Silver Molly Could Be Ill

HI guys,

So I recently got a tank up and running a week ago now, in it I have got a group of 6 Zebra Danios and 4 Mollies (2 dalmatian, 2 silver), all were added 6 days ago. One of the silver molly's is showing signs of illness (at least I think so).

I have got a water test kit and for the past two days tested the water quality to see if it was any of the water parameters. Using the API master test kit I got readings of:

• Ph: 8.2
• Ammonia: looks to be likely around 0 ppm (light yellow colour)
• Nitrite: looks to be around 0.1 ppm (between 0ppm and 0.25ppm, light blue)
• Nitrate: yesterday I got an extremely high reading of what I thought was around 100ppm, today I did a 50% water change and found the nitrate dropped to around 30ppm about an hour after changing the water, not sure if I may have incorrectly tested it yesterday but checking my tap water it seems to come out to around 40ppm straight out of the tap. I did make sure to shake the bottles well as suggested in the instructions.

The symptoms I have seen in the molly have been shimmies and clamped fins for the past 3 days, more recently today I have noticed her lying on the bottom of the tank pretty much completely still, originally thought that she was sleeping but seems like she repeatedly does this for a few minutes then immediately starts doing the shimmies again and the cycle repeats itself. Another less noticeable symptom is what looks to be laboured breathing, but she isn't going to the surface to gasp or anything.

For oxygenation i'm using the Fluval U3 filter with the oxygenation system attached to it, I have set this to a pretty high level since noticing symptoms. She still seems to have an appetite, a bit slow to react as she's right at the bottom but does come up for feeding.

Wondering if anyone could provide any info on what this possibly could be, have research a little and see that this could possibly be pregnancy but also could be something more dire, i'm thinking the likelihood is nitrate poisoning due to the high reading yesterday or possibly ich (not sure) but thought i'd ask some much more experienced people before I jump to any conclusions. No other fish are currently showing these symptoms.

I did notice a single small fry who looks to me like a Molly fry but not too sure as it has got darker colours not silver or dalmatian, maybe too young to tell yet... I first saw this fry before the Molly started showing symptoms but this Molly seems to have a slightly larger analfin and is slightly more boxier and has a deeper body than the others.

Sorry if I have provided too much useless info, thought i'd lay it all out so you guys can get a good idea of what's going on so it all makes sense. if it is of any help I do have some plants in the tank but currently no driftwood or hardscape yet (all soaking atm).

Hope someone could provide some insight!

 

It could be a gill parasite or burn. Most fish have parasites already. They aren't effective until the immune system of the fish drops through stress. It could also be because of burned gills. Turn off the lights and look with an LED to see if you can find any signs of darker coloration that wasn't there before. That's the sign of a burn.

 

It could be a gill parasite or burn. Most fish have parasites already. They aren't effective until the immune system of the fish drops through stress. It could also be because of burned gills. Turn off the lights and look with an LED to see if you can find any signs of darker coloration that wasn't there before. That's the sign of a burn.

Thanks for the quick response. Turned the lights off and used an LED to check the fish, I can't see any major difference between the two silver mollies' gills, I did however notice the sickly one seems to have what looks like brownish colouration along its body and especially at the top of the fish, could this be anything or just a unique characteristic of the fish?

 

The fish most likely got burned by the spike of nitrites. Add more aeration and monster your fish to see if the conditions get worse over the bpnext couple of days.

 

The fish most likely got burned by the spike of nitrites. Add more aeration and monster your fish to see if the conditions get worse over the bpnext couple of days.

Will do, i've tried to get some decent photos of the two fishes to show you what I was talking about. No idea if it comes accross in the photos but the first photo (the ill Molly) has the brownish spots along the body, the second picture is of the health Molly with a clear silver body.

 

The drker coloration probably means that the fish was affected from the nitrite poisoning. (I was thinking of ammonia burns on my tetra while doing this! Sorry but I meant poisoning.)

 

The drker coloration probably means that the fish was affected from the nitrite poisoning. (I was thinking of ammonia burns on my tetra while doing this! Sorry but I meant poisoning.)

Ah glad to get a rough idea of what this could be, I'll make sure the nitrate keeps low in the tank through water changes, anything you'd suggest other than monitoring and keeping nitrate low to keep the fish safe? Would you have an idea of the likelihood of the fish getting better?

 

You should add aeration, keep doing water changes, add some salt or do a salt bath is aquarium salt, and make sure that all food is eaten and that all waste is removed. Other then that you should just wait and moniter your fish and see if his/her condition gets worse.

 

You should add aeration, keep doing water changes, add some salt or do a salt bath is aquarium salt, and make sure that all food is eaten and that all waste is removed. Other then that you should just wait and moniter your fish and see if his/her condition gets worse.

Will do, appreciate all your help.

 

No problem. I hope your fish gets "betta"

 

Hey again,

So good and bad news... Silver Molly is now doing much better swimming around, no clamped fins and seems to be improving. However one of the Zebra Danios looks to be in bad shape. Slightly different symptoms:

• Was sat still on bottom of the tank earlier this morning, listless and occasionally rolling over to his side, couldn't swim well at all. Now he is swimming around a little but still extremely weak.
• Eyes seem to be buldging outward a little, no redness around eye but noticeable.
• Lost colour of his scales, they look as if they have a white coating almost over his scales (attached pictures). Then again there is another Zebra Danio with this same coating so unsure if this is normal.
• Getting picked on, heard this is common in a sick fish that the others will begin to nip at them.
• Gasping for air, seems his mouth looks more open as if his lip was swollen or something.

Retested water parameters today:

• Ph: 8.2
• Ammonia: 0.1 ppm or thereabouts
• Nitrite: 0 ppm
• Nitrate: back up to around 50-60 ppm
• Temperature is 24 degrees

I'm thinking due to the difference in symptoms this might not be nitrate poisoning in the Zebra danio, I've tried to get the best pictures I can of the fish but to me at least is looks as if it may be some sort of infection?

I plan to get some aquarium salts and any treatment someone can recommend tomorrow, thought it might be beneficial for the fish if he survives the night.

 

Just a quick update, he's now began swimming completely upside down occasionally, as if he has lost control of his swim bladder. He also seems to have developed some red spots near his mouth.

Wondering if anyone would know what this is so I can prevent is possibly spreading.