I had acquired my swordtails about a couple months ago from a private breeder. All three females where lethargic and not eating well. One female died a couple weeks after I got her. They normally hide out in the corners and keep their fins clamped.
About two weeks ago, one of my black mollies came down with a bad case of columnaris. Another black molly and a swordtail had some white on the tip of their fins. I medicated all three with Mardel Maroxy, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tetracycline, and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Furan 2, treating for four days. After two days, my swordtail became very active and aggressive toward the mollies (obviously feeling better than she had since I got her). After the four days, I returned the swordtail to the display tank and she has been doing wonderfully. I started another course of different medications on the one molly who had the bad case of columnaris. After 10 days of the second treatment, the columnaris was almost gone, but not quite. I decided to do four more days of the first treatment and treat the second swordtail at the same time. After two days, there was no change in behavior of the swordtail. Neither fish was harassing the other. On the third day, the swordtail kept its face in the sponge filter. It would swim briefly when I dropped in food, but it wouldn't eat much and return to the filter. I decided to end treatment on the third day and slowly did a 50% water change with water from the display tank (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, <10 nitrates). By this time, the swordtail was barely swimming and is breathing hard. After another couple hours, I put the swordtail back in the display tank hoping it would spring back to life, but it acted no better. I quickly returned it to the QT tank and returned the molly to the display tank (all signs of columnaris are now gone).
I don't expect the swordtail to live, as it's looking even worse this morning. Any ideas on what went wrong? Any treatment suggestions?
About two weeks ago, one of my black mollies came down with a bad case of columnaris. Another black molly and a swordtail had some white on the tip of their fins. I medicated all three with Mardel Maroxy, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tetracycline, and Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Furan 2, treating for four days. After two days, my swordtail became very active and aggressive toward the mollies (obviously feeling better than she had since I got her). After the four days, I returned the swordtail to the display tank and she has been doing wonderfully. I started another course of different medications on the one molly who had the bad case of columnaris. After 10 days of the second treatment, the columnaris was almost gone, but not quite. I decided to do four more days of the first treatment and treat the second swordtail at the same time. After two days, there was no change in behavior of the swordtail. Neither fish was harassing the other. On the third day, the swordtail kept its face in the sponge filter. It would swim briefly when I dropped in food, but it wouldn't eat much and return to the filter. I decided to end treatment on the third day and slowly did a 50% water change with water from the display tank (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, <10 nitrates). By this time, the swordtail was barely swimming and is breathing hard. After another couple hours, I put the swordtail back in the display tank hoping it would spring back to life, but it acted no better. I quickly returned it to the QT tank and returned the molly to the display tank (all signs of columnaris are now gone).
I don't expect the swordtail to live, as it's looking even worse this morning. Any ideas on what went wrong? Any treatment suggestions?
