Molly Has Twisted Spine And Rough Skin

My female orange Molly has a twisted spine and her skin is a bit rough. I have already put her in quarantine. my aquarium has only been running for a couple of days. What should I do??


What is the water volume of the tank? ~30 gal
How long has the tank been running? about 1 week
Does it have a filter? yes
Does it have a heater? yes
What is the water temperature? ~72F
What is the entire stocking of this tank?
-4 black mollies
-5 orange mollies
-2 glass catfish
-~7 Cory catfish
- 2 adult Plecos and about 10 babies
-8 neon tetras
-3 black tetras

Maintenance
How often do you change the water? I did the 1st water change this morning
How much of the water do you change? 10%
What do you use to treat your water? stress coat + aquarium salt
Do you vacuum the substrate or just the water? just water (so far)

*Parameters - Very Important
Did you cycle your tank before adding fish? no, I transported them
What do you use to test the water? my pet store did it free for me
What are your parameters?

Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
pH: 6.8

Feeding
How often do you feed your fish? twice a day
How much do you feed your fish? a sprinkle
What brand of food do you feed your fish? Tetra tropical flakes, and pleco pellets
Do you feed frozen or freeze-dried foods? no

Illness & Symptoms
How long have you had this fish? about a week
How long ago did you first notice these symptoms? a couple hours ago
In a few words, can you explain the symptoms? her spine is bent, and her spin is I little bumpy, but she doesn't seem to be discolored or have problems swimming
Have you started any treatment for the illness? quarantine
Was your fish physically ill or injured upon purchase? no
How has its behavior and appearance changed, if at all? the spine and bumpy skin

Explain your emergency situation in detail. (Please give a clear explanation of what is going on, include details from the beginning of the illness leading up to now)

a couple hours ago I noticed that her spine was twisted and her skin was bumpy. I quarantined her immediately. One of my tetras had a twisted spine before I brought the tank to my house from a neighbor (the tank hadn't been properly cared for for about 2 weeks) the tetra was really suffering so I euthanized him.): I didn't think to buy new food, so the sickness the tetra had could have spread through the food. I cleaned all filters and decor thoroughly before adding it to the tank.

 

Can you post a pic? Was the tank cycled properly? The parameters sound like it probably is not cycled, just based on the 0 nitrate (unless it’s heavily planted). It’s also quite heavily stocked, so if it is not cycled, water changes will likely need to be done daily. Do you use aquarium salt for all water added or just for illness?

 

can you clarify what you mean by cycled properly? I put all the fish in and added the filters. there are no real plants. I used the salt for all of the water. my water was tested straight from the tap (which is well water). I tested it later and it's still he same.

 

You tank is very overstocked. The molly will do worse in quarantine, because of the lack of substrate, heat, decorations, space to swim, etc. Quarantine tanks are meant to be livable for weeks at a time for the sick fish. Fish get sick when they are stressed, which is usually caused by several things:

• lack of room to swim
• aggressive tank mates
• un-cycled water (the water your fish are living in do not have beneficial bacteria built up that can break down bad bacteria, so the fish do not get poisoned.)

You unfortunately made the beginner mistake of filling a tank with fish and not properly cycling it. You are now doing a fish in cycle, and the ammonia levels are anything but controllable. Cleaning the filter removed any left over bacteria depending on how long it was out of water. Please read up on the nitrogen cycle HERE.

This is an example of your tank stocking:

 

thanks for the information. what do you think would be the best thing to do at this point? I have another tank (20gal), so should I try to divide the fish? how can I cycle the tank safely? also, should I keep the molly quarantined, because if she has a communicable disease, it would spread. what do you think she has?

 

thanks for the information. what do you think would be the best thing to do at this point? I have another tank (20gal), so should I try to divide the fish? how can I cycle the tank safely? also, should I keep the molly quarantined, because if she has a communicable disease, it would spread. what do you think she has?

If the other fish are stressed, it will spread. I would try to split the stocking up. Maybe mattgirl has some ideas on how you can get this train back on the rails?

 

Morpheus1967

 

I can't help with the molly sickness, but hopefully someone else can. When in doubt, however, keep it quarantined.

Unfortunately this tank is in big trouble, and it's going to get worse. You have a pleco issue lol. If at all possible, I would try to re-home ALL of the plecos you have. 30 gallons just isn't enough for a common, unless you want to change water every day. Forever.

Another issue is your tank wasn't cycled, and you put a ton of fish in there. With the fish you have in there now, you would have to do 50% water changes every day just to keep up with the bio-load.

You need to get your own test kit. Amazon sells the API Master Kit for $22. If you show them the listing at Petsmart or Petco, they will match the price.

Do you have Seachem Prime? This will help as well, as not only is it a dechlorinator, but it makes small amounts of ammonia and nitrite non-toxic to your fish for 24-48 hours.

Is the 20 gallon tank cycled? If this was my situation, I would put all of the tetras and the glassfish into the 20.

Also, please let us know what filters you have on each tank.

So, if you can:

Get an API test kit.
Get some Seachem Prime
Re-home the plecos. All of them.
Transfer the tetras and the glassfish to the 20 gallon.

You have a lot of daily water changes coming up until we can get these tanks cycled.

 

do you think it could be stress? I found a case where a molly's spine twisted because his tank mates chased him and harassed him. the 2 males have been chasing her around constantly for the whole time the tank was running and she doesn't seem to show any signs of disease.

here is the link to the case,

 

thanks! how do I get rid of plecos? (they're bristlenose, BTW) I have some test strips from the old owner of the tank, I'll try to get some seachem prime at Petco tomorrow. the 20 gallon tank is not cycled. it's been running with 2 10-20 gallon filters for about 4 days without fish in it. should I still move the fish? I can do 50% water changes on both tanks every day until it's cycled. i'm using an Aqueon quietflow 30 gallon internal power filter and a sponge filter, which I think is 20 gallons

 

thanks! how do I get rid of plecos? (they're bristlenose, BTW) I have some test strips from the old owner of the tank, I'll try to get some seachem prime at Petco tomorrow. the 20 gallon tank is not cycled. it's been running with 2 10-20 gallon filters for about 4 days without fish in it. should I still move the fish? I can do 50% water changes on both tanks every day until it's cycled. i'm using an Aqueon quietflow 30 gallon internal power filter and a sponge filter, which I think is 20 gallons

When you go to Petco ask someone if they know any local fish stores. In my case I typed into google local fish stores and I just called a bunch of them to ask if they take fish, only one of the 10 ish I found took fish.

 

Ok, I thought they were common plecos. But you still need to re-home all the babies, and maybe one of the adults.

I would still move the fish. You will now be doing what is called a fish in cycle. Both ways work (fish in and fishless) so no worries there. As long as you are willing to do the water changes. Plus the Prime will help.

If you can get the API Master kit, it would really help. While the test strips are better than nothing, they are not nearly as accurate as the API kits.

 

Petco will take the Plecos. I moved the glass cats and neon tetras to the 20 gallon. i've been using microlift to boost the cycling.

 

I don't know why I didn't get alerts from either the profile message or the tags from this thread. Glad I finally noticed the message and it brought me here.

You have gotten some very good advice so far. Splitting the fish up into 2 tanks should help. It is going to take a lot of water changes to both cycle these tanks and protect your fish at the same time.

It will make it a lot easier if you get your own API master test kit. With it you will know exactly what is happening with the water in these tanks and will know right away when a water change is necessary.

If you want to you can put one pleco in each tank. I am sure a fish store would be more than willing to take the pleco fry and by putting the male in one tank and the female in the other one you won't have to deal with fry again until/unless you decide to put them back together.

We can get you through this and we will be here to help you any way we can.

I wish I knew what to tell you about your molly. I am no good at all when it come to fish illnesses. Sometime there is something we can do for them but more often than not we just have to let them go. If it comes to it folks recommend clove oil to put them to sleep. I can't handle the smell of it so I can't go that route. May sound cruel but I choose to quickly smash the head. At least it is an instant death.

 

thanks so much. I will do the water changes, and have been using a microboost bacteria treatment to speed the cycling. the Molly doesn't seem any better but I think she's eating. The people at Petco said it could be ammonia poisoning or not enough room to grow. I'll split the 2 Plecos and Petco can take the fry.

 

update, today I changed the water and tested it, the nitrates are both 0 and the ammonia is 2.0. (it was 3.0 yesterday) I also noticed that all of the black mollies scales are growing over their eyes. does anyone know why that would happen??

 

the tank is cycled now, the quarantined molly is less bent looking but now it looks more like a tumor. I also noticed another black molly in the tank the orange one was originally in has 3 small bumps on his sides. could it be a weird disease? should I quarantine the black molly?