Sick Molly fish and possible stressed pleco

[marbit343]

Hello,
It should be noted I once had a snail in the community talk who had a parasitic infection. A month or two later, another snail died in the tank and I didn't find him until detritus worms had emerged. So, I took all the fish and put them in a hospital tank to treat them for any possible infections. The clown pleco seems to be healthy but I fear he may be infected from the molly or possible parasites. As such i felt it was best to hospitalize all animals and treat them for possible bacterial infections and parasitic infections while I deep cleaned my community tank. I am new to this hobby but I want to ensure my fish stay healthy and happy. The readings in both tanks have a neutral pH, 0 nitrites, 0 nitrates, the the KH and GH are both low. the temperature stays around 74 degrees. He has been glass surfacing since I got him and a lot more now that he's in the hospital tank. Granted, the hospital tank has minimal decorations, the pleco hides most of the time and the snail does his own thing. There is plenty of room for him to swim, and he has a couple of hiding spots. The hospital tank is being filtered and has 2 plants.

I've had my golden dusk molly for a month now and it seems to have holes in its fins- parts are almost see-through. I thought it could be fin rot so i treated it with pimafix and melafix. I turned off the filter for treatment and I added airstones. the treatment seemed to have helped a little bit, but i think i have to treat him with erythromycin. I'm waiting 2 weeks before I introduce a new treatment. However, I'm worried that fin rot may not be the problem. While there is no white fuzz of spots on his body he does have a couple of shiny scales and seems to have trouble swimming up or down. I thought it could be swim bladder disease but he wasn't floating upside down. He also had long stringy white poop. I thought it could be constipation or a parasite so I fed him peas. He pooped a lot but then seemed to having shorter, colored bowel movements. I fed him an algae pellet this afternoon and his poop is now about 3 inches and its dark green. My snail is acting normal, but the water isnt hard enough for his shell. The pleco seems to constantly hide and freaks out when the light goes on. I know they are nocturnal and like to hide but im nervous he isn't healthy. I need help.... what do I do.

 

[marbit343]

i feed them once a day to ensure I'm not overfeeding any of my fish. sometimes its half an algae pellet for the 3 of them, sometimes its crushed peas, sometimes its frozen diaphina or blood worms, and sometimes blanched carrots.

 

[FashionFish]

Hey there, new here - not an expert but I had Mollies for a few years. I have never had luck with the meds and would probably do a good water change and then a 10% water change daily for a week. Mollies do like their temp a little a warmer I think? Like 75° - 80°. I would also suggest a cooked shelled pea if he has bloat. And then I would not feed for a few days. I hope this helps. Someone may have better or more info than I. Good luck!!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

What is the actual problem?
The gold and black molly has holes in his fins, which fins?
I need decent pictures that are in focus showing the holes, plus information about how long the holes have been there for.

The same fish has a few shiny scales?
Some mollies have a few shiny scales.

If the fish has trouble swimming, post a video of it. If you use a mobile phone to film the fish, hold the phone horizontally so the footage fills the entire screen. Upload videos to YouTube, then copy & paste the link here.

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Is the fish in a plastic storage container or glass aquarium?
If it's a glass tank, then the water is milky cloudy and that is a bacterial bloom in the water normally caused by a new filter.

If you turned the filter off while using Melafix, you probably killed the bacteria in the filter and need to cycle the tank (let the good bacteria start growing) again.

If you use Melafix, Pimafix or any other medication, you need to increase aeration and keep the filters going so the fish don't suffocate from low oxygen levels and don't die from poor water quality.

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Don't add antibiotics like Erythromycin unless the fish has a known bacterial infection that hasn't responded to normal treatments. Improper use and mis-use of antibiotics has lead to drug resistant bacteria that kill people, birds, animals, fish and reptiles.

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Sometimes fish do a long poop if they eat a lot or haven't gone to the toilet for a few days. If it's coloured then it's fine. If it's stringy white poop, it's an intestinal problem.

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The suckermouth catfish needs a cave or something to hide in during the day and will stress out if there isn't enough shelter for it.

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Normally if a fish has a disease, it is in the main tank so you just treat the main tank with the fish in it. If you treat the fish in a different tank and then put them back in the main tank, they can pick up the same disease.

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Mollies need a GH (general hardness) above 250ppm. They struggle to survive long term in soft water with a GH below 150ppm. They also need a pH above 7.0.

The suckermouth catfish comes from water with a GH below 150ppm and a pH below 7.0.