Urgent - Pregnant Fish

[WILDER]

You can use meds as a last resort. But it depends on which fish you keep.

 

[Trixibelle]

URGENT

Hi there

OK, time for a recap, cos this is getting complicated!

I have three adult Mollies and 8 two week old fry in 27 gallon tank. All water stats are fine.

I've removed every snail (about 400!) though I'm sure there will be the odd one.

Came back off two weeks of hols last Friday and fish were poorly, hiding under things especially the white one who looks bloated and was going vertical. I thought she might still be pregnant or overfed. She has stopped going vertical now.

They are all still very unwell, have black specs on them and this afternoon two of the fish have started flicking against the aquarium stones and magnetic cleaner. The fry seem fine but grown ups are looking very poorly. Please tell me what I should do, and please keep it as simple as possible as I'm new to all this....

Thanks for your continued help which is just fantastic.

ps. White fish passed something from her intestines earlier, like an orange blob of something. Thought it was babies at first, but don't know now.

Trix

 

[WILDER]

Was the orange blob from a female fish.
Sure it wasn't a deformed fry.

Keep doing water changes.

 

[Trixibelle]

Was the orange blob from a female fish.
Sure it wasn't a deformed fry.

Keep doing water changes.

Do you know what the flicking themselves against the stones is all about?

 

[WILDER]

The flicking could be due to the nitrite reading or the black spot.

 

[Trixibelle]

Hi

Just a little update. The two female fish seem to be almost back to normal, happily swimming around! The babies are all still alive and well and happy

My third mollie is my male dalmation and he is not well now, he is almost vertical but nose down whereas my white female was nose up! He is not eating and hiding. Am hopeful for his recovery though, as the others seem to be doing so well

Am doing 20% water changes every other day until they are all fully recovered, does this sound ok?

Trix

 

[WILDER]

Thanks for the update.
Also feed some shelled peas.

 

[Trixibelle]

My beautiful dalmation male mollie is on his side at the bottom of the tank not moving but still alive, is there anything I can do

He's in a very bad way

 

[WILDER]

Check your water stats.

I would add a bacterial med to the tank.

Bad water quality takes its toll on fish.

 

[Trixibelle]

Hi

Sorry to say I've had enough of this fish lark. I'm just not cut out for it, dispite my very best efforts. They are taking hours of my time and I'm getting nowhere

I have a gold mollie who is displaying same symptoms as her mate who died on 8 Nov. She has wasted away into nothing, is very thin and has lost her colour.

I have been doing water changes 30% every other day, they are getting enough food, water stats are perfect, though PH was 7 last night so I'm gradually uping it a bit. I have removed all snails and am now keeping them all in a bucket! can't bear to kill them!!

Have put her in a salt bath (don't have any salt in aquarium though will be getting some!) Rock salt 1 tsp in 1 gallon tank water.

Am at a total loss of what to do now. Her friend white mollie still has little black specs on her, hard to tell with the gold one, as she is mottled with black and some of the little fry have got black dots on them too.

If they die, will be back with two big empty tanks built into the wall! Very sad and fed up, but all suggestions would be gratefully received....

T x

 

[Newgee]

Hi Trixibelle

Im very sorry to hear about your situation, its very frustrating when you can't figure
out what is wrong and cannot cure your fish.

Please do hang in there you do seem to have been infected with black spot and the fish are very stressed out from the parasite
Alto blackspot will not kill your fish, the stress and itching can put your fish right off food and then when that happens
they get sluggish and start to look unhealthy.

Have a look here to see if its exactly like your situation.

http/www.angelfire.com/blues/fish_problems/BLACKSPOT.html

Also keep a look out in the tank for a sort of jelly sacks on plants etc, as these are snail eggs you should remove all of these egg sacks as there will soon be 100's of snails again in no time.

If you want to rid of the snails permantly you could get a clown loach as these devour snails and eggs i have one myself for that very reason, some people will say keep them in two's or more but i have one and so do some of my friends and they are real happy on their own.

Don't add a clown loach untill you have the situation under control.

Re-test all your parameters & post them back (i know, it becomes a pain) im sorry.

Dose tank with salt mollies love salt and some say they need it.


Have u treated with any meds at all?

Did you add the snails at same time as fish or after?

Keep your chin up we are here to help you.

Regards

Scott

 

[WILDER]

Been where you have. Fish can be a nightmare. There not easy to keep till you know what you are doing.

Did the fish lose weight due to not eating.
With the blob you found in the poo they could have internal parasites, so need to check.

Sign of internal parasites.
long stringy white poo or clear mucas poo, or red poo.
Worms prutruding from the anus.
Red inflamed anus or enlarged anus.
Sunken in belly.
Fish will look skinny or bloated.
Bent spine.
Fish will sometimes swim on its side.

 

[Trixibelle]

To Scott and Wilder

Thank you, can't tell you how much better I feel now after your comments, have renewed enthusiasm

The fish do certainly have black spots on them, though different to each other, the orange mollie has about six big black spots which you can hopefully make out in the picture, and the white mollie has little black flecks, like if you made them with a biro, with one or two slightly larger.

The black spots don't stand out from there scales like they do on the internet pictures. They have not been itching or seemed irritated, just mega thin and colour loss on the orange mollie. Her breathing is still fast, but she seems a bit brighter this morning. will pop her in a great concentration of salt again (one teaspoon, 1 litre) as this seems to be helping.

With regard to the snails, they came first! I set up my tank in August and bought some lovely plants, next thing you know there are creatures in the tank which turned out to be snails. They were cute and I read up on various opinions and decided to keep them. There breeding rate is alarming though. I have cleared tank of snails and although the odd one appeares every now and then, I thoroughly picked them all out by hand and scrubbed tank decorations which did have jelly eggs on! little blighters!!!!

With regards to medications, I went to my LFS and asked re: black spot medication. The only thing she had was Methylene blue. I didn't want everything to be dyed blue and also have plants and fry in the tank, so I did a couple of dips in a bucket for 20 mins with the orange mollie, obviously not the best thing, as made no differece. think I was expecting a miraculous recovery LOL!

I don't think the weight loss is due to not eating, although she wasn't yesterday, but is trying today. Their poo is the same red colour as their flakes. There are no worms coming out of them, and they're not swimming on their side. When you say bent spine, which way? Sometimes her tail bends to the side when stationery but this is not permanent.

I have another tank with two two month old fry in, and again their tank has been infested with snails which I am struggling to get on top of, as they are miniscule. There is cucumber in there as we speak! One of these fry is covered very badly in black spots.

AAAARRRGGGHHHHH!

Am about to water change both tanks and will take Stats again later and post. See pic attached....

Many many thanks

T x

 

[Trixibelle]

sorry can't work out how to post a pic, too technical. It wants URL and mine is on my C Drive.

 

[Newgee]

Hi Trixibelle

No problem we are here to help.

I am glad you have cheered up and are feeling better.

Do you have or could you get a spare small tank?
If so you could put all the fish into it and use the meth blue.
Meth blue needs to be run for a number of weeks to be effective a 20 min dip won't do much.
I think you was looking for a miraculous recovery .lol

Then with the fish in a hospital tank you can clean the other tanks thoroughly. put gravel/ornaments into bath or sink and soak in boiling water for a few hours. clean tank with warm/hot water, if you do this be sure to use your filter in some tank water with heater in a bucket or in the other tank (not hospital tank) so you don't have to cycle the tanks again, also, some meth blue meds will kill the good bacteria. wilder might have some better suggestion here on meds.

With the fish not eating how long has that been for? it could be internal parsites.

As for salt i would use 1 -tbs to 5 gallon of tank water and treat the whole tank.

And snails are a bloody pain lol....they breed like crazy, once you have the black spot under control or gone if you do see any more snails you might be wise to get a clown loach.
Also what is your amonia levels?
Do you over feed?
Blackspots are also from amonia burns.

To post a pic you need to upload you pic to somewhere like photo bucket then you come here and click insert link (nxt to smily face) and then you type the link in from photo bucket.


instructions here:
http/photobucket.com/faq?catID=49&catSelected=f&topicID=400

ask away if there is anything else.

Regards
scott