Dying/sick Molly

Alright so I started out with 2 mollies in a 10 gallon tank, and they both seemed to be super happy and fine, and I’m not sure yet but I think the male actually got the female pregnant...so then we added one more female molly, and ever since then the male has seemed very sick. He lays at the bottom in the rocks sometimes and other times he’ll hover in the back right by the heater with his tail all droopy. He also looks like he’s itching himself against plants sometimes but I don’t see any white spots like Ich. His scales do look dull compared to last week, and have more of a green shimmer to them instead of the orange and black he is (not sure if that’s new or if I just never noticed that). He won’t eat the tropical flakes but goes nuts for the freeze dried brine shrimp I sprinkle in every now and then. I need to go get more water testing strips as I just did a water change in hopes of helping him, but last time I did a check the only concerning thing was the GH and KH were both a little high, but Only one level away from the recommended level. He seems to be doing slightly better after the water change but still has the droopy tail and lays in the rocks a lot. The females aren’t showing any signs of sickness or stress at all

 

pictures?

 

May be flukes.

 

The drooping tail sounds like it might be clamped fins (really a symptom of stress in fish and not of a specific disease). A picture could help to be certain.

It can indicate that water quality is deteriorating or that the fish is sick, which is what seems to be the case. As for the itching, it may just be an itch if it only rubs against the decor every now and then. But if he's doing it over and over, it sounds like a parasite issue. It seems really likely that it may be gill flukes, an onset of ich (as ich first attacks the gills before expressing outwardly as white spots), or some other parasite that could have been brought on by the new fish. However, it's always good idea to take a look at the water parameters as well!

Do you happen to quarantine new fish?

 

Don’t have a picture right now, he usually hides in a little decor piece and whenever he comes out he zips around to get food and goes back in. But I’ve been getting a closer look at him and he actually does have a few white spots appearing, so I’m guessing that’s the dreaded Ich. I would love to quarantine him but I don’t have a backup tank or anything to put him in, and I don’t want to medicate the whole tank because I also have 2 Amano Shrimp in there and I read that the copper in the treatment can be fatal to them. I will be doing frequent water changes and adding some aquarium salt in small amounts to try and help him I have a pregnant molly in there too and I don’t want her to get ich. Is there anything else I can do? He’s in pretty bad condition, poor guy.

 

I find that really large tupperware containers, with filters and heaters, work well as quarantine/hospital tanks in the absence of spare tanks! They're easy to find at Walmarts, Goodwills, and even dollar stores. It's also always useful to have a tank aside as a quarantine/hospital tank in any case, especially for new fish before adding to the display tank!

Again, I would move all the fish into a hospital tank if you are able; with no hosts left in the display tank, the ich will die out. (It also helps to gravel vac the display tank as well!) In the meantime, you can medicate your mollies.

One method that also works for a lot of people and seems to help in tandem with medicine or aquarium salt (as you said you were using!) is raising the temperature, gradually, of the tank into the 80's: around 86 or higher for a few weeks.

Best of luck with your mollies! Hope the little guy gets better soon.