Please help! Cannot find any info on this

[lauren4events]

Can someone please help me? One of my Dalmatian molly fish is going to die if I can't figure this out. I have a 60gallon tank, with 35+ other mollies (they keep having babies and I don't know what to do with them... but that is a problem for a different day). The tank has been established, levels are all perfect for nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, ph, alkalinity, hardness. Temperature is kept at 81. I use salt, bacteria, and tap water safe when doing water water changes. I keep up on cleaning the tank with a gravel vacuum, plus water changes every few weeks, and I clean the filter once a month (not at the same time as a water change).
Anyway, one of my mollies (who has always had a strangely shaped mouth) is now unable to eat. His mouth appears to be deformed and he cannot open it to eat. He goes to the top of the tank and tries non-stop get the food, but he can't. You can tell he wants to eat. It is very sad. I have crushed the food into small pieces, like I do for the fry... but he can't seem to even eat that. The poor thing is going to starve to death and I don't know what to do. I can't find any information on mouth deformity and the inability to open it. This began yesterday or the day before. I'm didn't notice it until yesterday. But it couldn't have been longer than a day or 2 because he is one of my favorite fish and I watch him all the time. I'm hoping for yesterday. Last night, I did a 40% water change, added the usual things I always do (plus extra bacteria because of the medicine) and jungle fungal clear fizz tabs. Which is just a guess. I also put in herbal microbe-lift artemiss for bacterial diseases. The guy at the fish store said it was ok to use both. Is he correct? I'm starting to second guess what he said. He also said I couldn't remove the carbon from my filters because they are the ones you keep fully sumberged in water and they will break. But I'm also starting to question that information as well. I have always had the ones that were partially out of water. But made a switch a couple months ago. So I don't know much about these filters. Anyway, I don't know if I did the right thing or what I should do next? Should I still be removing the carbon. I don't want to put in medicine if it's not going to work because of the carbon. Or is it ok? If not, do I reside or wait a few days like it says? I don't want the fish to suffer and starve to death. I have the lights off and the tank mostly covered, except for a small part to make sure it doesn't get too hot or and that there is enough air. I did this because a couple of the other fish were picking on the sick one. I wanted to keep it dark. So I haven't checked to see if he was any better. The lights stay off normally for a few more hours. Can someone please give me some advice? Please be very specific. I'm desperate and I don't want to make a mistake (or another one if I already did).
Another thing to note, it appears some of the other fish have white inside their mouths. Which I don't know how I missed before. I'm worried they all have mouth rot and I hope I'm not too late to save them. Would mouth rot cause deformity this severe? Any information would mean a lot to me. Thank you in advance!

 

[Demeter32]

Starving to death isn't going to become a problem unless the fish is already in bad physical condition, fish can go for quite a few days between feedings, as the food we give them is packed with all the nutrients they need, in fact they often get too much and become fat.

Can you take some pictures of the fish and tank? It's good to hear that the tank is cycled and has been running for quite a while, but weekly water changes are a must, and with so many fish in that tank you should be doing a good 25-50% water change once a week. I feel like the nitrates would be getting pretty high if you only do a partial water change every couple of weeks.

If his mouth is deformed from the start it's pretty odd that he is having problems now. The white on the other fish's mouths, is it just coloration or is there fuzzy stuff on them? Fuzzy/cottony stuff would indeed be fungus, and for that I would use Methylene blue (as a bath ONLY).


As a side note, it is better to not let deformed fish have the chance to breed. Passing on faulty physical traits is not the best thing for the fry.

As another side note, have you seen him poop recently, and what color was it? I've noticed that when live bearers get internal parasites and get to the point of being very thin, they will try to eat food but not actually swallow any of it. They spit it back out, have white poo, and continue to get thin.

 

[Byron]

I concur with Demeter32. I would also add that you are using a lot of additives. and the fewer of these the better for all fish. Clean water, achieved by weekly partial water changes of 50%, are far more effective in preventing problems.

Every substance added to the tank water gets inside the fish, naturally. Fish do not need these, and some of the additives can weaken them.

Byron.

 

[AQUA_LOVER_58]

this has happened with me also. the problem was that the molly found a small enough and big enough rock in the gravel to get it stuck in its mouth. i had to use needle to take it out. obviously it freaked out the fish but a day later it went back eating and lived for another year. so i hope this helps.

 

[Munroco]

I think it is more than likely a deformity caused by inbreeding. Deformed mouths and spines are common manifestations of this. Your problem for another day should probably be sorted out as soon as possible. As you've found out mollies will breed and breed until you are over run with them.