Black Baby Molly Acting Strangely.

[giles2005]

Hi,

Got home this evening to discover our black molly behaving strangely and swimming in a strange way. At first we couldn't find him but he had hidden himself in the base of a plant at the back of the tank almost lying on the bottom and barely moving. Even when fed he still wouldn't come out which is very unlike him. Although he isn't fully grown- around 1cm but not tiny fry - he manages to keep up with the other mollys in the tank quite well. When he did come out he was swimming erratically and almost jittery. At first we thought this might be due to the female dalmation molly who has recently become very aggressive mainly towards the other male dalmation(he actually jumped out the tank this morning due to her chasing him so fiercely) so we assumed that she had chased or had been harassing the little molly. We recently noticed a white-ish/grey patch on his head, not sure if this is related to stress.
Any help would be great as we're worried about the little fella!

Thanks

 

[Polley]

Hi,

Got home this evening to discover our black molly behaving strangely and swimming in a strange way. At first we couldn't find him but he had hidden himself in the base of a plant at the back of the tank almost lying on the bottom and barely moving. Even when fed he still wouldn't come out which is very unlike him. Although he isn't fully grown- around 1cm but not tiny fry - he manages to keep up with the other mollys in the tank quite well. When he did come out he was swimming erratically and almost jittery. At first we thought this might be due to the female dalmation molly who has recently become very aggressive mainly towards the other male dalmation(he actually jumped out the tank this morning due to her chasing him so fiercely) so we assumed that she had chased or had been harassing the little molly. We recently noticed a white-ish/grey patch on his head, not sure if this is related to stress.
Any help would be great as we're worried about the little fella!

Thanks

Usually, if a black molly has white on it than you can almost guarantee that it's either itch or the immune system. Most likely, it is infection and you should try putting aquarium salt, NOT TABLE SALT (I say this because I know people, including myself when I first started do this). It's pretty cheap and just follow the instructions on the box. I think it's a teaspoon per 5 gallons, but again you follow their directions. This will help, because if it is infection then it'll help heal it and it will also help avoid further infection later on.

 

[WILDER]

Size of tank in gallons or litres.
How many fish and which type.
Water stats in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph.

Do the gills look pale with excess slime or red and inflamed.
Any excess mucas on the body of the fish.
Any signs of laboured breathing or gasping at surface of tank.
Does the fish look skinny or bloated.
Any sores or red pin prick marks on the fish.
Does the fish swim in a jerky movement.
Does the fish spit its food out.
What does it look like when the fish goes to the toilet.
Any redness to the patch on the head.

 

[giles2005]

Hi thanks for replying but we think he's fine now. We took the female dalmation back to the lsf and exchanged it for two females. he's perked up and is swimming around quite happily. we also discovered that the female dalmation had had fry before we took her back - she didnt even look pregnant! so we now have 8 babies which the little molly seems quite protective of as he swims around the fry net a lot - not looking hungry though!

thanks again

 

[WILDER]

Bless her.
Good Luck.

 

[PDB-89]

glad the little guy is ok now but just a quick one i have molly fry what do i feed them on??

 

[glolite]

glad the little guy is ok now but just a quick one i have molly fry what do i feed them on??

Crushed flake, preferably vegetable and tiny pieces of algae wafer. They're mostly vegetarian.

 

[giles2005]

Yeah we've been feeding our fry crushed flakes, didn't know about algae wafers though.
Just debating whether to get a separate tank, only a microwave-sized one, to raise them till they're returnable to the fish shop as we've just got the one 120 litre tank and 6 (m + f)mollys and one random platy cuz we can't keep the little ones in the breeding net for long.
would the fry need a light in a separate tank? obviously heating and plants etc. We're probably going to have quite a few more fry on the way with the other molly looking pretty big.

 

[PDB-89]

so just normal flack fish foood and just rub it between my fingers to crush it yea?

 

[giles2005]

Yes they seem to like it. we feed them 4 or 5 times a day and leave a bit of algae pellet in there with them so they don't get hungry
growing nicely now!