PLEASE HELP! Gigantic Molly Unexplainable - Photos and stats included

[KittyKae]

Hey y’all! I consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to tank things and what I lack knowledge on, Google to the rescue. But this one has me all sorts of confused. I “adopted” this Molly 3 months ago. My local fish store has a “Kae Tank” that he puts fish in that he can’t sell for whatever reason. This fish was in there after someone left it in a baggie by the door (people seriously suck.) He thought she was pregnant, I disagreed. After a 45 days of quarantine in a lone tank (20g), a month in the next stage tank (30g) and now 3 weeks in the last stage tank (60g) before hitting the mother-load (175g) main tank, she is still huge. She does fluctuate in size, but not by much (we are talking minutely where you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t purposely watching for a difference.) The photos I will attach were taken last night and this morning, this is her on her large scale. I have ruled out pregnancy (due to time), she doesn’t have the porcupine dropsy look, she poo’s like normal and eats regularly like all the others. Non-aggressive or territorial over space. You can see the size difference in a few photos between her and the other Dalmatians. She shares this tank with a variety of non-aggressive fishies and has never shown signs of stress. The only “trouble” she has with swimming is she kinda “waddles” like a 40 week pregnant women would…. Only while swimming and not being pregnant (unless this is the longest gestation in the history of a Molly) So what I am hoping to figure out here is what do y’all think/know? Water quality in all of my tanks are perfect (pats herself on the back and gives a cheesy grin), they eat frozen food 1x e/o day, pellets/flakes 3x daily (on automatic timer), tank is vacuumed and tested before frozen (thawed) feeding every other day, weekly water changes Sunday, full clean the first Sunday of every month, filter media cycle every 1 - 3 months. Temp is between 78-80. Sand substrate, fluval sky light, fluval canister, swaps between spray bar and duck bill. (Trying to think of all the things people have asked for in other threads, lol.) If I missed anything, don’t hesitate to ask! Thanks in advance! Happy Fishing y’all!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What does its poop look like?

It could have a tumour, cyst, or be full of intestinal worms. It might even be a part balloon molly, which are shorter in the body.

I would deworm all your fish and see if it makes a difference.

Section 3 of the following link tells you how to deworm fish. Treat them for thread/ round worms first or use Flubendazole and it will treat flat and round worms.
*NB* If you keep snails and shrimp, don't use Flubendazole because it can kill them.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

 

[KittyKae]

My first reply! Yay! Lol. So the poo is the typical brownish stringy poo size range based of multiple moving factors but nothing out of the “ordinary”.

Worms? Well you just dropped my fish knowledge ego! Haha. I had no idea fish could get worms!! Eeewwww. And nooo snails. I learned that one the hard way many years ago. Oh! And no shrimp. I tried that but the Parrot and Angels just thought “OH LOOK!!! Mama got us some yumyum treats” I can gather a list of what’s in the tank she’s currently in if that’s helpful.

Thank you for the info, I will check the link.

 

[Colin_T]

I don't need a list of what's in the tank. Just deworm them using the directions in the link and see if it helps. If it doesn't, post new pictures and update us on what you did.

 

[KittyKae]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What does its poop look like?

It could have a tumour, cyst, or be full of intestinal worms. It might even be a part balloon molly, which are shorter in the body.

I would deworm all your fish and see if it makes a difference.

Section 3 of the following link tells you how to deworm fish. Treat them for thread/ round worms first or use Flubendazole and it will treat flat and round worms.
*NB* If you keep snails and shrimp, don't use Flubendazole because it can kill them.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

Ok so the Flubendazole is on its way, I am just not clear on the dosing. Will it tell me how much to put into the tank? I read your directions on cleaning the gravel (except I have sand… is that ok??) and water changes, but didn’t see dosing info…

 

[Rocky998]

Ok so the Flubendazole is on its way, I am just not clear on the dosing. Will it tell me how much to put into the tank? I read your directions on cleaning the gravel (except I have sand… is that ok??) and water changes, but didn’t see dosing info…

When the term "gravel vac" or clean is used we basically mean any substrate (although I think there are a few exceptions for some types)... And it also depends on how deep your substrate is. Just make sure with sand that it doesn't get sucked all the way up into your siphon.

 

[DragonScales+Doubletails]

I can gather a list of what’s in the tank she’s currently in if that’s helpful.

out of curiosity, what's in your tank?

 

[Colin_T]

Ok so the Flubendazole is on its way, I am just not clear on the dosing. Will it tell me how much to put into the tank? I read your directions on cleaning the gravel (except I have sand… is that ok??) and water changes, but didn’t see dosing info…

You want to gravel clean any substrate after deworming the fish to remove the worms that have been expelled. Most deworming medications don't kill the worms but simply paralyze them. The worms then let go of the fish's intestine and are pooped out. Normally when the worms are on the bottom of the tank they aren't picked up by fish but sometimes fish see them and eat them. By gravel cleaning the substrate after deworming the tank, you remove most of the paralyzed worms and reduce the chance of a fish eating the worms.

If you have 3 or 4 inches of sand, you don't have to push the gravel cleaner all the way to the bottom. Just push it down about 1 inch and suck the stuff out of that part of the substrate.

If you have gravel, then gravel clean right to the bottom of the tank so you remove anything that might have slipped through the gaps.

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The dose rates will depend on the product. The deworming medications were originally made for animals (cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, etc) and were later used by fish keepers. If you buy the dewormer from a pet shop, it is usually made for aquariums and will have the dose rate for a fish tank. If you buy a 20 litre (5 gallon) bottle from a stock feeder, you will have to find out what animal it is used for and then convert it to a fish tank. This is because the dewormers used for different sized animals, have different dose rates with cattle having the strongest concentration, while chickens have the weakest concentration.

 

[Colin_T]

To work out the volume of water in the tank:
measure length x width x height in cm.
divide by 1000.
= volume in litres.

When you measure the height, measure from the top of the substrate to the top of the water level.

If you have big rocks or driftwood in the tank, remove these before measuring the height of the water level so you get a more accurate water volume.

You can use a permanent marker to draw a line on the tank at the water level and put down how many litres are in the tank at that level.

There is a calculator/ converter in the "FishForum.net Calculator" under "Useful Links" at the bottom of this page that will let you convert litres to gallons if you need it.

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Remove carbon from the filter before treating with chemicals or it will adsorb the medication and stop it working. You do not need to remove the carbon if you use salt.

Increase aeration/ surface turbulence when using medications to maximise the oxygen level in the water.

 

[Essjay]

If you have 3 or 4 inches of sand, you don't have to push the gravel cleaner all the way to the bottom. Just push it down about 1 inch and suck the stuff out of that part of the substrate.

That will suck up the sand as well as what's in it.........

I hover the tube just above the sand and swirl the tube round which lifts the stuff off the sand to where it can be sucked up.

 

[GaryE]

That's a slow, long lasting issue, and if it's worms, it's a job for praziquantel. Prazi is for the usual run of the mill gutworm, and fenben/flubendazole/levamisole are for more aggressive nematodes. But we're in the world of "ifs" with that one. I've seen that swollen gut on fish before (and a similar thing on local beer and donuts guys), and never really resolved what it is. Kidney problems? Fat around the internal organs? Egg binding (I have never seen it happen to a male fish), worm infestations... I've seen fish live for a lot time with it.