Something Is Wrong With My Molly!

[cewsrw]

I have a black molly and the scales on the sides of the body seem to be sticking out and it seems to be a little bloated. Does anyone know what this is and how to treat it?

 

[babybell911]

I think this is dropsy
Don't know how to treat it as far as i know it's pretty deadly. Search the forum someone will know.

 

[tttnjfttt]

The previous poster is right, it is Dropsy. It is caused by a bacterial infection. The bad part of dropsy is it is caused by a build up of fluids internally because of organ failure.

You can try to treat it with antibiotics, however most fish do not recover.


Since there is an infection, is it possible to isolate the fish to protect other fish. Even though it isn't very contagious, the problem is when the fish dies, others tend to nibble on its body, which can lead to further problems. Also, what are your water stats (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph)?

 

[Tolak]

Treatment for dropsy is 50/50 at best. Antibiotics may help with the infection, some epsom salts in the water may help with the fluid build up.

 

[millym]

hi
im sad to say that in my experience dropsy is usually fatal, ( & it definaltey sounds like this is whats wrong) it may be kinder to euthanase your poor molly now,( have a look at acceptable HUMANE ways to euthanase a fish in the pinned topics above) if you feel you cant do that make sure its not being picked on/nibbled by tankmates they can be rather horrible to their fellow fish when they are sick. i HATE having to euthanase a fish but i hate even more to see a little creature suffer. & in my experience when a fish stops eating & isolates itself or is starting to be harrassed - sadly its time to do the right thing. the 'sticking out scales sign' is usually the sign of the end stage of whatever condition has caused what we call dropsy ( can be organ failure like kidneys etc and these can often be caused by an internal bacterial infection)
sorry i cant give you a more cheerful/hopeful reply