Female Molly Unable To Use Tail

[Maxine-R]

Ok. So do you think I will be ok continuing with the Desease clear if I also intend to do daily water changes and a salt bath?

 

[Maxine-R]

This is now what she looks like. Over night she has lost the rest of her tail.

I have done a salt bath.
1 table spoon of salt mixed into 4.5L/1G of water from her tank.
Left in for 5 minutes.
put into second container with 1/4 of water from salt bath with 3/4 of water from her tank.
Left in for 2 minutes.
Then placed back in her own tank.

Due to removing water from her tank, a water change has been done.

Should I see any difference in her condition after just one salt bath?

Does the salt bath need to be done daily, every other day or weekly for best results?


Also I have done a check on my main tank. I know I have been advised to use a liquid based test kit but money is tight at the moment and so I will have to continue with the dip stick test for now. I will purchase a liquid test kit as soon as funds will allow.

Here are my results:

Ammonia 0
NitRIte 0 - 0.5
NitRAte 25 - 50
GH 250
KH 180
PH 6.8 - 7.2

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Did you read the article I posted?
 

Performing a Fish Bath
A bath can be performed in as little as 1 quart of water (or even less) or in a 1 gallon Rubbermaid (or similar) container or a small BARE tank.
I generally use a 1 quart container with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and several drops of MB (I also recommend rubber gloves and old towels, rags, paper, etc spread around since Methylene Blue is messy and stains).

The schedule is generally 20-30 minutes at least once per day, twice if the fish will tolerate this frequency.

For freshwater I would add Methylene Blue at double normal tank treatment strength (as per bottle instructions) then add salt (NaCl) at about 1 teaspoon per gallon.
The salt (regular salt; NaCl) can be increased for difficult treatments (such as Columnaris), especially with salt tolerant fish such as livebearers.
It is best to slowly add dissolved salt to increase levels gently in salt amounts over 3 teaspoons per gallon, even in salt tolerant fish. 
Generally for most fish (even catfish based on University of Florida studies) 2 teaspoons per gallon can be tolerated for up to 30 minutes (many fish can tolerate 4 teaspoons per gallon), although if unsure about your fish’ tolerance, gradually add the salt via a dissolved solution during the first half of the bath.

 
The condition will not show much improvement after a single treatment, but it should start to show positive improvements in fish behavior and might even start to show signs of healing after a few days.  
 
 
I'd suggest doing a second bath following the above directions in a few hours.  Mollies are extremely salt tolerant, even to the point of being able to be acclimated to full marine water.  So, I'd suggest using the salt concentration they are recommending, and even considering bumping it to 50% more salt than that.  Just be sure to add the salt to the bath predissolved in water and add that salty solution to the 'bathtub' slowly over the first 10 minutes or so of the 30 minute bath.  Watch for any signs of extreme stress - such as a failure to be able to swim upright, etc.  If these signs are visible, end the bath immediately.

 

[Maxine-R]

Ok. I'm sorry I must've read it wrong. So can i put her in a gallon of water with two teaspoons of salt then add more salt slowly then leave her (if she's comfortable) in there for 30 mins?

I'm sorry I must've been confused and would like to confirm this be for doing it again.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Ok. I'm sorry I must've read it wrong. So can i put her in a gallon of water with two teaspoons of salt then add more salt slowly then leave her (if she's comfortable) in there for 30 mins?

I'm sorry I must've been confused and would like to confirm this be for doing it again.

 
No worries.
 
I'd suggest putting her in a gallon with 1 teaspoon of salt, and then slowly adding the extra salt solution to make it 2 teaspoons.   Then, if she responds well to that (for the full 30 minutes), increase the level to 3 teaspoons total in the one gallon for 30 minutes.  Mollies are very salt tolerant, and higher levels will help her more than lower levels.   But, I'd still start with 1 teaspoon dissolved in the one gallon, and then slowly bumping it up to 3 teaspoons over the 30 minutes.  
 
 
The biggest keys are:

• make sure the salt is dissolved
• make sure to watch for extra stress
• keep the water at the same temp for when you return the fish to the other tank

 

[Maxine-R]

Ok. I will do that now.

Thankyou so much for your advice so far.

 

[Maxine-R]

SHES GIVING BIRTH!!!!

I had no idea!

What do I do??

Please help.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, keep the fry in a separate container from the meds and salt, if at all possible.

Next, keep them in a small tank, with a sponge filter.


Finally, find someone who will take any survivors off your hands when they are about an inch big.

(or you can leave them in the main tank and let them take their chances, as would happen in the wild.)



Livebearer females are almost always pregnant. They can store sperm from a single encounter with a male for about 6 months. So, this is likely not the last time it will happen with her, assuming she survives the current ailment and birth stress.

Honestly though, the fact that she is giving birth gives me a bit of optimism. Females can hold their fry if they are unduly stressed and sometimes will even reabsorb them rather than give birth. So, she might be improving, even after such a short time.

 

[Maxine-R]

Is it possible that being pregnant weakend her ammune system?

Which would account for her getting ill due to the bad water conditions? When all other fish seem fine.

I have tested the water in main tank today. Results are below.

Ammonia 0
NitRIte 0
NitRAte 25
GH 250
KH 180
PH 6.7 - 7.2

Should I give her a salt bath now she has finished birthing?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Is it possible that being pregnant weakend her ammune system?

Which would account for her getting ill due to the bad water conditions? When all other fish seem fine.

I have tested the water in main tank today. Results are below.

Ammonia 0
NitRIte 0
NitRAte 25
GH 250
KH 180
PH 6.7 - 7.2

Should I give her a salt bath now she has finished birthing?

 
 
If she seems 'fine' now, then yes.

 

[Maxine-R]

Can i give pearl a salt bath every day? Or should i space them out over a few days?

I have given her two salt baths in past two days. The "fluff" on her tail does not seemed to have improved. Should it have done? Or will I take much longer for the "fluff" to start disappearing?

What should it look like when the "fluff" does start disappearing? I mean does it desolve or does it drop of?

I'd like to know what I should look for to know that she is showing improvement.

Thanks.

 

[Maxine-R]

Also does this kind of illness distroy scales and flesh?

It's just that I am struggling to see any scales through the "fluff". Is this normal?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Do you have any Methylene blue that you can add to the baths?
 
 
Yes, the gourami should be fine with daily baths as well.
 
 
With the molly you can increase the frequency or the concentration of the salt bath.  She should be fine with the higher concentrations of this treatment.
 
 
 
You can also swab the affected area directly with methylene blue, if you are up to it... otherwise just adding it directly to the bath will help.

 

[Maxine-R]

Above photo taken on 16th July 2015.



Above photo taken on 18th July 2015



Above photo taken on 20th July 2015 (today)


She doesn't look to be getting any better at all. In fact I wonder if she is getting worse.

I wonder if people could give me their thought in this.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I'd suggest the methylene blue added to the salt dip, and give the med that was recommended above a try.
 
 
OR, since it seems to be getting worse, you could try a salt DIP... which has a much higher concentration of salt, for 2 or 3 minutes max.