janiskfp

OK, we had babies about a month ago. We kept 1. The 2 parents, male & female were fine by themselves (LFS said we had 3 females. 1 died, and we were left with 1 of each.) The baby has, in the last week or so, reached manhood.

I have a stressed out mom.

I recently began dropping, very gradually, the (Aquarium) salt content of the water because the snails were holed up. It worked. The snails are zooming around the tank snarfing anything green. I really wanted to find out if there was something wonky with my water or if it was just the salt getting to the snails. Ergo:

I have a stressed out mom (although it doesn't appear to have affected the males at all).

Upon my discovery of the cute, fuzzy, teddy-bear state of this mom fish, (within 10 minutes) I had her in a 1 gal glass pickle jar with a bubble filter and a heater. About 30 minutes later I dosed her with Maracyn Two. I didn't stop to read the internet, I just cruised to Petsmart and got whatever said dropsy on it.

I though about it, and put in 3 small aquarium salt crystals and 4-5 Epsom salt crystals.

Now that she's in her own space, she seems happy as a clam. She's eating (she never really stopped), goofing off, having the time of her life, at least recent life. She apparently is loving teasing the boys, cuz they're all bundled up and mad, looking at her, scolding me every time I go peek at them.

I should note one thing. I haven't been noticing her poop. I generally just check to make sure I've seen some poop hanging off one or two of the fish. I give them green flakes, mostly, so constipation hasn't been an issue. It doesn't look like constipation bloat, though. Her scales actually look like they're retaining water.

1. What do you think her odds of survival are?

2. Should I try something else to treat her (in the morning)?

3. Could the stress and salt reduction do this on their own?

4. If it's viral, I wonder if she got our H1N1. It might sound goofy, but why not? We just got over it. Cats, pigs.... I'm betting it's a virus that doesn't care much what it eats.

5. Can sex just go away, please? It's so freakin problematic. I mean, people can have babies when they want to, not by oops. No more jealous rages, soap operas, embarrassed, stinky teenage boys, and my fish would be happy. I swear, I'm beginning to think Utopia = no testosterone. (I'm kidding. But it's worth thinking about.)

0 PPM on everything but Nitrates, which are, and have been around 10ppm.
200-ish GH. 78.5-80 degrees, but I check it lots. It's as consistent as I can get it. It's a 6 gal, so everything is a little more difficult to keep balanced.

******************

OK. I think the young male is looking a little bloated now, too. He might just be full of food, but I'm suspicious. Do I move him, or just treat the whole tank, snails and all?

Lucy

I'm sorry your fish aren't well.
I don't know about Mollys but if you could post some pics, it might help the other members help you.
Best of luck

aquarist48

Hello Janis. I think it was a very good idea to remove the salt. I feel certain the snails appreciate it. Here are a few links on Mystery Snails you may find interesting.
Question: Mystery Snail Care?
Mystery Snails
Apple Snail Care Sheet @ petfish.net

I'm sorry to hear that your fish is ill. Here is a link concerning dropsy
Dropsy
Best wishes for you and your fish. Please keep us posted.
Ken

janiskfp

I've put the Maracyn 2 in, then a day later I started with the Maracyn. She's looking better, I think.

If I could get a photo, I would, but I can't even get a decent video. I'm just not good with a camera, and the fish never stop moving unless they're hiding, so much that I can't focus on them. All I get is a nice clear shot of my plastic, algae-coated plant. Plus, she's in a round jar.

She looked pretty much like a blowfish, except fuzzy instead of spiney. I mean, really, teddy-bear describes it as well as anything. She looked like every part of her flesh was over-inflated, including her scales, even her head scales. She looked like I feel when I had too much pizza and forgot I was at the time of the month when I retain water. Michelin Man. The old one.

She's looking much smaller and smoother today, more like herself. She looks stiff, but I'm hoping it's because she's still just kind of swollen inside and it's healing up, so it hurts some, I bet. Now that I can see through the scales, she might be a bit dark inside, maybe a bit more red in her tail scales in front of her black wag. This seeming indication of blood everywhere (I can't be sure) is what worries me the most. I might just be making visual mountain out of mole hills. It's not really bad looking, but I worry about the smallest detail, and watch them too closely. (I saw her get big, but I thought she was pregnant, which was really very likely, and the growth seemed a little more sudden than when she was pregnant, but it was fast then, too).

You know how when platies get pregnant their back humps up some to make room? She still looks pretty, uh, humpy, but the rest of her seems to have shrunk, actually quite a bit. It almost looks like her tail is pointing down a bit. I'm thinking it's just taking her different organs different amounts of time to shrink down. She seems relatively lively. I mean, she does seem to be feeling under the weather with the amount of time she's spending under the foam filter, but she's out & about often enough. She's still eating.

I dunno. If she doesn't look really good by the time I get through this maracyn+2 treatment, what do I do?

Awesome snail links! Thanks!

janiskfp

My H2O Params have been great since I got this tank after trying to manage a two-gallon with 3 fish. (Don't ask. Or look for the Thread "Never trust an Ex.") Weekly 1 gal changes seem to do the trick. I got my GH and KH up so gradually, but they're where I want them now. I use RO and RO Right. I'm a control freak.

We love Molly. She really is a meek, but tough little peach of a fish. If she makes it, she "gets" to go back in the tank with two boys. Most of the time it's OK, but it gets bad, especially when she's feeling crappy (about to deliver fry, or sick).

(Here's the quick history: I grilled the LFS four times about getting 3 females. They said the were. One was male (Golly). One Female, Jolly died. Molly got pregnant. One of the fry sat for an entire day in the 2tsp bottom of the jug I had vacuumed out of the tank for a partial water change. We named him Lucky. He stayed smaller, so he was easy to identify. We gave the rest of the fry away. We discovered Lucky is male.)

So now what. I'm almost inclined to add (keep a fry) a female. The kid wants to get rid of Golly. He's the top of the heap, so he's done most of the picking, but he's a tough little bugger (remember the 2 gal), and I respect him for that. It's just that his arms aren't long enough, if you get my drift.

But 6 gallons. 4 Platies. 1 very large and 5 small snails (1.25" shell and 5 <1cm). pics

I don't mind doing the water changes, and the tank has really been a breeze. There's algae on the substrate that I can't clean up, but the rest has been pretty easy, piece by piece in tank water, but that's been my biggest worry for 6 months, until this illness (I really do think she got something from us.)

I'm trying to balance how to be the most humane. Mostly, if Molly gets through this, we'd like her to be happy (OK, it's just added stress for me when she isn't, so...).

heather84

ya know---i was curious about the h1n1 thing also........a family member had it, then we got REALLY ubelievably sick (didnt go to the dr. so duno what i really had) and i wasnt thinking to wash my hands before i fed the fish and 2 of my mollies died during the time i was sick. Water was fine---fish had no signs or symptoms of anything, they were fine and then they were just dead. I cant help but think i killed them by giving them whatever i had.

Ive never had fish just die without symptoms

janiskfp

Here's my YT playlist.

I hate it when people give crappy feedback for video quality when the video is trying to catch what a sick fish looks like. I't unbelievably difficult to catch, much less make it look good.

I'm going to start treating for ICH tomorrow if no one stops me. (every get a yeast infection when on an antibiotic? It happens. A lot.)

I'm also noticing we know more about the bio-balance of our fishtanks than we do about our bodies.... (I'm still not convinced Lactobacillus can make it through an HCl bath.)

Edit: Could it just be scale damage from when her scales were so puffed up?

I'm also still noticing her hump, almost as if her spine got permanently bent from being up so high. And she looks stiff. She doesn't look/act itchy at all. Sedentary more today than yesterday, but it could be the water in the little container.

Here I thought she was recovering, and maybe she is, but in some respects she looks worse.

I've been checking her water, and nitrites went up a bit, so I took some water from the big tank, medicated it, and did a partial water change. I also put a couple shells from the tank in her jar, as well as a small hunk of loose hornwort (man, that stuff is messy, but the fry loved it).

callichma

If you put her back in the tank with the 2 males they will literally pester her to death. You don't really have enough room to put enough females to balance out your 2 males. I'd give the males away and get 2 more females. Hope your fishy gets better.

janiskfp

1. The Quick Dip test strips don't work. Not for Nitrates, anyway.

I cracked out the API test kit and my Nitrates were, like 60 or higher, but the test strips said <20. I've changed out 3 gal of the water in both tanks. I know it's a bit wasteful, but I just did 16 2/3% (1 gal/6 gal tank) 3 times, and now the readings are @ about 15-20 ppm on the API. I'll do another gal tomorrow, and another on Sat.

I've been changing out the hospital tank a little more aggressively, and adding an extra drop of Prime. Since there isn't any particular bio media (I moved a couple of shells) there's been a bit of ammonia, and I put some zeolite in a mesh bag. Ammonia's <.25, Nitrates <20. I plan to change some more water tonight.

The dropsy likely had a water quality issue leading to it.

2. The Maracyn AND Maracyn 2 cured her. unless she just got over it on her own, but I doubt it. It's worth a try for dropsy. Now, can I put that powder in my facial moisturizer to get rid of zits?

(The long term plan is to get some babies from Lucky and Molly, wait long enough before giving them away to sex them, and keep either 1 female, or 2 females and give away Lucky.)

Lucy

I'm glad to hear your fish is feeling better.
Since a new thread was started, I edited out the duplicate questions.
It'll be less confusing for you and the members to have the suggestions in one place.

janiskfp

Argh.

Just for the record. I put her back in the 6 gallon tank after giving away Golly (one of the boys), and I guess Lucky took the territory, or did what he thought he should as a man or whatever, and picked on her. Her scales started to get sticky-outy again. She didn't, and doesn't look bloated. I took Lucky out, treated the tank with Maracyn and Maracyn2, and I did get a bit of an ammonia spike. I think I used to much. But things seem to be going OK. She's eating, goofing off, etc. She looks skinny, thin-skinned, like a 70-year-old yoga instructor to me now.

So lots of water changes, and after this, and after giving away five of the six or seven snails, including the big one, if she gets sick again, I'm out of treatment ideas. Just get the antibiotics out of the water, and keep doing twice weekly 20%.

Are there any "immune-boosters" for fish? I'm maxed out on salt for the snails at a heaping 1/2 teaspoon per gallon.

So Newsweek did a cover story two weeks ago called "The Case for Killing Granny" and the expense of end-of-life care. I get it, sort of. $5 suffering platy with $350 of other stuff. Hm. I don't think the best pet for a four- or five-year-old is a fish. Good sales is not a substitute for good judgement. That's why JP Morgan is still around, and running the show, for that matter.