Molly Fish Swollen Eyes Laying Down

[a1wonder]

I just came home I have two fish in a 1.5 gal aquarium, a female black molly who had given birth two weeks ago eyes seems to be swollen and she is barely moving but still living. Water is testing normal any ideas?

 

[a1wonder]

I took a risk and put her in my ten gal she seems to be picking up a bit. Anyone know why her eyes might be swollen though

 

[Ben]

maybe she has pop eye..and mollys shouldnt be in 1.5 gals. wat have u got in ur ten gal thats keeping u away from putting the mollys in there?

 

[plecoperson]

My sister had two mollies which gave birth and then died about 2 weeks later - they displayed the same symptoms I think it was the stress of giving birth. But another of her mollies (male) had popeye which is caused by internal bacteria. you might want to treat the tank for this?

 

[a1wonder]

It's funny you mention that last week she had giving birth. I know the 1.5 gal was a temporary home while my other. This morning after changing the water I let her go. I can't stand to see a fish suffer and it was more than 8 hours... They've only be in the 1.5 gal for about 4 days I had to remove both mollies from the ten gal after their fins were being nipped at by some "apparently non aggressive fish"

 

[Liz05]

I have a female betta who is recovering from popeye. I put her in her own tank, and am treating her with melafix and a little aquarium salt. I can tell her eye is improving a little every day. Maybe a good thing to try

 

[Sassygrrl]

If you have mollies exclusively, I highly recommend you add some salt to your tank. Also, you can bump up the temperature to 82F. Mollies thrive in those conditions and reduces fish diseases. I noticed a big difference when I started breeding mollies.

 

[a1wonder]

although the molly is no longer with me I'll take your advice with perhaps raising the temperature. I was told they preferred around 72-75 which is what I keep my tank around with limited salt. I really don't believe it was popped eye though I've seen photos and it didn't look like anything similar. On a side note I didn't have the intention of breeding my mollies on the way home from the pet store it gave birth at least 50 currently all remaining mollies are female thoughts that were male were exchanged.

 

[Sassygrrl]

The young fry actually benefit greatly from 82F temp. It helps them grow quickly along with 4 feedings a day. They have voracious appetites

I didn't intend to breed when I started. Now that's what I do. I read everything I could on Mollies when my first one gave birth. Fascinating species.

 

[fishyfish]

My daughtetr and I woke up this morning unable to find "Molly" our Molly Balloon fish. We are very novice in the fish world but we figured she couldn't have run away from home. After uprooting the aquarium we finally found "her" lieing in gravel behind the coral. After reading some of your concerns we looked to see if we could tell if her eyes were popped. Not so we could notice. Then we wondered if she is really a she...or pregnant...She is a black Molly. Housed with 5 large, about 2 to 3 inches each, gold fish. They've lived together about 2 weeks very happily and although the gold fish are taking turns checking "her" out they don't seem to be nipping at her. Any ideas that anyone may have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[a1wonder]

I might have an idea, what size is your tank and how many occupants do you have. My bf has keeps fancy goldfish but they require a lower temperature than a molly. If the eyes don't seem popped by swollen outward it may have been caused by overcrowding and perhaps an ammonia rise (goldfish are very messy and need very good filtration). I personally use mollies as indicators if something is wrong with the tank they will be the first to "act weird".