# Sick molly



## robyn (May 29, 2006)

my black molly doesnt look to well. my sister was looking at my tank a few mins ago and noticed that she was misssing. i found her resting on the gravel of my tank. i put her in a bowl and examined her:

she is very inactive and passive. i was able 2 put the net under her 2 pick her up without her even bothering to swim away.
her gills are very white, and so is her left side. 

the other 3 mollies and my snail are all perfect, swimming and sliding (or wateva snails do) all over the place.

i havnt had my water tested in a week and a half, but everything was perfect when i did. could this b a result of a water spike or something? or some kind of disease? and how do i treat it?

also, i dnt hav a spare heater because i havnt bought a quarantine tank yet. will she be ok in just a bowl with a little gravel?


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

it sounds like she has Ick. She needs to be in a heated tank. You need to get meds for the tank where she was in because this can spreed fast.


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## Gump (Aug 2, 2006)

doesnt sound like ich to me but i cant think of anything right now that would make the gills and whole side white. does it look like white hair, sugar granuals, raised scales, any open soars?


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## blcknwitecuban (Apr 17, 2006)

my black mollys ACTED that way and they usually died over night. they did get white areas on them but that was probably just scales falling off


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## Lupin (Aug 1, 2006)

Ich is characterized by the appearance of white spots on the fish's body. It appears like you have poured the fish with flour or salt. I doubt that case.

Robyn, can you not test your tank water to the lfs? Insist to the lfs to post the exact figures, not comments.


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

last nite i dropped some food in the bowl for her, and she was trying to eat but couldnt seem to swallow. she swam around for a while opening and closing her mouth and trying to eat. after about 10mins she seemed to be able to eat again. something that just occured to me as i typed that: could she not be suffering form malnutrition or something? iv neva noticed her eating or not eating, but i hav noticed that when my gold dust molly swims by her, her fins sort of go down in a submissive way. mayb the gold dust isnt letting her eat?

the problem is i cnt get 2 the fish store that tests my water very easily. im only ever in the area during the week at nite and no1 can take me until the weekend. iv been trying 2 get a test kit. all i can find are those dip sticks. r they any good?

its definately more powdered than spots, mayb missing scales, but i dnt think so. its hard to see. she's much more active today, been swimming around the bowl slowly. is it worth putting her back in the tank or rather leave her in the unheated bowl?

i hav an aqua tonic and the bottle says it prevents diseases and cloudy water, use once a month. its probably a few yrs old, form when my sister had her tank so it probably needs to be thrown out.


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## Dabaers (Sep 3, 2006)

Maybe Columnaris or Velvet.
Here's some sites for you to check:
http://guppyz.tripod.com/guppy_disease_chart.html
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/hdisease.htm
http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/clinicalsigns.htm
http://www.fishpalace.org/Disease.html

Kath


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

Velvet sounds about right, thnx Dabaers. ill ask my mom 2 stop off and buy a treatment on her way home from wrk 2moro.

should i keep her secluded until she is fully recovered and treat the tank also?


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## Dabaers (Sep 3, 2006)

Treating the whole tank will likely destroy your entire biological filter and make you have to cycle it all over again, further stressing your fish. So probably isolate and treat in hospital tank.

Kath


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

i dnt hav a quarantine tank. im trying 2 get 1. prob will ova the weekend. at the moment, she's in a tank with no heater or anything, which isnt good because the water is only around 60-65F. surely i should treat the other fish in the tank since they'v been exposed to the disease?


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## Dabaers (Sep 3, 2006)

Actually since most of these bacteria etc are normally occuring in the water and only "show up" when your fish are stressed and immune system is decreased I wouldn't treat the whole tank unless it was something unusual because recycling your tank is going to open it up for a whole slew of stressors and other problems.
Yeah I'd get a heater asap, that is way too cold and probably stressing her beyond words.
An isolation tank doesnt need to be anything special. Just somewhere to put her with a filter and airstone, I use a spare 5 gallon tank. nothing on the bottom for easy cleanup after.

Kath


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

im thinking of a 10L which is about 2.5 gallons. i dnt hav much space, and a 10L should fit next 2 my tank. so i just need a filter and air pump? my main tank doesnt have an airstone, is it necessary?


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## Dabaers (Sep 3, 2006)

Probably not necessary. Really depends on the medicine though as some will use up the o2 in the tank and your fish will need more. a 2.5 will be ok for a hospital tank as long as the fish is very small.
But if you have an airpump, an airstone is an easy and inexpensive attachment.
But sometimes depending on your filter, you can keep the water level a little low and it will move the surface of the water enough that you don't need an airstone to move the water surface and increase transfer of co2 and o2.

Kath


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## robyn (May 29, 2006)

so i added the medication last nite and she seems much happier and more lively. my mom 4got 2 ask how regularly i should add the medicine and how long after the velvet has disapeared should she still be QT? the bottle just says 2 add 1 drop per 10L


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