Pineapple Swordtail Not Doing Well - Urgent Help Needed

[JessieP]

I have just made an account because I really need help. I recently had an outbrake of illness in my tank and lost a few fish but everything died down and all seemed fine apart from the male to female ratio so I brought 2 new fish of appropriate sex (not enough to fully fix the problem but enough to stop the fighting/over sexing as I didn't want to put 4 new fish in because I know to many fish at once is bad for the aquarium) the 2 new fish one was a male pineapple swordtail and the other was a female balloon molly, she straight away dropped a batch of fry after I was concerned something was wrong because she seemed offish but then she peaked up and all seemed well then about 2 weeks later she died but looking at her she looked like she'd dropped more fry. This seemed pretty normal to me as I've heard balloon mollies carry 3 lots of seen inside and birthing all those babies often kill the mother, it was sad but I sort of expected it. Literally the next day in early afternoon(I found the molly at 1-2am ish the night previous) one of my original platys died(she was really old and you could see that) but the male pineapple swordtail isn't doing so good. The old platys and him was inseparable and he started acting funny when she was deteriorating but since she's died he's not moving much and sinking to the bottom looking like he's gasping for air. At first I thought it was because he got stuck behind my pump yesterday(which was the same day the platy died) but he still seems not good. Is this normal??

I have a 54litre tank fully cycled that has been set up for about 6-7 months I think

My current fish are
1 male balloon molly
1male pineapple swordtail
Around 11 ish swordtail/platy maturing fry
3 peppered corydoras
Whoever knows how many balloon molly fry
And lots and lots of snails

I have uploaded pictures of the male pineapple swordtail and my tank as a whole

 

[ValerieAdams]

Gypsy13 is the only one I know to tag. I don't have much experience with diseases etc. She's pretty good at helping!

 

[Gypsy13]

Hello! Welcome to fishlore!

Tell me a bit more about what’s been going on. What are your water parameters? Do you know what illness killed your other fish? What did you treat the tank with? How did the recent deceased look prior to death? Paler, clamped fins, anything? Was the swordtail that pale on his back when you got him?
We’ll try to help you get this figured out. Promise.

 

[JessieP]

Gypsy13 Okay thank you very much. I'm not sure on the exact numbers as I use the strip tests, my sister gives me some from hers I only know what colours to look for(I know sounds dumb).
The illness I'm not sure on, I used melafix because it was the only one that didn't harm fry and cater to quite a wide spectrum of diseases.
The recentest was the old platy, she obviously looked old but she also had dry scales on either side of her.
The balloon molly that died looked like she always did, but as stated pretty sure she died while birthing so her belly was a little flat and the anal/**** cavity was open and slightly puffy.
And the swordtail has always looked like that. The photo doesn't give his unique markings justice as on either side of his mouth he has a little heart. I think that covered everything

ValerieAdams thank you very much, I appreciate this very much ❤

 

[Gypsy13]

I’m sorry to tell you this but the test strips aren’t accurate. If you could get your water tested at your LFS or better yet purchase the liquid test kit, you’ll have a much better idea how your water is.

 

[JessieP]

Gypsy13 lfs?
And my male pineapple swordtail died this morning. Whether this contributed to his death or not but he was stuck behind my pump again.
I found it strange that he keeps getting stuck as no other fish has ever done so.

 

[ValerieAdams]

Gypsy13 lfs?
And my male pineapple swordtail died this morning. Whether this contributed to his death or not but he was stuck behind my pump again.
I found it strange that he keeps getting stuck as no other fish has ever done so.

LFS means local fish store. A lot of times they use the test strips too so if you can get your hands on an API kit, it would be best

 

[JessieP]

Gypsy13 oh right, sorry I've never seen that term properly.
I haven't got the money to buy them now so it will have to wait.
But both the balloon molly and swordtail came from my local pets at home and both displayed similar symptoms so I'm not sure if it was something from the pet shop. But currently the rest of my fish are okay and don't seem to have anything wrong with them but k will keep a close eye.

ValerieAdams Sorry about the wrong @ my keyboard corrected me for some reason

 

[Gypsy13]

ValerieAdams Sorry about the wrong @ my keyboard corrected me for some reason

Hey. Keep doing your water changes. Post pics of any fish that start to look or act odd ok? Thinking positive thoughts.

 

[JessieP]

Gypsy13 thank you very much, I will keep you posted if anything else happens
Just to throw something else out there I think my female corydora is pregnant and may lay eggs soon so I don't think that there could be anything seriously wrong in my tank because they are supposed to be really hard to bread ❤

Gypsy13 I just changed some of my water a few hours ago and cleaned a lot of waste from the sand (been trying not to disturb the sand too much because of fry) and I just looked at my tank(tank is upstairs I'm currently downstairs) and the water is super cloudy. Will cloudy water like that harm my fish?

 

[BottomDweller]

Gypsy13 oh right, sorry I've never seen that term properly.
I haven't got the money to buy them now so it will have to wait.
But both the balloon molly and swordtail came from my local pets at home and both displayed similar symptoms so I'm not sure if it was something from the pet shop. But currently the rest of my fish are okay and don't seem to have anything wrong with them but k will keep a close eye.

I'm not sure if this is the same with all pets at home but my local one and a not so local one both always have really unhealthy swordtails and platies.

 

[JessieP]

BottomDweller really?? Well before the one I got from pets at home I had two from two by two, the first one I got(black one) died from the illness that attacked my tank and the second one(Dalmatian) is still alive now and is really healthy
And the Dalmatian balloon molly pic is a little old and he has a lot more spots on him now

BottomDweller just curious as to which location is your local pets at home, mine is merry hill and was curious if it was the same one

 

[Gypsy13]

Gypsy13 I just changed some of my water a few hours ago and cleaned a lot of waste from the sand (been trying not to disturb the sand too much because of fry) and I just looked at my tank(tank is upstairs I'm currently downstairs) and the water is super cloudy. Will cloudy water like that harm my fish?

It should settle back down. You may have stirred up too much sand. I have the nat geo sand so I can actually gravel vac it. Other sands you just surface vac then stir with your fingers to make sure no nasty pockets form.

 

[JessieP]

Gypsy13 thank you very much, with all this illness and fish dying I was just making sure

 

[Gypsy13]

Gypsy13 thank you very much, with all this illness and fish dying I was just making sure

Understand completely. Anything. Want your fish to thrive and be happy. That will make you happy. Make us happy.

 

[BottomDweller]

BottomDweller just curious as to which location is your local pets at home, mine is merry hill and was curious if it was the same one

Not the same one

 

[JessieP]

Gypsy13 thank you for all your help ❤

BottomDweller Okay

 

[JessieP]

Gypsy13 just wanted a second opinion on something. My male adult balloon molly keeps getting swelling around his eye. It's not his eye it's around because at first I was worried about Popeye but that affects the actual eye and not around. It goes away the day after I clean the water then a few days later it comes back. It hadn't shown up in a while and I thought it had gone away but today it was there again. I haven't had much time to change the water this week as I have been busy at work so today I have thoroughly cleaned it and I think his eye flaring up again may have something to do with it. Other then the swelling around the eye he is normal healthy and active. I was thinking it might be an injury because some of the other fish can get a little nippy at occasions but I want advise to see if I can help the little guy. Many thanks

 

[Sarah73]

The problem with balloon mollies is that they have so many health problems and are very deformed.

 

[JessieP]

Sarah73 I know that and I am fully aware but it still doesn't make me any closer to a diagnosis for my poor little guy.