Why Is My Balloon Belly Molly Swimming Psychotically?

[destinyxrose]

I have a Balloon Belly Molly and I have had him since January or so. He seems healthy in pretty much every way except how he swims. He started swimming weird a little over a month ago and he seems to be doing this more often now. He will swim vertically and spin around almost like a little dance. Sometimes he was just swim in place and be vertical as well. He can and still does swim normal too but I am not sure whats going on since he seems to be doing it more often. From what I can tell he looks fine physically. He eats fine as well. We did add in (what we believe to be) a female Molly to the tank around the time he started doing this but I am not positive whether it began before or after we added her. I just want to make sure there is nothing going on. He looks healthy otherwise but it is concerning. Any ideas or should I not be too concerned? Or Is there something going on?



Tank Size: 35 Gallon
Tank Mates:
1 Mickey Mouse, 1 Red Wag, and 1 Twin Bar Platys
3 Red Minor Tetras
1 (2 Including him) Balloon Belly Molly
3 Zebra Danio
2 Ghost Shrimp
1 African Dwarf Frog

Water Changes: 25% Weekly
Water Temp: 78 Degrees Farenheit
Live Plants, Decorative Caves,
Carbon Filter, Automatic Heater

Water Stats:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 15
Nitrite: 0
GH: 100
KH: 120
PH: 7.4

 

[LauraFrog]

This sounds like it could be a swimbladder problem and it's very common in fish where selective breeding by humans has greatly interfered with the body shape. It happens a lot to fancy goldfish and most 'balloon' strains because the swim bladder is compressed and its shape changed by the mutation. The fact that one fish (or one drop of fry) is often used to 'set' the strain (read as: a huge amount of inbreeding) doesn't help either. There is very little you can do for swim bladder problems especially when they are physical and not caused by a disease. A little melafix might help but there's probably nothing else that will... you might just have to leave him be and hope for the best, and if it gets so bad that he can't balance at all and he becomes distressed by it, then there will be a difficult decision to make. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you... it's just one of those conditions where there is really very little you can do to help them.

 

[destinyxrose]

This sounds like it could be a swimbladder problem and it's very common in fish where selective breeding by humans has greatly interfered with the body shape. It happens a lot to fancy goldfish and most 'balloon' strains because the swim bladder is compressed and its shape changed by the mutation. The fact that one fish (or one drop of fry) is often used to 'set' the strain (read as: a huge amount of inbreeding) doesn't help either. There is very little you can do for swim bladder problems especially when they are physical and not caused by a disease. A little melafix might help but there's probably nothing else that will... you might just have to leave him be and hope for the best, and if it gets so bad that he can't balance at all and he becomes distressed by it, then there will be a difficult decision to make. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you... it's just one of those conditions where there is really very little you can do to help them.

Wow, Thats not the news I wanted to hear ... I was hoping he was just showing off for his little girlfriend.. Well, wishful thinking that is I kinda figured that wasn't going to be the case.
Will this kill him and is he in pain? I love this little guy and I would never want him to go if I could help it but I don't want him in pain.
Is this an occurance in all "Balloon" strains or just some?
And is there anything else that it could be or any other way of helping him?

 

[Tina c]

ok at this point dont panic, i keep fancy goldfish and there is something you could give a try, peas whenever we get a fancy with a weak swim bladder this usually sorts them out, just shell a few frozen peas make sure there defrosted and feed them to the molly if they are a bit big just crush them first do this every 2-3 days and you should see an improvement xx

 

[destinyxrose]

ok at this point dont panic, i keep fancy goldfish and there is something you could give a try, peas whenever we get a fancy with a weak swim bladder this usually sorts them out, just shell a few frozen peas make sure there defrosted and feed them to the molly if they are a bit big just crush them first do this every 2-3 days and you should see an improvement xx

Thank you. I do give all my fish a boiled pea about every 3-4 weeks but I will give him one every couple days and see how he does. I hope it helps and thanks so much.

 

[destinyxrose]

I have been reading up on swim bladder disease and I am wondering if my symptoms match up. I noticed on almost everything I read about it, it said that the fish often swims with there head facing down. My Molly is swimming with his head upward. I am not sure if that matters but just wanted to make sure that was thrown out there. Both of my Mollys Hang out at the top of the tank a lot and the one that is swimming weird has always done that since day one. So I just want to make sure... Thank Everyone

 

[destinyxrose]

Hey,
I hate to be a pest but I just wanted to make sure that my Balloon Belly Molly's problem is swim bladder disease. The only reason I ask is because most of the things I read up on swim bladder disease said that fish swim as if they are standing on their head. I am just wondering because my molly swims like he is standing up with his head upwards instead of downwards. He seems to be doing a little better about it. It seems to come and go. And also, if it is swim bladder disease, is he in pain? I don't want him to suffer in any way. I don't feel I could euthenize him at this point especially since he seems alright at the moment but I just don't want him in pain either. Thanks for all of your responses and I appreciate the info. I just want to make sure there isn't anything else that could be wrong and just make sure that its probably the right diagnosis.
Thanks everyone. You guys rock!

 

[rebma94]

I have a catfish that is swimming with its head upward and is verry bad at the moment as he is also spinning he also wont eat anything as he has trouble staying at the bottom of the tank help please