Sick Mollies

[aleck]

Tank size: 63cm in length, 21cm in height and 36cm in width
pH: 7.5
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: can’t remember but when I went to the LFS for testing he said it was normal
tank temp: normally on 25-26 degrees cel, but we have raised it slightly over the last few days to 26-27

Fish Symptoms (include full description including lesion, color, location, fish behavior): It started with a fish death (mollie) and kinda has escalated. The original fish has the following symptoms, was very placid and stayed up the top of the tank right in the corner. First I thought it was just bullying because one of my other mollies chases everyone around. She started to swim everywhere vertically, going in a zig zag monition. Then she started to eat a lot less and lose weight. He head was bigger then everything else and then it looked like her fin had clamped and she sat on the bottom of the tank. The next day she died and she had a green right fin.

Now Aqua (another mollie) who is 2 months old and one of my first fish is showing strange signs. She is rubbing herself up and down the tank and sometimes shimmering like she is possessed. It looks like one of those cartoons where the character is about to blow up. But then she starts to swim away. Other time she shimmies normally. She is slightly more orange than usual, and apart from the more then active behavior and the shimmering she seems fine. Before we did a 50% water change she was coming up to the top more than usual for air, but I think that was because she was over exerting herself.
Zen (mollie again) is sort of following suit. She isn’t quite as bad as Zen, and doesn’t do the possessed shimmy, but she does shimmy and rub and down the tank too.

When a fish is sick I know that you’re not meant to add new fish in, but my partner knew how sad I was about the fish and went out and got me some more fish. They sometimes show the shimmering effect, but very rarely and I have seen them once over the same period as the rest rubbing up and down on the tank.


Volume and Frequency of water changes: We are currently cleaning the tank probably every week cause were have been getting new fish and don’t want the nitrate, ammonia ect to spike, but we normally do it every two weeks and about 25%. We did a 50% water change yesterday to see if that would help the rubbing up and down the tank. But no luck.

Chemical Additives or Media in your tank: We put in Melafix in the tank last night hoping that, that might solve the problem, but they Aqua is still shimmering this morning. Last night we put her in a salt dip for ½ an hour to see if that would calm her down, and although she wasn’t quite as bad in the half hour she still went back to normal. The tank originally didn’t hold any salt, and over the last two days we have put about ½ teaspoon of salt in the tank.

Tank inhabitants: 4 salfin mollies; 1 male 3 females, 1 guppy and 6 harlequin rasboras

Recent additions to your tank (living or decoration): the guppy, and the two mollies (breading pair)

before they got sick

aqua as she shimmies (this morning. sorry about the blurred bit but she was moving)

aqua this morning

I have no idea what to do and are running out of options. I'm afraid this is going to wipe out my tank.
any help would be welcomed

 

[glolite]

Could it be this?

LIVEBEARER DISEASE or MOLLY DISEASE Fish stay in one place and wiggle, wag or shimmy. Water lacks electrolytes needed for normal metabolism. Use START RIGHT with either MOLLY BRIGHT or SHIMMY BLOCKS. Not a disease at all but a reaction to water lacking needed electrolytes.

Try some stresscoat. I take it you are using a water conditioner for water changes but stresscoat may solve the problem.

 

[WILDER]

How many gallons is the tank.

Any signs of excess mucas, darting, erratic swimming, swimming in a jerky movement, red inflamed gills, pale gill with excess slime, laboured breathing or gasping.
What does it look like when your fish go to the toilet.
Any worms prutruding from the anus.
Does the anus look enlarged or red and inflamed.
Any fish with bent spines.
Any fish with sunken in bellys.

 

[aleck]

tank is about a 25 gallon one.

With Aqua and Zen there are no physical problems that I can tell at all. No excess mucas, red inflamed gills, pale gill with excess slime, laboured breathing or gasping. The do dart on ocassion but that is starting to be less of a problem since we added the melafix in. They have even stopped shimming so much.

I have a new issue. Our male was orginally sitting up the top near the heater. We just throught he liked it up there playing with the bubbles. He was semi-active so we didn't see a point in worrying about him. However this morning he was sitting down at the bottom of the tank not moving.
We gave him a salt dip this morning and although he is alive, he isn't moving at all. He has not pysical symptoms and if he wasn't moving you wouldn't think anything was wrong with him at all. I'm afraid that is is following suit to the one that orginally died, and even more afraid that he only has today and possibly tomorrow for us to figure out what is wrong with him.
I would take a picture but unfortunatly I'm at work and worried sick about him.

What is the normal treatment for a fish that looks perfectly fine but just sits on the bottom of the tank not moving? Infection? Parasite?

Edit: Don't worry about this now. He is dead.

 

[WILDER]

Shimmies





Symptoms:

This disease is named for the curious behavior seen in afflicted fish. Fish will swim with an odd, shimmying movement of the body. If left untreated, the afflicted fish will become unable to swim and will sit on the bottom, listlessly shimmying. This disease affects mostly livebearers, and particularly Mollies.



Cause:

Cause unkown but may be due to a variety of numerous pathogens, including protozoan, bacterial, and fungal.



Treatment:

Isolate the fish in a hospital tank and increase the temperature to 85°F (27°C). Treat with a broad spectrum antibiotic. Also ensure that the water chemistry is within acceptable ranges. Livebearers' should always be kept in water that has a pH of 7.8 - 8.3 and a hardness of 15°DH+.


Bless Him. R.I.P.