Molly feeding issues

[Polarhound]

4 Mollies, 1 female silver, 1 male 1 female dalmation, 1 male marble. 10gal tank finished it's first cycle right about when they were added.

The marble Molly does not feed or act as any of the others do. He is relatively active, but only along the bottom and flying up and down the sides of the tank. He will not come any closer than 2" to the surface of the water. As you can guess, it causes feeding issues.

When I use flakes I have to drop some in the filter stream (Whisper 10) so they are shot down to the lower depths of the tank. Once the flakes are down there, the marble will happily bottom-feed all day if I let him. The other 3 will come up to the surface and feed with no problems with flakes. I have fed them Tubifex worms (1/3 cube at a time) and the marble refuses to come up and feed off it (the silver will eat what falls off as fast as it comes apart)... it's almost like he is scared of the other fish, although he will occasionally play with the group. Haven't tried blood worms yet, will be doing that in tonight's feeding.

Tank tests:
Temp - 78F
PH - 7.0
Ammonia - 0.5ppm
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Unavaiable (can't find where I put the test kit)

Just poked my head back in where the tank is, and he's full of energy and doing his best impression of a dustbuster.

 

[Fuzzy]

how old is he? how long have u had? if not to long it might no be used to u.
some fish have personalities different than the others

 

[Ron]

Is he swimming alright? Or is he shimmying? The shimmying could be caused from that ammonia. Or has the other male been chasing after him? Has anyone been bulling him at all? This could be a problem too.
Ron

 

[Polarhound]

I have only had the them all for a few days. He does seem older than the others, at abit over 2" with a very large fantail. The silver and marble were both from the same tank at the store, and both were active at the time I got them.

I watched him closely for a while, and used a net to get him to move back and forth a bit. I did notice that he does not use his right fin at all unless he has to, and even then he only flaps it a few times. Also, while he does have decent mobility, he has nowhere near the quickness of the others. He has to use his tail much more than the others to hold his position, and tends to drift sideways.

He hasn't been bullied at all in the tank; quite the opposite actually. Although they do congregrate together at times, he is often on the other side of the tank by himself. Right now for example he is near the top on the right while the rest are resting in the bottom left.

I just checked the water again as well, and nothing has changed from yesterday. Presently I am feeding them once per day, and all food is gone after several minutes. They did eat the small amount of bloodworm I put in there, although I couldn't stay to watch who was eating how much.

I should also mention that the behavior I'm describe is a change from when I first had him. At first he was an active explorer, swimming up and down the sides of the tank extensively. It is just in the past 36 hours that he has started to act this way.

 

[Ron]

It's very possible he has clamped fin. Read under Beginner Quetions. Look for a pinned thread called Fish Diseases. Kossy wrote it wonderfully. Theres a sub topic called clammped fin. It say to add mealfix to teh water, do a water change and add salt. For mollies, add a teaspoon of salt per every gallon of water. You should use aquarium salt, but if not possible to get this, use table salt THAT HAS NO IODINE in it!! Most table salts have iodine in them, so if you do find one with out iodine, make sure, check teh lable. But really, you should use aquarium salt!!! Good luck with your lil guy!!
Ron

 

[Polarhound]

Ok, I added Melafix, aquarium salt, and Aquasafe with a small water change. One question about the salt though: The side of the box says to add 1 tspn per five gallons, not each. Which should I do?

As soon as I added everything, a large amount of the bubbles from the airstone started piling up. At the moment I have the airstone off in order to let the 1/2" thick layer of bubbles die down.

All of the fish were congregating together this morning, so it looks like the marble was wanting to be by himself instead of his mates shunning him.

At this point all I can do is watch and see how well he recovers.

Thanks for the assistance.

 

[Ron]

Mollies can handle the 1 tespn/1 gallon of water. In fact they can handle pure salt water...
Are teh bubles foamy? If they are, hows your water parameters? Good filteration? Is there any chance that theres nutrient build up in your tank? These could all cause the foam. Get these things straightened out, see how that is. Maybe these are also causing your molly to act how he is. Good luck!
Ron

 

[christine]

Hey, I have a tank much like yours, 2 platies 1silver mollie in a 10 gal. On the salt issue, I added 1/2 recommended amount....not sure if this is what you should do...
Good luck!!

 

[Polarhound]

Mollies can handle the 1 tespn/1 gallon of water. In fact they can handle pure salt water...
Are teh bubles foamy? If they are, hows your water parameters? Good filteration? Is there any chance that theres nutrient build up in your tank? These could all cause the foam. Get these things straightened out, see how that is. Maybe these are also causing your molly to act how he is. Good luck!
Ron

Ok, I added more salt today. They are all still eating and active, so as long as that keeps up I think I will be ok.

Right now I am checking my water daily. Today I was at 7.0PH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates, unsure of nitrates (have to get another test kit still). My filter is a Whisper 10, and the cartridge is free of any debris.

About 15 minutes after I posted the previous message, I started the airstone back up and let it run. The bubbles came back, but did completely dissipate about 20 minutes later.

The marble has changed a bit how he is acting. Before he would hold the fin tight to his body. Now he is letting it hang out, and I can see the cottony beginnings of fin rot. I spoke to a trusted friend who runs a local fish store, and he told me that Melafix was an excellent treatment for that as well, so I'll just continue the medication cycle.