Not Sure What my Fish Have and How to Help :((

[Kimbereally]

I have a few mollies in my main tank & a couple weeks ago I noticed that my white/silver molly had some red right above/kinda in his mouth & sort of between his eyes. I honestly wasn't too sure if it was just the lighting (he kinda changes colors in the sun) or maybe he had fought with one of my gold dust mollies (the GD molly does that occasionally and I have to separate him if he gets aggresive but no one has EVER been injured before it had NEVER gotten that bad). A few hours later there was nothing. Didn't think too much since then but I noticed it again coming and going over the past 2 days. Apparently my bf said he noticed it before I did but when it went away he assumed the same bc of fighting. We assumed he would be okay bc he showed absolutely no other signs of illness or strange behavior. I did water changes & cleaned out the filter in case it was some kind of irritation-and all the parameters are normal. As of today he started swimming a bit as though he has SBD or something (theyre swimming with their heads tilted upward) and another one of my fish started the same behavior today as well- but none of the other fish have any sort of redness at all or strange behavior. He also started kind of pushing that same other fish and he's always been peaceful and NEVER gone after anyone before. I'm not sure what my silver one has and how to help him and how that 1 other dalmation has possibly been affected. All my other fish including the babies seem just fine but I'm not sure how to treat them. They had just gotten over ich (which persisted a while) as of over a month ago and by now they have had completely fresh water (no more salt). Should I turn off my new bubbler I just got yesterday? Should I treat them with salt again? Or maybe try erythromycin? Mind u my quarantine tank is currently being used so chances are I'd have to treat the other mollies all at once.

Update: I just noticed one of my other dalmations swimming in the same manner as well.

 

[Colin_T]

Don't put medications in unless you know what the problem is.

Don't use antibiotics unless the fish has a known bacterial infection that hasn't responded to normal treatments. Erythromycin is an antibiotic that should only be used as a last resort on known bacterial infections.

------------------
Pictures and video of the fish?

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?

Has the filter been cycled?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water change and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

------------------
Red areas under the skin and in the skull area are often an virus or other infection, or caused by poor water quality.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until we work out what is wrong.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Kimbereally]

Don't put medications in unless you know what the problem is.

Don't use antibiotics unless the fish has a known bacterial infection that hasn't responded to normal treatments. Erythromycin is an antibiotic that should only be used as a last resort on known bacterial infections.

------------------
Pictures and video of the fish?

How long has the tank been set up for?
What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH of the water?

Has the filter been cycled?
What sort of filter is on the tank?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

How often do you do water change and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the substrate when you do a water change?

------------------
Red areas under the skin and in the skull area are often an virus or other infection, or caused by poor water quality.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week or until we work out what is wrong.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

This is them. I wasnt able to post a video but took screenshots for a quick timelapse. As of right now thw silver isn't red in the face, and swims like normal whenever I come by and turn on the lights like i did for this photo -(which they know means feeding time ha) -he same applies for the dalmation. When they settle I'll try to catch them both on video doing it.

The filter had been cycled when I first set up the tank, which was about 9 months ago or so. The Ph is at 7.6 & nitrate level and ammonia are both currently at 0ppm (had done a 40% water change yesterday along with a deep clean of the sand and a 25% earlier this week) and I usually do at least a 25% water change once a week or if I'm really busy then about every week and a half- at which I gravel vac all the poop and lift decorations to get rid of as much as possible as well.

The filter is an Aquaclear Fluval 50 (the tank itself is 40 gallons) and I usually clean it out once a month (to change the carbon usually and/or rinse the sponge with tank water). The bio media I usually partially change every 3 months maybe but never at the same time as any of the other media. To clean it every month I turn off and remove the filter, lift the basket out and remove some of the excess poop that gathers at the bottom and clean out the intake tube that sometimes gets filled with gunk. I also clean up the motor which sometimes gets a little stuck. After that I deal with the media.

I will say, about a couple, maybe 3 weeks ago, I asked my bf to help me out and change the sponge and clean the filter- we've both done it together many times- and this time due to being in a hurry, he removed the basket to put the new sponge without turning the filter off and clearing out the stuff from the bottom like usual, and replaced it just like that, but the result was that when replacing the basket, some of that poop went right back into the tank and clouded the water for a bit- so maybe that could have caused it? Since then I've done 4 water changes but whenever I test the water the parameters dont seem to be too different- other than when the water got cloudy that one time- at which I didn't measure it but did a water change just in case the next morning (it was late the night before).

I'll continue to do the water changes like u said to see if they improve- I'm just not too sure about the red in the face just bc he or the other fish never acted strange at all till today. As I'm typing this I also noticed the silver guys kind of twisting and turning a bit as he faces upward- which looks kinda like how a fish i had a while ago died of SBD. Should I worry about the other fish potentially getting infected? Or try salt and not feeding for a couple days?

 

[Colin_T]

Can't tell anything from the pictures.

You don't need to change the ceramic beads or sponges in filters. They last for years and only need replacing when they break down.

Carbon can be taken out and replaced with a sponge. Carbon isn't really necessary in an aquarium and will remove medications and plant fertilisers if you use them.

Just do a big water change and gravel clean each day for a week and see how they go. If it's a virus or infection, the cleaner water should help the fish recover quicker.

 

[Kimbereally]

Thank you I appreciate it! Hopefully they'll start to feel a lot better soon