# droopy tails on Mollies



## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

Hey I have 2 dalmatians mollies in a 5 gallon tank along with a golden lyretail mollie. they don't fight but my dalmatians have been some swimming issues. both of them swim with their tails facing down kind of drooping like. one of them still eats and other eats rarely. they have been like this for weeks and other than the occasional not eating and always having trouble swimming that is all that is wrong. What is going on with their droopy tails? my roommates fish acted like this but it died within 2-3 days mine are still alive.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

How big are they? If they are big, they might just be old. This is a common thing done by old mollies.
If they are not old, then you might not have adequate aeration/flow in that tank, or they might have gotten cold at some point. Mollies get the "shimmy" and do this if they get cold, and it can take weeks to get over it.


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## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

the mollies are really not that old, but the temperature of the water is at 72F. i am going to try buying a heater. because i have a 2-3 gallon filter along with a very bubbly air stone in the water so i dont think it is aeration. Thank you.


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## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

oh and they are about medium sized mollies


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## kittykatydid08 (Mar 19, 2011)

The mollie with the droopiest tail has swollen eyes right now. She almost looks like the Goldfish with the bug eyes, for lack of a better way to describe it. Does anyone know what causes this? 
Also the mollie that doesn't eat stays in hiding all the time and he just had a seizure. My roommate and I are going to try to get a heater today to help with the temperature. The temperature fluctuates between 70 and 80 and we are hoping to stabilize it with a heater. 
Any advice would be most welcome.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Brain infection is a common cause of popeye, or at least eye infection. Nasty stuff, and hard to fix.


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