JJLSP

We have two tanks containing livebearers. 120 gallon Molly tank and a 30 gallon Guppy tank. I'll start with the mollies.

It's slightly over stocked, I'll admit. It's been up and running for over a year now. ammonia and nitrite both test 0, nitrate get's up to about 30 by the end of the week. I do weekly water changes. pH is 7.8 and the temp is kept at 80. We keep about 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of marine salt in their water with them. They have a varied diet. Flakes daily, algae every other day, and shrimp and bloodworms as a treat every now and them.

The symptoms are... varied. When one comes down with the mystery ailment, they will usually display at least one of the following: Popeye, whirling, emaciation, S shaped spine, and/or clamped fins. The odd thing is only the juveniles seem to be effected. On occasion, a big one will get sick... the only symptoms they seem to display is emaciation and whirling. When they are moved out of the 120 gallon into a 10 gallon hospital tank, the whirling stops. Something that may or may not be related is a couple of them seem to have pimple like protrusions on their skin. One has had these "pimples" for a very long time. They occasionally become infected. The infection responds to treatment, but the pimples do not go away. I have tried the following treatments: Tetracycline (well.. Doxycycline. Derived from tetracycline but more effective in hard water), Erythromycin, various parasite meds from copper to formalin, methylene blue. No, not all at once . Aside from the infection from the "pimples", no fish has been cured. Any ideas on what is going on would be helpful.

On to the guppies. 30 gallon. Understocked. Last water test before their water change was Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate 15. pH is 7.8. We keep their temp at 78. A few live plants, nothing fancy. They get the same diet as the mollies, just smaller quantities. Not much to go one with these guys.. Most of the time, they just die or are barely alive and stuck to the filter. Sometimes, they will become emaciated and hang out on the bottom. The only treatment I have tried on them is aquarium salt... not enough symptoms to get an idea of what they have.

I'm lost. I have no idea what's going on and I don't like it. My other tanks are all healthy.. it's just these two that give me problems. Any help would be appreciated.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore!!!!!!!!! I bet your 120 gal looks fabooooooooo! pics if you can

now im wondering if the salt is effecting them....although yours might be use to it by now, (if you have been using it for awhile) but it is more of an old school way...theres a ton of different more mild things out there like stress coat+ , amquel+ or prime that will help them with their slime coat .....salt over time, builds up as it doesnt disapait on its own so your salinity levels might be huge if you have been using it for awhile....over using salt causes fish to over produce and always trying to keep their slime coat up to par..so other than the salt, and maybe some interbreeding with the amount of fish you have, it seems you are doing everything else great...go a few weeks without the salt being added and do a couple of good water changes to lower the salinity , and see if that might help anything....

im sure other members might have some more suggestions!

JJLSP

Inbreeding has occurred to me as well. Considering that it's only really effecting the young ones in the molly tank. I'm starting to doubt that now because of the "pimple" thing, and that it seems to have spread to the guppy tank.

Since we use marine salt in the molly tank, we have a hydrometer. it always tests the same. 1.004. I wouldn't even call it brackish. The guppies haven't had salt in a while since it failed to help them out.

Tony G.

Welcome to Fishlore!
Sorry you are having problems
I cant wait to see what your 120gal looks like! it must be so awesome to see it full of mollies haha!

S shaped fry are usually caused by inbreeding, but you seem to already know that

iloveengl

At that low of salinity, I can't imagine salt is much of a problem (I also keep my mollies in a brackish tank (~1.007) and they are all happy go lucky little buggers). Interbreeding seems like a likely cause for some problems (can you reduce the population by handing some over to willing LFS)... but the pimple thing is still undiagnosed, right? It's especially odd since it's moved to the guppy tank. You said they share food -- could something be contaminated or expired?

Hmmm, just the other day I read an article about fish pimples. I'll see if I can find it and update. I'm so sorry about your fishies! That's just a load of stuff to deal with going wrong.

UPDATE: Could the pimples be fish lice? That would make sense how it transfered.... http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/argulus.htm

JJLSP

I've considered fish lice. I don't think that's what it is. The "pimples" are smaller. About 1-1.5mm diameter. Just gave them another close inspection, and they just look like small white pimples. Not all the fish have them. Just one or two at a time. One that always has them is one of the gold dust Mollies.

The guppies never get the pimples... they just die with the only symptom being emaciation. And that doesn't show up all the time.

I don't think it's the food because these are the only tanks that are having problems and all my fish (except Tommy, the betta) eat the same food.

I can't get rid of the fry.. There are only two local fish stores here. One is very bad... Last time I was in there several tanks had really bad ICH, dead fish everywhere... I know, that happens, but when we told them they had a serious ich outbreak their response was "Oh... ok" and they went back to chatting with each other. I would not wish that enviornment on any fish.

The other place is much, much better, and we've given mollies to them before, but he's kinda stocked up on them and has no real room for em.

And I have issues with giving fish away that may be carrying a deadly disease. I would use them as feeders (I know, it's cruel but would be for the overall health of the tank) but again, I don't want to spread anything.

iloveengl

Oiy...this just stinks JJLSP. It definitely sounds like you've looked into everything, both cause and solutions, and still no luck. This may sound awful, but perhaps you would want to humanely euthanize the fish that are just too poor of health to sustain a happy fish life. There's a sticky somewhere on the forum about that. I hope someone comes with cure for your fishies!