Sick Molly

[Ribena41]

My yellow Molly has gotten very lathargic and it's gills have gone red. It's eyes have also gone kind of fleshy/see through looking. Is this a lost cause or is there anything I can do?

 

[KrystaK]

The red gills are a tell tale sign of ammonia poisoning. Ammonia is a fish by product. The eyes sound as if it could be pop-eye. And the general lethargy is a typical symptom of any number of illnesses.
It's not a lost cause.
It probably has ammonia poisoning and pop eye due to poor water conditions (Not saying your water is poor, just my guess)

I would do a major water change (70% or so), and then do water changes daily, about 25% change per day until it clears up. If you are serious about saving the molly I would go to a pet store and just ask them what they would recommend for pop-eye (A medication including penicillin and/or amoxicillin would be best). As the red gills should clear up with the water improvements only the pop-eye may not go away, and the fish's energy should return as well

 

[Ribena41]

My water quality is pretty poor. Having a lot of trouble keeping it right. It has very high nitrate and nitrite levels. Thanks for your help

 

[KrystaK]

I assume you're doing a fish in cycle in that case, and yes it is difficult to get the levels just right, especially in the first month or two, but after that it should hopefully settle.
Glad I could help

 

[Termato]

My water quality is pretty poor. Having a lot of trouble keeping it right. It has very high nitrate and nitrite levels. Thanks for your help

What are the Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate levels?

What test kit are you using? Is it water based? If not I highly recommend you switch to a water based kit such as API Master Test Kit.

It sounds as if your tank is not done cycling if you are having reading of nitrite. Daily water changes of MORE than 50% will help your fish.

If you get the water conditioner Seachem Prime it will help detoxify the nitrite and nitrate better than other brands. It is more concentrated. It saved my fish.

Do you have any real plants? If not Java Fern, Java Moss and Hornwort are good low light plants that will help you an unthinkable amount in this situation. The plants will soak the ammonia faster and safer than the bacteria.

Nitrite is highly poisonous to fish and if you get any readings of it I would do a major water change. Anything above .25ppm (using a reliable water based kit) can be deadly, especially in the long run. If the fish doesn't die, it will most likely suffer long term damage.

Plants. Water Changes. Seachem Prime. Do this daily until you get no more readings of nitrite and safe readings of nitrate bellow 20ppm (nitrate) is usually safe. Once your nitrite levels are gone your are done cycling. you will see nitrate spike and you can do a massive 70% or MORE water change to bring this down.

Once you have gone through that you can cut back to weekly water changes of around 50%.

Good luck! Hope this helps.