Dark_Rider2k3

My one black molly looks HORRIBLE..

she looks like she's been severely beaten up!! When I looked at her this morning, she was stuck to the filter, she couldn't move. I thought she was dead but she was still breathing and I could her gills moving.

I have her currently in a net so she can't be harassed, but she can barely move and looks TERRIBLE!!

What happend!?!?!? I'm completely at a loss here and am freaking out!!!

Current tank specs:

3x Otocinclus
6x White cloud Minnow
6x Cherry Barb
1x Angelfish (still a baby)
1x Banjo Catfish (also very tiny)

Nitrite: 5
Nitrate: 0
Temp: 80
PH: 7.5

Edit:

Should I medicate her? Or what?

Edit2:

took some pictures:







Note she still "tries" to swim.. so she's trying to stay alive..

Awsome22

I cant say fore sure because im new at thisstill but i would say another fish was bullying her. the stress she is having may also be putting her at risk of a sickness so i would give her that fresh garlic in a jar that is in all its juices this should help her imune system. also if you have a cycled and ready quarentine tank i would put her in it to keep other fish from bullying her. (I would get a second opion though as like i said im new to this

tkfury

As Awsome22 suggested, if you have a quarentine tank it would be a good idea to place her in it, it will help greatly with monitoring her health as well as medication - though I believe vita-chem, garlic guard (again, as Awsome22 said fresh garlic juice will work as well - it does help their immunity as well as make food more appealing) and fish protector should be safe to use on all fish. That is the un-medicating route that should help with her fins. Other than that I'm afraid I don't know what to suggest but I wish you the best of luck, she's trying so thats the best you can ask of her.

You might want to take one of the filter sponges that are used for the aquaclear, cut a little hole large in it and use a rubber band or such to secure it to the filter intake. It doubles as a little extra filtration and helps prevent anyone from getting stuck. Plus my otos love feeding on it so its one less thing I have to worry about.

Dark_Rider2k3

Thanks a lot everyone!

I have my 2.5's filter in my tank so it can stay seeded, and so I'll just quickly set up the 2.5gal and put her in it.. hopefully that will reduce her stress...

She is not eating as well, as well.. she can't eat .. But i'll try some of the methods posted here..

Also, thanks tk for the tip with the sponge.. I'll also do that in a sec

Awsome22

Anytime, and I hope she gets better soon.

Dark_Rider2k3

Well she just stopped breathing... *sigh..*

I did put the sponger over the intake tube, so thanks for that idea .

Does anyone know, though, why she was so injured? As you can tell from the pictures, she looks like she was mutilated.. I just can't believe that the filter did that..

I did not see her like that yesterday night, though I had just gotten back from being at an amusement park so was really tired.. but I do know that morning she was perfectly fine (before I left).

The only nocturnal fish that I have is my banjo catfish, but he doesn't bother anyone.. though to be honest, I rarely see him moving around (he loves to bury under the eco complete lol)

joy613

I know barbs can be nippers in small numbers but you seem to have enough so they feel safe. Angels are usually only aggressive towards their own type unless they have laid eggs. The rest of your fish are peaceful.

Awsome22

Thats too bad But I Would keep an eye out for any of your other fish that look like they are doing some fin nipping or any other bullying to try and prevent it from happening again

Lucy

I'm so sorry you lost your fish, you tried so much to try and save her.
I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help, I don't know much about the fish you have, the only thing I can suggest is maybe your male was harassing her, I don't know the correct ratio of males to females.

joy613

Since she was in the tank before she died myself I would do at least a 50% water change. I know I have a water changing habit. That is always the first thing I do when a fish isn't acting right or one just died. You did everything right, getting her out of the tank was probably the best thing.

Dark_Rider2k3

That is the only thing I can assume (the male harassing her.)

Come to think of it, he was always "sniffing" her.. I just thought they were going to give me some fry and that was it lol

Shawnie

im sorry about your fish ..but with nitrite reading, it could be poisioning and she didnt take it well .... for some reason your in a mini cycle so daily water changes are needed

Lucy

Completely missed that, Shawnie, thanks.

Dark_Rider2k3

could the BioSpira have done it? And also, if she did get poisoned, why are her fins ripped (one is completely ripped off).

Dang, and I was just doing a WC today

ShaynaB

How long ago did you add the BioSpira to the tank?

Well, she was stuck to the filter so that could be the cause of the fin being ripped off... It's a possibility that she tried to get off of the filter tube and ripped her little fin in the process. Poor girl!

What is your ammonia reading?

Dark_Rider2k3

I added BioSpira a week ago when the tank was set up (last sunday to be exact).

Well I just checked my ammonia and it's at 0.. I have a lot of plants in the tank and so i'm pretty sure they are sucking it all up

ShaynaB

Have you been doing water changes all along or just today?

It looks like it's not completely cycled yet... BioSpira is finicky stuff.

I'm thinking maybe she was already weak and just got stuck to the filter and it either pulled her fin off or she struggled with it.

Dark_Rider2k3

Yeah to be honest today was my first change... I probably should have done more water changes but with work + school I didn't think about it and just assumed that the BioSpira was working when my fish seemed happy and fine...

What you said seems right.. when I first saw her stuck to it, I noticed she was still alive. I tried to quickly save her and pull her off it but I seriously had to turn the filter off just to save her it was sucking in a lot of water.. and she couldn't swim well at all..

I'll monitor the water levels for the next few days and see how things are..