Female Molly having multiple symptoms, HELP!

[Yayamama707]

Female Dalmatian Molly showing multiple symptoms, on & off. First bloating, then hiding behind heater tail up, then stringy poop, still has appetite but will NOT eat peas. Head shaking on & off. My head is starting to spin trying to narrow down what exactly is happening with her. Right before her most of HER symptoms started (besides the bloating soon after giving birth) we had lost our other Female Black Molly very suddenly. Within a couple days she went from slightly bloated to sitting on the bottom and then just stopped breathing. I know there will be a bunch of questions and variables to consider so please be aware that I am a doing my best but def a rookie at all of this. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Colin_T]

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the tank water?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Have you added anything new (fish, plants, wood, etc) to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
Do you add plant fertilisers, supplements or anything else to the tank?
Are there any other fishes in the tank?

 

[Yayamama707]

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the tank water?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Have you added anything new (fish, plants, wood, etc) to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
Do you add plant fertilisers, supplements or anything else to the tank?
Are there any other fishes in the tank?

Hey there. Working on answering all these questions as accurately as possible, just super busy atm. In the meantime The Molly who I’m concerned about is currently only able to swim/float tail up, whereas a few days ago it was on and off between tail up and regular swimming. I have a tank for qt coming today but I don’t know if she’s gonna make it. I have an appt and then will do my best to inform you of all the parameters. I just wish there was something I could do now to help her be more comfortable.

 

[Yayamama707]

How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have you had the fish for?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?
Do you gravel clean the tank when you do a water change?
Do you dechlorinate the new water before adding it to the tank?

What is the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and GH of the tank water?

What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?

Have you added anything new (fish, plants, wood, etc) to the tank in the 2 weeks before this started?
Do you add plant fertilisers, supplements or anything else to the tank?
Are there any other fishes in the tank?

We always use API stresscoat+ When we do water changes. We started with a 20 Aqueon Starter tank with the Quiet Flow 10 and heater. Just switched filter to AquaTech 20-40 on Sunday night when we realized we didn’t have replacement filters and didn’t wanna wait we got the new filter and replacements. We have never used fertilizers. We just treated tank last night with recommended dose of Pimafix &Melafix as kind of a last try treatment. Everyone seemed fun all last night and this morning til about 9am and “Silver”, our dal Molly started floating tail up again. We also have 2 cory’s and a male sailfin black Molly. ....phew. I will see what questions I missed and work on that ASAP.

 

[Colin_T]

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a couple of weeks or until the problem is identified. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

 

[Yayamama707]

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a couple of weeks or until the problem is identified. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

The following link has information about what to do if your fish get sick. It's long and boring but worth knowing. I recommend printing it out and reading it in bed to help fall asleep
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/what-to-do-if-your-fish-gets-sick.450268/

What about the beneficial bacteria in the gravel? We just changed to filter b/c the water had an odor and it was a month old and I’m worried that gravel cleaning will lead to a loss of Good bacteria and an ammonia or nitrite spike. I will do a master kit test again in an hour to recheck numbers.

 

[Essjay]

Cleaning the gravel won't remove any bacteria. They live in the biofilm which is bound tightly to surfaces. it takes a lot of scrubbing to dislodge biofilm. But cleaning the gravel at every water change by pushing the siphon tube right into the gravel removes a lot of muck and other things such as disease organisms which are caught between the bits of gravel.

Changing the filter is not a good idea. If it contains just cartridges, cut a slit in them and empty out the carbon, then put the empty cartridge back. If you can squeeze some sponge in next to the empty cartridge that is even better.
The smell could well be due to muck (fish poo, uneaten food etc) trapped in the gravel if you've not been hoovering it.