Please Help! My Molly Is Very Out Of Sorts!

[jeanne-marie]

My usually very friendly and confident Balloon Molly has been barely swimming, almost floating in the top corner of the tank for two days now. She is completely off her food and seems to be very lethargic. I am sure that she is less orange in colour too. Her gill movements are slower than normal.

She is allowing other fish to barge her out of the way, an action that would usually see her chasing off even my gourami. Her fins aren't clamped to the side but are being used in a very slow and feeble manner.

The tank stats are all absolutely fine, I check them myself regularly, do water changes once a week and have the stats checked at my very helpful and knowledgeable LFS twice a week to be sure. All of the other fish are greedy and active as normal.

The only change in the tank this week is 2 doses of King British WS3, one treatment on Saturday and the second on Monday. I am due to put another dose in this evening. I started this treatment as I had noticed the Mollys and Platys flicking occasionally over the plants.

She is my favourite fish in the tank and would welcome any advice. I must admit I've been half expecting to find her dead for the last two mornings.

215 Litre tank - In week 5 of cycle, no problems so far.

2 Pearl Gouramis
3 Balloon Molly
3 Lyretail Molly
4 Sunset Platy
6 Neon Tetra

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = Below 20
PH = 7

Thanks!!!!!

 

[WILDER]

Might be the med.
Have you increased aeration in the tank.
Being pale and clamped fins can be stress to desease.

 

[jeanne-marie]

Might be the med.
Have you increased aeration in the tank.
Being pale and clamped fins can be stress to desease.

I did wonder about the meds as it seem to coincide with her losing colour. Unfortunately my filtration system has one setting. I might take some water out and leave a larger gap between the surface and the outlet.

As I typed the above she moved! She's now down at the bottom. She swam around a lump of bog wood and is now feeding off the gravel at the bottom - just like my children when they were ill, take them to the doctors and suddenly they're running around the waiting room right as rain! Typical. She is still very slow moving though.

I have noticed a few blurry white spots on her fins though. I haven't noticed them before. I'm worried now as I'm unsure of whether she's ill due to parasites so to continue the treatment or if she's ill due to the meds??!!

Thanks again for your advice.......

 

[WILDER]

High temp and meds reduce 02 in the water thats why you have to increase aeration.
Try and get more aeration into the tank water to see if that makes a difference.
Any white spots on here gills or excess mucas on the gills, as once whitespot affects the gills fish rarely make it.

 

[jeanne-marie]

High temp and meds reduce 02 in the water thats why you have to increase aeration.
Try and get more aeration into the tank water to see if that makes a difference.
Any white spots on here gills or excess mucas on the gills, as once whitespot affects the gills fish rarely make it.

OK.I'll take some water out now. The temp is a reasonably constant 24.5 - 25.5 depending on the temp outside.

The blurry white bits are only on her side and tail fins. They look a bit too blurry to be the salt grain lumpy type spots I'd been left to believe would be white spot.

Should I hold off from treating again tonight?

 

[WILDER]

Increase aeration to see if she perks up.
Whitespot you have to raise temp to 30.

Any other fish have tiny white spots on them.
Do the spots look like a cluster of berries or look like a caulifower, as lump like spots on fins can sometimes
be lymthocsystis.

 

[jeanne-marie]

Increase aeration to see if she perks up.
Whitespot you have to raise temp to 30.

Any other fish have tiny white spots on them.
Do the spots look like a cluster of berries or look like a caulifower, as lump like spots on fins can sometimes
be lymthocsystis.

She seems better already and I hadn't even taken any action - I can't believe it! I've removed water so the outlet is falling from a higher height back into the tank. Have turned heater up slightly too.

No other signs on any other fish, they aren't lumps, they look like small irregular shaped translucent clouds. As I said, I hadn't noticed them before but I can't say for sure that they aren't her markings. I've only really seen her face on as she's really nosey.

You are such a star, helping so quickly with this, I owe you a box of choccies!!!!

I think I'll hold fire on the meds for tonight and see how she is in the morning.

 

[WILDER]

Just increase aeration and I would add the med if its due for another round.
You can half dose if fish don't cope to well with med.
Half dosing does take longer to get rid of the parasite.
It could just be stress due to lack of 02 in the water.

 

[jeanne-marie]

Just increase aeration and I would add the med if its due for another round.
You can half dose if fish don't cope to well with med.
Half dosing does take longer to get rid of the parasite.
It could just be stress due to lack of 02 in the water.

Will do half a dose then. Thanks again, will keep you posted
xx

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.

 

[jeanne-marie]

Good luck.

Update...... She's still lethargic, gills still moving slower than usual and not feeding from the top in her usual greedy manner. She is feeding from the bottom but is spitting out any flakes that she picks up floating down. She is also flicking herself along the gravel substrate a few times each hour rather than the plants at the start of the week.

I am continuing the King British WS3 treatment every two days to treat any parasites she may have that are irritating her. I'm now assuming that is the problem - a parasitic infection that may well have gone internal .

Any suggestions for anything else to help her would be very gratefully received as she is obviously a fighter!!

 

[jeanne-marie]

Good luck.

Update...... She's still lethargic, gills still moving slower than usual and not feeding from the top in her usual greedy manner. She is feeding from the bottom but is spitting out any flakes that she picks up floating down. She is also flicking herself along the gravel substrate a few times each hour rather than the plants at the start of the week.

I am continuing the King British WS3 treatment every two days to treat any parasites she may have that are irritating her. I'm now assuming that is the problem - a parasitic infection that may well have gone internal .

Any suggestions for anything else to help her would be very gratefully received as she is obviously a fighter!!

I've been watching her closely this evening and her dorsal fin is clamped to her back, she looks like she is shimmying. She looks like she is swimming really fast, moving from side to side without moving. Could this be shimmy disease? I'm doing a water change now just in case but my stats are all fine.

Any help would be very very gratefully received!

 

[jeanne-marie]

Good luck.

Update...... She's still lethargic, gills still moving slower than usual and not feeding from the top in her usual greedy manner. She is feeding from the bottom but is spitting out any flakes that she picks up floating down. She is also flicking herself along the gravel substrate a few times each hour rather than the plants at the start of the week.

I am continuing the King British WS3 treatment every two days to treat any parasites she may have that are irritating her. I'm now assuming that is the problem - a parasitic infection that may well have gone internal .

Any suggestions for anything else to help her would be very gratefully received as she is obviously a fighter!!

I've been watching her closely this evening and her dorsal fin is clamped to her back, she looks like she is shimmying. She looks like she is swimming really fast, moving from side to side without moving. Could this be shimmy disease? I'm doing a water change now just in case but my stats are all fine.

Any help would be very very gratefully received!

Final update - performed 40% water change, increased temperature by 1 degree overnight. She now seems much better and has eaten a flake of food. Thank you Wilder for your advice, thought I'd post this update in case anyone else was looking frantically for ideas.

It appears to have been a possible reaction to the WS3 Medication.

Case closed! *crossed fingers!*

 

[WILDER]

Thanks for the update.
There this med for internal parasites, it's best to worm fish anyway.
http/www.thegreenmachineaquatics.com/mal...ol%20001/198936