firbyster

Hi everyone!

I'm hoping someone could maybe shed a bit of light on my situation.

I have a 35 gallon freshwater tank, fully cycled, with 2 black mollies, 4 red sailfin, some guppies, tetras and catfish.

They have been in their new home now for over two weeks. Everyone seems really healthy and active except one of my little red mollies. A couple of days ago I noticed him swimming funny, wobbly. This is when I noticed his top fin is clamped. Since then, he has become a little more lethargic and seems to hide at the bottom of the tank next to a rock. He has very good colouring, and I don't see any signs of fin damage, or any white spots.

I tested for ammonia yesterday and it was at zero. I haven't tested Nitrites or Nitrates in the past week, but Nitrites were consistenly zero. I will do full tests tonight when I get home.

Anyways, I've done a lot of reading on different fish diseases, and I really am confused as to what it could be, or what if anything I should be treating for.

Any insight is much appreicated!

Thanks!

cherrybarbboi

hi welcome to fishlore! i have 2 ideas of what your problem could be (the first one less likely and the second much more likely) Answer #1: he might be having a mild swim bladder problem. Answer #2: he might have gotten into a little "fight" with another fish and had one of his fins thrown a little off kilter. those are my best guesses but im sure a lot of other users will have ideas

firbyster

I am hoping it's just as simple as a little injury. However, I have new worries. One of my black mollies has a rather long poop hanging out of him, half brown, half white and stringy..... does this mean parasites?? And if so, will it spread?

firbyster

Hi everyone,

Thought I might update on things here. If anyone has any opinions, ideas, suggestions, please let me know!

So my little sick mollie has passed away... Poor little guy.
Here is my concern... since he died, about a week ago, my other fish seem to be acting quite normal which I am happy about. They are all active and eating, except as I mentioned earlier, I am still noticing some white stringy poop. It's not all white poop, it's mixed in with normal poop. It is so thin you can barely see it, and it just kind of trails along attached to normal poop to the fish. I've read this could either be internal parasites, or could be their diet (constipation?).
Part of me just wants to treat for parasites, but the other part of me thinks that could make things bad if they aren't sick...
Does anyone have any clue if I should be worried or not? This has been going on for over a week now, and like I said, everyone seems healthy and eating, but I don't want to ignore it if it's something more.

Ideas? Opinions?

Lucy

I'm sorry you lost your molly.
Do they seem bloated? If not, I would rule out constipation.
If you noticed the white poo after your molly passed away, I'd treat for internal parasites.

firbyster

Hi Lucy,
No they don't seem bloated... I did try to feed them some peas tonight, so I will give it a day to see if that has any affect on things.
If I continue to see white stringy poop, I will treat. Not all of the fish have this, if I treat, will the medication affect the healthy fish? Also, could you recommend a good medication?
Thanks!

Lucy

Sorry, I missed your question. You can quarantine the fish that are infected, however internal parasites can be contagious. I'm not a big fan of treating healthy fish.

Ideally you should treat them with medicated food, but just like kids, they might not eat it. I've has success with Jungle Parasite Clear (I think thats what it's called)

firbyster

Hi Lucy!

I've reluctantly gone ahead and started treating the tank with API General Cure. Most of the fish in the tank had some signs of parasites (at least I think that's what it is). This medication is supposed to treat a variety of different parasites, so I'm hopeful it'll take care of the problem. Like you say, parasites are contagious so hopefully treating the tank is the right way to go. Of course I worry that the medication will do more harm than good.. but my fingers are crossed.
So far the fish seem okay with the treatment, but I can't help but feel bad for the little guys, I can't imagine it's easy on them. I finish their treatment in another three days, so I'm hopeful this will do the trick and that I can move on and enjoy my fish.

Thanks again for your advice!

firbyster

Wow this is getting frustrating...

Day 2 of treatment, and now I'm noticing white patches... like fungus... one fish has patches on him, and my other fish has it around his mouth...

Sigh... ideas?

It just dawned on me that maybe I'm treating for the wrong thing... is this all related to a bacterial infection, not parasitic? Should I stop treatment of the parasites and get something for bacteria?