Leni

I recently purchased 2 silver mollies, 2 creamsicle mollies and a kuhli loach. One of the silver mollies the morning after purchasing them was sitting on the bottom of the tank, and has been swimming oddly all day, nose angled slightly up and such. I considered that it might be the female molly and was pregnant when I purchased them (the mollies are paired) but that idea flew out the window when my mom told me one of the other mollies nosed it and it did a barrel roll before righting itself. I think it's having issues with its swim bladder. I've looked it over and can't see any markings that would indicate anything else. My water is fine. How would I go about aiding it's recovery if it is indeed the swim bladder?

TFA101

Swimbladder issues can be difficult to resolve, I've found it often appears due to swallowing excessive amounts of oxygen, but can also be caused by a deformed bladder through birth, constipation, and rapid changes in water chemistry and temperature. Symptoms include loss of equilibrium and erratic swimming. Try feeding your molly some thawed (previously frozen), peeled green peas, or other commercial frozen foods like bloodworms to ensure your fish is getting enough roughage to get things moving along, and be sure to keep water conditions stable.

Leni

I'm thinking its the water difference between my tank and the water from the bag - it was fine last night when I introduced the 5 fish to the tank, and I did a bit of acclimation by puncturing their bag in a fishbowl filled with water siphoned from the big tank, but I doubt the 10 minutes they were in there would be enough for the symptoms to surface. Tomorrow I'll thaw and peel enough peas for all the fish - I'm sure the other mollies and my danios would enjoy some too

aquarist48

Good morning. I hope everything is going to be ok with your Mollies. Yes, the rest of your fish should enjoy the peas as well. I feed them to my fish once a week. It took them a couple of seconds to realize that it was food. Once they did, they loved it. I blanch them for a minute or two, cut them in half, peel them and then you can make smaller bite sized pieces.
Again, best of luck,
Ken

Leni

I'm going to prepare some peas and give them to the fish for dinner tonight. I meant to do it this morning but my mom fed them not realizing my plan. I looked at the molly in question this morning, it seems to be doing fine other than its swimming troubles. Its breathing normally and doesn't seem to be in shock.

aquarist48

Keep us posted Leni!
Ken

Leni

Unfortunately he didn't make it. I rode into town with my mom for her dentist appointment (I wanted to get on a friend's wifi to check my email) and when I got home, he was floating. He's already been replaced tho, another female, so now I have 2 female silvers and a pair of creamsicles. Should make interesting babies. The new silver is currently in my acclimation bowl.

EDIT: Put the new silver in about 20 minutes ago, and it appears as though the other mollies have already assimilated her into their little school. The female creamsicle was swimming around with the new gal until the light timer tripped. I'm happy that she's doing well already.